Department 56 Village Displays

The North Pole has the best lights in the world. But, since it’s a little difficult (actually impossible) to recreate the Aroura Borealis in your living room, you’ll need to add your own ambient lighting to give your village that quaint, picturesque feel.

Although the Department 56 North Pole Series buildings and factories are internally lit, if you want to be able to see details of your elves and other accessories, provide some additional ambient lighting. Department 56 already provides you with several options in the form of street lamps.

We like to be different, so we run a string or two of white (non-blinking) lights through out the village. These will then get covered with buffalo snow (see Tip #3) and lit up. The glow of the lights throught the buffalo snow, and shimmering off of the snow flakes (see Tip #3 also) make it seem as though the snow is glistening in the moonlight .

This is a compliment to Tip #2.

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Once you have a large enough space to display your lighted houses, don’t go overboard and stuff every available space with accessories.

Yes the gum drop path is cute and the candy cane lights are adorable, but if your village is packed with paths, people, streetlights, elves, reindeer, mini-shops, and more elves, it will be so busy you won’t notice any of it.

This is a village, not a city (that’s a different Dept 56 Series) where everyone (elves included) have something to do and somewhere to go. Try to make it as realistic as possible, this is not a shopping mall so don’t have everyone congregated in a single area. Place people near and around every building and make sure to spread them evenly through out the village.

Only when every piece has its own space, can their detail and charm be seen and admired.

Department 56 holiday village displays are made for Christmas, and the idyllic  Christmas setting includes a fresh blanket of snow. Add into that Christmas at the North Pole and now we’re talking lots of snow.

When setting up you village display, start with a fresh layer of blanket snow. The blanket snow will not only cover your table top, but it also provides an appropriate setting for your winter village. As an added bonus, once you decide where your buildings will be placed, you can hide the cords under the snow blanket (simply cut a slit in the blanket and feed the cord/light through). If you’re looking to be really creative and want to add an extra dimension to your village, you can hide books (or build shelves) to provide some height to your layout. All of your artificial landscaping is easily hidden underneath the blanket snow.

Once your village is set up, it’s time to add the Buffalo snow. Unlike the blanket snow, buffalo snow is very fluffy (like cotton balls) and gives the village the look of being covered in freshly fallen snow.

Also, if you decide to use a string of lights to add more ambience to your village (see tip#5), the layer of buffalo snow will help to hide the lights.

Finally, one of the most beautiful things about freshly fallen snow, is how the sunlight sparkles on its surface. For that extra sparkle, we use buffalo snow snowflakes. This is similar to white and silver glitter which gets sprinkled not only over the buffalo snow, but also no the trees and village roof tops.

 

The multiple layers of snow will give the overall impression of a winter wonderland to your North Pole series village display.

When setting up your North Pole series village display, It’s important to provide enough room to display them properly. The buildings and accessories in your village should not be crowded together as if they are still on the shelf in the store.

For our display, the table I use is 66″ long by 30″ deep, on which we display 8 lighted buildings and 1 accessory mountain (which occupies about the same space as a lighted house). This works out to ~1 1/2 sq ft per lighted building.

This gives us plenty of room to lay out our M&M and Gum Drop paths and distribute our elves (and other accessories) without the village looking like Rockerfeller Center when the Christmas Tree is being lit.

The Department 56 North Pole series village display combines beautifully crafted and detailed buildings, with more highly detailed (and very adorable) accessories, which should be admired from all sides. This will be even more important when they are lit up, since spreading them out will give the village a more subtle glow. If the buildings are too close together, their charm and warmth will be lost.

The value of your Department 56 North Pole series village display is more than just the beautifully crafted and detailed buildings, it also represents family memories from years past, and many years to come.

Nothing ruins a holiday more than the sound of something breaking, especially when its a cherished Department 56 porcelain lighted house, that holds so many family memories.

With this in mind, do not simply lay a piece of wood on top of some books, or use a cheap, light, aluminum card table. Anything that is easily tipped over is a disaster waiting to happen (no matter how many times you tell the kids to be careful).

I use a heavy, old, dining room table that i picked up a few years ago at a garage sale. Not only is it solidly built, with leg braces to keep it steady, but the two end extensions have come in handy as we’ve added more buildings and accessories.

Not only are these buildings and accessories beautiful, but they are family memories that can be passed on to your children (my kids have already claimed their favorites, and they’re only 8). So protect your memories, and your investment, and make sure your village sits on a sturdy table, or other platform that is not easily knocked over.

The Department 56 North Pole series brings the magical world of Santa Claus and his elves out of your imagination and into your home. All of the wonders of the North Pole are here, from Santa’s Workshop to the Reindeer Barn and Mrs. Claus’s greenhouse (where she probably grows poinsettias and holly).

The North Pole series holds endless opportunities for you to create the village of your imagination. Do you envision whimsical factories making M&Ms, Yummy Gummy Gum Drops, Snow Globes, and everything that’s needed for a joyous Christmas?

