How to Collect and Create a Christmas Village Set from Scratch

When it comes to making your house feel merry and bright for the holidays, nothing beats showing off the your Christmas collectibles. If you’re ready to take decking the halls to another level this season, consider investing in a time-honored tradition of setting up a Christmas village set! Between picking which houses to feature in your scene and turning the twinkling lights on each night during the countdown to Christmas, every step of creating this collection is a joy—and it’s time to start yours!

What is a Christmas Village Set?

Christmas villages are made up of miniature-scale houses, storefronts, and other themed buildings that are set up as décor during the holiday season. For some people, the look of these tiny towns strikes up feelings of nostalgia for the Christmas of their youth, but for others, it’s a chance to lean into your creativity and create a memorable scene year after year. There’s no one-village-fits-all rule—a Christmas village set can be made out of as few or as many structures as you wish.

The History of Christmas Village Houses

The tradition of displaying a Christmas village set has been around for hundreds of years—though they weren’t always Hallmark-movie material. In fact, they actually began as small nativity scenes!

For a while, Italians in the Renaissance period acted out the nativity story every season. But, in an effort to have the scene set up for longer periods of time, they decided to make physical displays, which quickly spread throughout Europe in churches and homes. Soon enough, each region started adding its own spins to the design and swapping out biblical figures for local people from their towns!

The Christmas village sets we know and love today started to become the norm in the 1970s and 1980s when more durable ceramic houses began replacing the fragile cardboard structures. This simple swap in materials led to the practice we see today of passing on Christmas village houses as heirloom pieces from generation to generation. You can find many of these designs at flea markets, thrift shops, antique stores near Chicago, and other secondhand shops.

Do People Still Put Up Christmas Village Sets?

It doesn’t matter that Christmas villages have been around for hundreds of years—they’re just as, if not more, popular today! With so many styles and themes to choose from, there’s a Christmas village house for everyone, whether you’ve been setting out the same passed-down vintage collection or are first in line to get the newest releases each year. If you’re looking to start investing time and money into a collection that will transform your home for the holidays, Christmas village houses never go out of style.

What Makes Christmas Village Houses Valuable?

The value of a Christmas village house can depend on a few factors, including rarity, condition, and age. The price of most vintage miniature structures can range anywhere from $50 to $200, making them accessible to a range of collector budgets. But others, such as Department 56’s Empire State Building, can fetch upwards of $600! If you find Christmas village set in its entirety, it’ll be even more valuable—and worth every penny.

How to Create a Christmas Village of Your Very Own

If you’ve found yourself inspired by the smaller-than-life sentimental tradition of setting up a Christmas village set for the holidays, you’re not alone. But starting your collection can be a daunting task—much less learning the best way to set it up in your home! With a little research, advice, and a few easy-to-follow steps, you’ll have your Christmas village houses displayed in no time!

Start by Choosing a Christmas Village Set Brand

When it comes to Christmas villages, every brand brings something different to the table. Do you want exclusively new releases from top-tier companies? Or are you searching for retired designs produced twenty, thirty, or even forty years ago? As you shop around at the Highland antique mall and online auction sites, consider any styles, themes, and ideal production eras you have in mind and buy accordingly.

While you could always buy Christmas village houses from different brands, it should be noted that each company has its own scale. If you want everything to look cohesive, it’s a good idea to stick to one brand for each set.  

Invest in Lemax Christmas Village Houses

Though they’re a more recent company, Lemax has solidified itself as one of the leading manufacturers of adorable Christmas village houses since 1990. If you’re interested in modern designs, make sure to set a notification for its yearly releases so you never miss them! But, if you prefer a vintage look or are trying to complete one of their iconic sets, your best bet is to walk around a Melbourne antique mall and search for yourself.

Popular Lemax Collections

Build your own Lemax Christmas village set by selecting one of these to look for when you shop:  

• Caddington Village

• Santa’s Wonderland

• Sugar and Spice

• Vail Village

• Carnival

• Harvest Crossing

• Spooky Town (Halloween editions!)

Join the Tradition of Department 56 Christmas Village Sets

When most people hear “Christmas village,” Department 56 is the first thing that comes to mind. Its charming designs have been the most popular choice for Christmas village house collectors since the ‘70s, and the brand still works year after year to release new series, figurines, and other Christmas collectible accessories.

With snowy rooftops, whimsically decorated storefronts, and classic home styles, this company produces picture-perfect Christmas designs that never go out of style. If you find a design from any of the most popular Department 56 series, you’ve struck festive gold!

Buy Budget-Friendly St. Nicholas Square Christmas Village Houses

If you’re searching for a more modern company to start your collection, many people opt for the St. Nicholas Square designs available at Kohl’s. Compared to the other classic companies, St. Nicholas Square homes are less expensive, making it a great starter brand. Many of these designs have a more contemporary style, with colorful LED lights, inclusive skin tones in the figurines, moveable pieces, and nods to modern holiday celebrations.

