Christmas village

mamababyrn

We bought a house this summer and I am so excited to be able to finally get a Christmas village, but I don't have any idea what to get. I need a collection that will be around for awhile because we can't afford to buy the whole thing this year. I have looked around online but it is hard to tell form the pictures. Any recommendations? TIA!

bg022202

Micheal's craft store has some. They are not around all year, but they come out every year. I do a Halloween one and what we do is buy a new house every year. Sometimes you can get a 40-50% off coupon. 

pixy_stix

Dept. 56 villages are the classic standard.  We collect the Halloween Village. 

What I've found is that the Michaels version (Lemax) is fairly junky and doesn't last (too many moving parts made cheaply).

http://www.department56.com/

We started our collection with one piece and gradually added on throughout the years.  Watch Craigslist and Ebay for pieces at a discount.

Good luck and have fun!

kjvogelsang

I have a friend that has been collecting the Lemax Village Collection for a few years. She loves it.

http://www.lemaxcollection.com/home.aspx

 

Also Department 56 is pretty popular around where I live.

http://www.department56.com

 

sporky

pixy_stix:

Dept. 56 villages are the classic standard.  We collect the Halloween Village. 

What I've found is that the Michaels version (Lemax) is fairly junky and doesn't last (too many moving parts made cheaply).

http://www.department56.com/

We started our collection with one piece and gradually added on throughout the years.  Watch Craigslist and Ebay for pieces at a discount.

Good luck and have fun!

we've never had a problem with the lemax pieces. i certainly wouldn't consider them junky. imo, dept. 56 is great but way overpriced.

pixy_stix

sporky:

we've never had a problem with the lemax pieces. i certainly wouldn't consider them junky. imo, dept. 56 is great but way overpriced.

Really?  We have a good chunk of Lemax houses in our Halloween collection.  Several of them have stopped working partially, and some completely.  Plus, they're loud and continue to get louder each year, as far as the mechanical clicks and whirs go.

If I had my choice I'd only collect Dept. 56.  The pieces are sturdier and constructed better.

pixy_stix

The bottom left house (by the glowing eyeball tree) quit this year, as well as the far-right middle house (hidden by the house in front), both are Lemax.  We'll keep them, of course, but I'm sad they no longer move.

MrsSR

I get a couple now and then the day after Christmas go out and buy more.  They are on major discount then.

BobKat22

I LOVE A Christmas Story- the movie.  Department 56 has a Christmas Story village that I collect.  I've only found them at certain Sears, and they are on sale every once in awhile.

Sarahpep

We have dept. 56, Dickens Village. Very traditional, and love them! I set them up every year...Can't wait to do it again next weekend.

lab7979

My mom collected the Dept.56 Dickens Village. My sister and I had a great time helping her build her collection. She started with only a couple and then continued to add about one a year. One of us would always get her a house for Christmas. It got to the point where we just had to stop because the collection kept growing and it was taking up too much space. She passed a few of them down to me when I moved in to our current house.  Right now I have them on top of my kitchen cabinets.

hudysgirl

Dh and I started our 1st family tradition as building a Christmas village. Each year we buy one village of choice. We aren't really particular about brand or having a set. We just find pieces that we like and look nice together, even if they don't match perfectly.

We got our 1st village piece from Home Depot and it was an inclined ice skating rink with moving skaters -- it doesn't work this year. This year we got a piece from K-mart. It's really nice and lights well.