Mum finds giant huntsman spider in Christmas gingerbread house

A Sydney mum was horrified to find a massive huntsman spider inside her Christmas gingerbread house.

Katie Gompertz was thinking about opening the festive treat to have with a cup of tea, when she noticed the spider had already taken up residence.

The gingerbread house has been in her home for over a week.

"I have a cup of tea before I go to bed about, 8.30pm, 9pm," Ms Gompertz told nine.com.au.

"I looked over at my gingerbread house that was sitting on the microwave, and I wondered if I could sneak a bit without the kids.

"I saw this leg almost walking down the outside.

"At first I thought it was a trick of the night.

"Then I thought, 'oh my god, it's a huntsman.'"

Ms Gompertz, from Berowra Heights in Sydney's outer north, screamed for her husband to come.

She said he tapped the box and the spider put its pincers out at him.

They also noticed it had a big sac of eggs on its back.

Her children's reactions were mixed.

"My six-year-old thought it was the best thing in the world," she said.

"My daughter who's eight was absolutely petrified and the 10-year-old was like, 'that's 2020, this shouldn't be unexpected.'"

The family put the box, compete with the spider, on the deck outside rather than killing it.

A friend who likes spiders is going to come and take it to their house, she said.

Ms Gompertz said the gingerbread house was delivered with her shopping from Woolworths more than a week ago, and thinks it may have been inside all that time.

"I have no idea how it got in there," she said.

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"It's massive. There's a very small gap in it (the box) and the egg sac is solid.

"I don't want to incriminate Woolworths.

"But I know huntsman are notoriously agile and get in small spaces but I can't figure out how it got in.

"The gap is really small and it's a big huntsman."

However she's not too upset by the find and has named the spider Hunty the huntsman.

"This is peak 2020," she said.

"This is the way my year has ended."

She now plans to buy her children a new gingerbread house.

"There will be a lot of checking the boxes before we get another one," she said.

Woolworths suggested she could return the gingerbread house to their store but Ms Gompertz said there's no way she's getting the spider out, in case it goes into her house.

She won't put it in her car either.

"Oh no Katie - this critter just wanted a home, but this is definitely not the right one for her!" Woolworths told her in a Facebook comment.

"Thanks for letting us know, and we apologise for the scary surprise. After all, it's Christmas, not Halloween.

"Please feel free to return the gingerbread house to our store service desk for a replacement - one without an added houseguest!"