Lean into Childlike Wonder with Lego Christmas Village Houses

During the holidays, Lego is known for more than its collectible minifigs and rare Star Wars sets—these days, it’s producing its own Christmas village sets! The Winter Village collection started in 2009, with new designs being released every year. This is the perfect choice for involving the kids early on in a family tradition, as each Christmas village house must be put together brick by brick before it can be put on display!

Elevate Your Home with Mark Feldstein Christmas Village Sets

If you prefer a more modern and sleeker look for your Christmas décor, you can still partake in collecting Christmas village houses without sacrificing your personal style. Where other brands lean into the vibrant colors of the season, Mark Feldstein’s designs stick to porcelain whites, warm-toned lights, and subtle details. If you spot any of its iconic silver rooftop designs, scoop it up and add it to your other classy Christmas collectibles!

Pick a Theme for Your Christmas Village Set

Choosing a theme for your Christmas village set is perhaps the most essential step in creating your miniature town. When you stick to one theme, creating a cohesive look throughout your display is easy, and it gives you parameters when adding new pieces each year. As you browse the Illinois vendor mall, focus on your desired aesthetic, whether that’s a sleepy and snowy European village or a whimsical North Pole scene complete with elves, Santa, and his reindeer!

Pro tip: The larger your Christmas village display is, the more themes you can play with! If you only have a few buildings or one smaller area of the house dedicated to these Christmas collectibles, one theme works best. But if you have an entire city, different neighborhoods could have their own unique theming!

Choose a Surface for Your Christmas Village Set

Once you’ve collected a few Christmas village houses, the next step is crafting your display. Before you add any accessories or plug in the lights, you need to make sure you’re choosing a sturdy, durable, and easily viewable surface area. This mostly depends on the size of your collection as well as what platform in your house you can spare during this busy holiday season. Look for empty tables, shelves, mantels, window ledges, countertops, and cabinets that could fit your entire town- you could even place it under the Christmas tree with a collectible model train for an even more magical effect!

3 Tips for Choosing a Room for Your Christmas Village Set

As you play around with different surfaces in your home, consider our top tips for choosing the right room to show off your Christmas village houses:

Tip 1: Make sure the surface is stable during day-to-day activities—you wouldn’t want any bumps to cause your favorite Christmas village house to go flying!

Tip 2: Make sure the room has plenty of electric access, as most Christmas village houses are designed to be plugged in.

Tip 3: See if your Christmas village set matches your other décor, whether that’s a collection of vintage blow molds or a glittering tinsel tree.

Create a Map to Follow As You Design Your Christmas Village Set

Before anything is set in stone, take your time playing around with the orientation and placement of each Christmas village house. Many collectors find that drawing out the plan is an efficient way to make sure everything works together, but you can also snap a few pictures of a couple of different layouts so you can remember your favorites before solidifying everything. Think of this as your map. After you’ve landed on the perfect layout, then you can start accessorizing the town!

Add Layers to the Christmas Village to Make It Pop

The key to a well-structured Christmas village set is adding layers! Creating elevated surfaces can help you fit more houses in a smaller space and add a more life-like element to the town. After all, what Christmas scene is complete without snowy hills? Feel free to get crafty with how you make these layers, as they’ll likely be covered by fake snow or turf before the final placement of the Christmas village houses. Try using a few household and storebought items, such as:

• Spare pieces of wood

• Upside-down plates, bowls, and cups

• Stackable Styrofoam

• Specially made stands and platforms 

• Small books

Fluff the Christmas Village Set Up With Fake Snow

Once your layout is complete and all the houses are plugged in and ready to be placed, it’s time to add the fake snow. We suggest placing a fluffy layer of white cotton batting along the entire foundation of your town. Then, once houses are placed, pull apart some fiber-fill or even cotton balls and arrange them to your liking to look like freshly fallen snow piles.

Sprinkle in Accessories to Bring Your Christmas Village Set to Life

Adding a few key details and decorations can transform your tiny town into the holiday scene of your dreams! When you’re shopping at a Crown Point antique mall for Christmas collectibles, keep an eye out for any of these small but mighty Christmas village set accessories—or make them by hand:

• Railroad tracks

• Figurines (both people and pets)

• Bottle brush trees

• Lights

• Benches

• Phone booths

• Mailboxes

• Mirrors (perfect for mimicking a lake)

Where’s the Best Place to Buy Vintage Christmas Village Houses?

We believe the best way to shop for vintage Christmas village sets is in person at an Indiana antique mall. While there will always be a time and place for scouring online auctions from the comfort of your home, searching for the perfect miniature buildings in person is far more exhilarating. When you can browse curated Indiana collectibles from hundreds of vendors, every shopping trip is a mystery—and isn’t that half the fun of collecting?  

With a little help, anyone can create the Christmas village of their dreams. Whether you want to create a North Pole scene your children will never forget or have just inherited a few houses from a relative, starting your collection and setting up the village is easier than you’d think. Begin your search before the holidays arrive, and swing by an America’s Antique Mall near you today!