It’s usually about this time of year in November that we start planning the Christmas lights display and what ones we will need to fix or replace. Luckily enough there is no end of new decorative items available including some very attractive Christmas village displays ideas that really stand out.
Ideas like the little colorful fiber optic Christmas village houses as one example.
If you haven’t created your Christmas village display before you should take a look around at what’s available. You never know, you may find something that would fit in exactly with your Xmas decorating plans for this year.
The good thing about them is that they don’t take up a huge amount of room and you can decide how big you want your village to be, or even build it up by adding new items each year.
Christmas village ornaments are a novel method of decoration that has become more and more popular over the years. Indeed some keen enthusiast have gone on to build them up year after year to create some really fantastic displays. Matching colors like having gold toned Christmas tree lights to compliment the warm glow from the village house lights can work very well.
Some villages have been built in many tiers giving a true mountainside village look to the display. Others have built a train set that runs throughout the whole display and stops at the local village station.
The first village display that you create doesn’t need to be all that big but with yearly additions, who knows what masterpiece you will create.
Table of Page Contents
Ideas that Bring Your Christmas village Display to Life
Although these displays can look great in themselves especially when lit up, making them come to life with the addition of people going about their daily lives makes a huge difference. That is unless you prefer the quiet, peaceful, frosty moonlight scene of course.
Village churches are common buildings used in these miniature displays and having a few people making their way to the service is a great idea. Characters that match the type of building such as shopkeepers tending their shop doorway stock, also create the right atmosphere.
There is nothing better than a group of carol singers performing to add a festive feel to your village display. Adding a few pedestrians stopping to listen will further enhance the scene.
Other good Christmas village display ideas are the ever popular frozen lakes complete with villagers enjoying themselves while skating. Adding a sleigh ride passing by would further enhance this skating scene.
More ideas can be seen with these complete Christmas village sets. Thay are more or less instant as they come complete for those who don’t want to wait for years to have their Christmas display set up.
Some folk have attempted to re-create an image from a holiday and some folk made their village scene into memories of their own life in years gone by. The ideas for creating these village displays are practically endless.
Christmas Village Display Platforms Ideas
Don’t forget to add some elevated items to the back of the display which will make things more interesting while at the same time will allow your buildings to display better.
Display platforms are available for this purpose and usually covered in snow and trees to match the winter theme.
The snow covered slopes leading up to these upper buildings can be used for other activities other than transport.
Kids sledding down the hills always look good and using your imagination would create many funny situations. Like tumbles, with the sled going one way and the passenger going the other.
A frozen stream that would normally be meandering or rushing down the hill could be created or something even more spectacular such as a frozen waterfall.
Just bear in mind that Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your Christmas village displays. Half of the enjoyment will come from planning what future addition you will be added next Christmas.
5 Christmas Village Display Ideas
I have added 5 Christmas village display ideas that would help to get you started. Then you can build around these ideas to add your own indivdual stamp to your miniature Christmas winter scene.
They are:
Avon Fiber Optic Christmas Village Centerpiece
Department 56 Ice Animated Skating Pond
Using Trees as Christmas Village Display Ideas
Christmas Village Backgrounds – Display Backdrop Ideas
Displaying Christmas Village People
Christmas Village Winter Wonderland Centerpiece Display
The winter wonderland centerpiece made by AVON would make an excellent starter piece for any Christmas village display as there is so much going on in it.
Lit up with multi colored light changes using fiber optics and LED lighting this centerpiece also has a few other tricks up its sleeve.
Fiber optic lighting is used a lot with Christmas decorations as can be seen with the number of fiber optic trees and moving displays available today. Mainly due to the low power reqirments and being compact and light in weight.
There is the choice to have the music, “We Wish you a Merry Christmas” switched On or Off as the animated Christmas village goes through its motions. These include, the train that runs through the tunnel on a circular tour, the rotating Santa’s tree and the skating figure performing on the ice.
The dimensions of the Christmas village winter wonderland centerpiece is 11 inches Long X 8 inches Wide X 7 inches High and is made from polyester and plastic.