How about a village that’s a little more kid friendly? Every child wants to build an igloo out of snow, but how about an igloo sitting high atop a tree? In Elf Land, that’s known as the Frostbite Tree House Day Care. Children also need to remember that Santa is always watching, or at least his elves are, and the Naughty or Nice Detective Agency always has their eyes open, whether you’re sleeping or awake.

Although Santa and Mrs. Claus are the most well known residents of the North Pole, there simply wouldn’t be a Christmas without the elves. These unsung heroes of Christmas take care of everything from making the toys to decorating the trees, and even tending to the reindeer. So if the elves are your favorite residents of the North Pole, your village can be transformed into a magical Elf Land, with just a few select buildings and whimsical accessories. After all, elves are people too, and they love to eat Smores, and funnel cake, go hiking and cut down their own Christmas trees, go ice skating and have fun just as much as anyone else.

The variety of accessories available with the North Pole series and Elf Land is not just limited to elves. There are also a wide variety of trees, small kiosks (selling funnel cake, etc), street lamps, and walk ways made of gum drops, M&Ms, and even peppermint swirls.

So whether or not your vision of the North Pole is that of hustle and bustle in many cozy lighted buildings and fanciful factories or of elves having fun in a magical land of gum drop trees and peppermint paths, the Department 56 North Pole series and Elf Land will have something for you.

Department 56 first introduced the North Pole Village series in 1990. This imaginative series takes a whimsical look at Santa’s Christmas Eve preparations. Santa, Mrs. Claus, and all the elves are busy finishing their preparations as the time for Santa’s magical flight draws near.

 The North Pole village is filled with all of the cottages, shops and factories you imagined existed as a child. The M&M Factory, the Gum Drop Factory, Santa’s Light Shop and many more all provide a glimpse into Santa’s magical world. Some of the North Pole village buildings are more than the intricately detailed lighted porcelain buildings that Department 56 is known for. The Gum Drop Factory has a moving conveyor belt that moves different colored gum drops from one side of the factory to the other, and the M&Ms dance around inside the M&M Factory.

 In addition to producing all of the confections of your childhood imagination, the Naughty or Nice Detective Agency is constantly on the look out to see which children are being (obviously) naughty or nice.

 Life at the North Pole however, is more than just work, work, work. There are plenty of fun things for the elves to do also. Whether its ice skating, sleigh riding, or testing the toys, there is always something fun to do at the North Pole.

 The North Pole village series also has a variety of accessories to both compliment and enhance your vision of Santa’s life at the North Pole. How about a path through the village made of M&Ms, or gum drops, or peppermint swirls? You can also get some Smores from Mrs. Claus, or peppermint sticks from some enterprising elves.

 The Department 56 North Pole Village series brings Santa’s magical world out of your imagination and into your home, where dreams and memories can be relived year after year.

The Heritage Village Collection from Department 56 represents the Holiday traditions of our favorite memories.

 Each village collection in the Heritage Series represents a different time and a unique place in our memories. Whether based on an actual rime or an imagined ideal, the Heritage Collection holds a key the releases our hidden memories.

 The Heritage Collection is comprised of the Dickens’ Village, the New England Village, the Alpine Village, Christmas in the City, the North Pole Village, the Little Town of Bethlehem, the Disney Park, Literary Classics, and the Historical Landmark Series.

 The Dickens Village, first introduced in 1984, is reminiscent of the bustling and joyous atmosphere of the holiday season in Charles Dickens’ Victorian England.

 The New England Village series, introduced in 1986, captures the simplicity and spirit of the American way of life in the mid-1800’s .

 The Alpine Village series, also introduced in 1986, recreates the charm of a quaint European town nestled in the Alps, glistening with freshly fallen snow.

 Christmas in the City, introduced in 1987, captures the holiday hustle and bustle of the big city at Christmas time.

 The Little Town of Bethlehem, also introduced in 1987, is a unique series that represents the miracle and inspiration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

 The North Pole series, introduced in 1990, represents the magic and miracle of Santa Claus and his elves as they prepare for his extraordinary journey on Christmas Eve.

 The Disney Park Village (1994), the Historical landmark Series (19970 and the Literary Classics series (1998) each capture the unique charm and characteristic details of the holidays as if you were there.

 The Department 56 Heritage Village collection is a treasure of holiday memories spanning time, place and imagination.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to get serious about decorating for Christmas. The children’s tree, a thin 6 ft tree is already up and decorated, as is the garland around the windows. Our larger family tree is also fully lit and decorated (with 2,850 lights), surrounded by various stuffed snowmen and Santa Claus decorations. Weather permitting, the outside lights and lawn ornaments will go up tomorrow, but today it’s all about the North Pole Village.

Every year since my wife was pregnant we’ve been buying 1 or 2 North Pole Village houses or accessories each year as a way of adding a little whimsey to our New England Village display. Now 8 years later, the elves have fully taken over the village, so much so that the New England houses and accessories are remain packed in the attic. Also, now 7 years old, our twins, especially my daughter, thinks that she’s a design expert and that the village needs to be set up exactly as she wants. But, before she has her say, there are a few basics that need to be taken care of to make your Village look its best.