This avon fiber optic christmas village is powered by 3 AA batteries which, as usual are not included. The batteries would last for around 3 days if used continuously or if switched on for a 6 or 7 hour period a day will last for around a week. See all the current information.
Christmas Village Ice Skating Pond Display
If you are looking for a centerpiece with a winter sports type theme then the Christmas village ice skating pond should certainly fit the bill OK.
This Xmas ornament displays a group of 4 children who are gliding over the ice while practicing their maneuvers on this animated skating pond. In the background stands a snowman with a smiley face, carrot nose, a scarf and soft felt hat to keep him warm.
This Department 56 skating pond is just one of many made by the Department 56 Company.
Under the product dimensions which are the actual packaged sizes it states that it is – 14.2 x 4.8 x 18 inches. They don’t mention the actual assembled sizes although from some of the questions being asked, we can say that the assembled dimensions are – 17 inches long and 13 inches wide.
[azdf asin=”B001422KTW”]
Christmas Village Trees Make Realistic Display Pieces
Other Christmas village display ideas that will assist in making your scene more real looking is by planting trees in strategic places. By strategic places I don’t just mean where they are located, but by using perspective whenever possible.
Larger trees to the front, medium in or around the center with smaller ones placed at the back would work well. Obviously having a good selection to hand would help in creating this illusion.
Packages of miniature trees come the varying sizes mentioned above from the range of Dept 56 accessories. These accessories can consist of street lamps, cobblestone streets, sets of light to light up houses and of course a selection of trees.
You could choose from deciduous trees with bare winter branches or the evergreen versions. In these Christmas mountain village scenes, the evergreens are more at home. Although a scattering of bare branched trees help create the winter atmosphere you are attempting to capture.
The pack of Christmas village trees featured on the right are one of these packs from Dept 56 accessories. Dept 56 is just the shortened version of the Company name, Department 56. Take a look at them for yourself here.
These evergreen ones come in packs of 10. They come in varying sizes to accomplish the perspective mentioned earlier. Multiple packs could be purchased and mixed up with evergreen and deciduous can be placed among your lighted Christmas village buildings. See the details here
Christmas Village Backgrounds – Display Backdrop Ideas
Christmas village backgrounds are probably of interest to those new to creating Christmas village displays. I would suspect that the more dedicated miniature village collectors would already have their Christmas village backdrop set up.
This particular one that I am recommending is from the My Village Company and basically you get a 2 for 1 background for the price of one. Select which one you want this year and change it for next Christmas if you prefer.
On one side you have mountains covered in thick snow and lots of snow covered pine trees which will match the trees in your own Christmas village scene. On the other side there are again mountains and trees although this scene is more lively with houses on the distant hills, a sleigh ride and skaters on a frozen pond etc.
The size of the winter backdrop is 45 inches x 15 inches which is a good size as winter Christmas backgrounds go. If you feel you need to expand, simply add another backdrop to your display with the opposite side showing. These backdrops are designed to match up when 2 or more are being used.
See the full details.
Ideas to Display Christmas Village People
As mentioned at the beginning of this article placing people in Christmas display can make the scenes more realistic. Carole singers we mentioned earlier but how’s about a snowball fight?
How realistic and action packed is that as part of a winter wonderland scene? I have listed 2 different snowball fights here due to them being different sizes.
See large figures details here
The larger of the figures are made by Lemax and feature 2 figures having a snowball fight. They measure 2 1/2″ tall and are made of Polyresin. Being the largest resin christmas figurines they would suit being positioned at the front of the Christmas village display if used.
The second set are from the Woodland Scenics Company and these sizes are in “N” gauge. The figures and the accessories in this snowball fighting scene are a whole lot smaller and may be more suitable for the Christmas village display ideas you have in mind.
“N” gauge figures of let’s say, an adult of approximately 6 feet tall, will be around 1/2 an inch and that wouldn’t include the standing base. See small figures details here
The choice of these two sizes of Christmas village people gives you an opportunity to be creative when building up your village scenes. Be creative, make your choices of all these options I have suggested above and most important of all, have fun!!!
For more Christmas village display ideas Click Here to See More Choices.