A flat, sturdy table is a must. Warped and wobbly card tables should be avoided for two reasons. First, you don’t want your village houses and accessories to resemble the aftremath of an earthquake should some one bump into the table. Second, it’s much easier to make everything stand straight on a flat surface. Since you don’t  want anyone looking at the table legs, cover it with a red or green bed sheet. You can now also store all your village boxes under the table in stead of bringing them back to the attic/basement/storage.

Next, cover the top of the table with a layer of  we first your village to look like it’s covered with snow, first roll out enough blanket snow to cover the top of the table and a little down the sides (or not, whichever you prefer). This will provide not only the snowy back ground for your village, but it is also a great way to hide the cords for your house’s lights. But before you can hide the cords, you need to know where the major pieces (the lighted houses) will be located. I find that the best way to do this is without the lights inserted into the base, and the cords dangling below. Everything is much easier to move around without having to worry about the cord getting tangled, of a heavy adapter banging into a church steeple, or creating any other type of unwanted damage.

After you layout where you want to place all of the houses, cut a slit in the snow blanket and feed the light through from underneath (this is much easier than cutting a very large slit to fit the adapter plug through. Some houses also have secondary plugs for additional motion (such as the Yummy Gummy Gumball Factory and the M&M Candy Factory), which must also be fed through the slit. Once all of your major pieces are located, plug all the cords into a power strip. Depending on how many lighted pieces you have, it may be necessary to use multiple power strips, but try to only have one plugged into the wall (this means that you may need to plug one or more power strips into another). The reason for this is that when you want to turn on your villages lights, you will only need to flip the switch on a single power strip.

After the houses are wired, and lit up, it’s time to add the accessories. Some houses come with accessories of their own, usually a person or object that is directly related to the theme of the house. Most accessories, however, are small groups of people, or objects and people (such as the Smores Stand with Elves) which are added to create a more complete scene (I can’t say a more realistic scene when I’m talking about elves eating smores, but you get the idea). Other common accessories are lamp posts, brick walls, trees, and paths (which can be made from brick, gumballs, M&Ms, peppermints, or anything else that relates to your villages theme). One final touch is to weave a string or two of Christmas tree lights (use ones with a white cord so it blends in with the snow) through out your village. This will illuminate the entire village, not just the houses, and once topped with buffalo snow, make the entire scene appear to glow.

 It generally takes us the better part of a day (~6 hrs) to set up the entire village. This is from the time I go into the attic to start bringing down all of the boxes, until the last bit of buffalo snow is in place and all the (now empty) boxes are stored under the village table. Every year it’s a little different (this year we placed ~1″ thick books under the houses in the back so they would appear to be on a hill, and easier to see), but it’s always a fun time for the whole family. It also helps to solve one of our twins biggest arguments: who gets to turn on the Christmas Tree lights. Now with the Village, one lights up the tree, and the other gets to light up the village. Then the next day they switch. The whole family is happy, especially my wife and I. Happy Holidays!

 

If you were starting a company to produce ceramic replicas of idealized houses for different historical and fictitious settings what would you name it? I’m sure Department 56 is not the first phrase that comes to your mind; so how did it come to theirs? Let’s find out..

Welcome to Stillwater

One Christmas, a group of friends planned to celebrate the Holiday with a quiet dinner in Stillwater Minnesota, a peaceful village along the St Croix river. Decorated for the holidays and coated with a fresh blanket of snow, this idyllic and picturesque village captivated the friends. As they dined in a peaceful country inn, charm of the street lights sparkling on the freshly fallen snow evoked an evening of wonderful Christmas memories. The storytelling and memories were the inspiration for recreating this scene with a lighted Christmas village.

Over 30 years ago, Bachman’s, a premiere retail florist in Minneapolis, used a numbering system to identify each of its departments. The wholesale gift division was Department 56.

The dream was brought to life when, in 1976, Department 56 introduced a series of six hand-painted, ceramic buildings. These premiere buildings were the foundation of the original Snow Village Series.

The Rest is History

1986

The Heritage Village Collection expanded to include The New England Village Series and The Alpine Village Series®.

The World of Snowbabies™ figurines are introduced.

1987

Christmas in the City® and the Little Town of Bethlehem™ added to the Heritage Village Collection.

1990

The North Pole Series™ is added to The Heritage Village Collection.

1994

Introduction of The Disney Parks Village Series™ and Snowbunnies®.

1997

The Classic Ornament Series introduced.

1998

Seasons Bay™, the first year-round village, representing a late 19th-century American resort town.

Elf Land™, an extension of the North Pole Series™, is  introduced.

Snow Village Halloween introduced (did you know that Halloween is the second most celebrated holiday in the United States?).

2001

Special and Limited Edition pieces are designed to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of  The Original Snow Village®

2005

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