I love to view miniature villages, but I don't collect houses or set up a large village any longer. I gave away my Halloween pieces to a friend who loves Halloween and who has three young children. She sends me pictures of the display every year which is great for me...all enjoyment and no effort.

My older daughter took most of the D56 Dickens Village houses with her when she moved out. She displays them without any accessories or snow so that they look sort of modern and architecturally interesting. I have a bunch of Holiday Lane houses from the Original Snow Village, but it hasn't been displayed in several years and I don't buy the new pieces.

I would love to see pictures of your villages!

I own enough Department 56 Dickens Village lighted buildings and accessories to open a Hallmark store.

I have about 7 or 8 Dept 56 North Pole houses, and the trees and a few characters as well. I used to love to put them out, but I never really had room to to do that in this house, so they have stayed in the attic for the last 20 years. Definitely don't collect them anymore - no more "stuff" to sit around for me!

Chess, I hear you about sit-around stuff! No more!

Lindsey, I don't have that much Dept. 56 but do have more than needed! Just a few pieces would be nice, not a real village! I guess I got carried away over the years, especially when I stumbled on a close-out sale. They are so nicely made, plenty of detail. I skipped putting the village up a year or two, but now that I have grandkids I put it up. They like to rearrange the people, etc.

My mother collects Dept 56. As a christmas tradition, she and my sister get together on the weekend after thanksgiving and spend the days getting it all out and setup on every available surface for the holiday. The "main" display is on top the baby grand piano, but is also in the kitchen, dining room, den and living room. While it is fun to see those weeks, I would never want to own it.

There was a really nice thread about this a year or so ago and I can't find it now. Some of the displays were very elaborate and I do remember Arcy's bookcases. I thought Robo started it but I've been searching under different headings and can't find it.

edited to add that I finally located it!

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/show-me-your-christmas-village-dsvw-vd~4343300?n=59

We've been collecting Dept 56 Snow Village for almost 30 years. It was boxed up for several because we put it up in the bedroom upstairs and that isn't really a good place for it but then the grands came and so every December we give up our breakfast room for the village -- the grands love it -- we live in Fort Scott, so we named our "village" Scott City but then seeing it through the eyes of the grands, we call it "The Magical City of Scott" now.

I wasn’t into them but inherited a decent collection. Sold it and was stunned at the good money I got, the bidding on eBay was pretty active.

I wished it could be the same for the hallmark collector tree ornaments.

Darcy -- which ones are the paper ones? Could you post a close up? I'd love to see them.

bossy -- Whenever I look on eBay for Snow Village there may be one or two that are pricey -- but most are in the $15 range -- and to think new they cost between $60 and $100! That's the thing with collectibles -- usually the only person to make money from them is the company that sells them in the first place. Anything that IS marketed as a collectible isn't worth much on the secondary market!

Years ago a furniture store sold mini ones and a friend bought me a set for Christmas. I think there's maybe 6 buildings and some accessories. She picked up one building a week til she had the set. I added a few more accessories. I also have a few larger pieces, I haven't displayed either set in years because I just didn't have a good space for it. I just realized the top of my electric heater might be the perfect place. Perfect height for viewing, but my grandson won't be able to reach.

Used to but got rid of them when I moved...no place to display or store them here....and I do not really miss getting them and putting them away.

I only have three of the Dickens that were my gma's. I love how they light up. Since I don't have the space, I won't be getting more. I set these ones on the window sill in the front room.

I don't have close ups, sorry. Top shelf the red train station on the right. All on the second shelf, store, school, house. Third none. Fourth the church in the middle. Fifth none and bottom all but the middle house are what my dad made.

For myself, no, I've no interest. But my DH does! He loves them, which surprises me, and sets one up every year. It's fine with me - if he likes it then he should have it. I certainly do compliment it and take a look now and then but it's his thing. Heck, I've got my things that he's not interested in, and that's fine with him.

I have no interest, but I can across the Harry Potter Village pieces and I think they are wonderful. Appropriate for Christmas and Halloween!

Harry Potter Christmas Village Collection

Now there's a collection I can see my millennial daughters getting into!! Thanks for sharing sushipup!!

Thanks for all the replies so far folks :)

I do have pictures... dozens and dozens of them to sort through over the last few years, heh. I tend to shoot kind of virtual tours of my villages- I like to set up a lot of scenes and vignettes in my town- I could probably swamp the thread with them. I'll go through them and try to pick out just a few soon.

Monday I started the cleanup for setting up Halloween... clearing off and dusting the living room, bringing out the bigger boxed buildings to start tinkering with.

It's kind of funny that other folks name their villages because I do too... It's become a bit of a joke between my sister and I. Originally it was just Nightvale, after the popular spooky podcast series. Then I got into some of the more autumnal stuff, because not everything needed to be decrepit and spooky in a Halloween town. Then that kind of went into Winter Village... and then some Summerdale kind of happened... then the whole mess is just called Fortunes Turning, and it has three seasons- Nightvale, Winter Village, and Summerdale.

Amusingly enough I've thought of what would I do with my collection if?... Like others have mentioned here, a family member passes on village, or they used to and got rid of it. I don't think I would get tired of my village enough to just get rid of it. I might give some of it to a loved one if they wanted to start up their own village. There's a couple local historical societies, libraries, schools, and community centers that could and would like such for decor or to use in auctions.

I love those little villages. But i wouldn't dare start one. I know myself to well. I would have to have EVERY piece that i could get my hands on. So I content myself with enjoying other peoples collections of them. I cant decide if i like the Halloween or Christmas ones better.

This my village that I use to put up. I haven't put in up for about 3 years. May put some of it up this year.

If anyone is interested in NOT keeping their village or parts of it, I would definitely be interested in discussing it with you. Thank you.

I don’t have one, but my father in law does. I did give him most of the houses and figurines. Bought them white from a crafts catalog and hand painted them. He has a N scale train running through it. The scales don’t really work together but it is still charming. He sets it up every year before Thanksgiving so the whole family can look at it after dinner.

My brother has a load of them, he sets them up by the beginning of December in his office where there are two looong shelves. Uses cotton for the snow effect. He even has a working train that runs around the one shelf.

I bought some I could paint myself, and painted them during my recovery from surgery last winter -- after the holidays so I didn't get to set them out yet. I will set them out this coming winter on my mantle. I bought one of similar size to go with: so far I have a post office, pet shop, courthouse, country inn, and a BBQ joint.

I don't have the trees and people to go with, yet. This will be my first year putting it up, so I may grab some of those (and maybe yet one more building). I plan to put them on my mantle. Being on the mantle will be space-limiting, so I know I won't be collecting everything!

The Halloween set sounds like a great idea for next year! I have a 2 foot black tree with orange LED lights for Halloween, though.

I have a few of the German 'Putz' houses that are probably almost as old as I am, or maybe older. My mother put the village around the base of our Christmas tree every year, as far back as I can remember. She used cotton for the snow, a mirror for a pond, & had some Christmas trees to put in it, too. Also a celluloid Santa in a sleigh with reindeer. I used to put it up under our tree after she gave it all to me. I added more trees, a 'wooden' bridge to go over a mirror stream, some people, etc. It wasn't all of the same scale, of course, but it was our family tradition, nonetheless. The houses and a church were becoming quite ragged looking. What can you expect from 70 plus year old cardboard houses? So I decided to try to repair them. I didn't do a very good job of it, but I still have them, stored away in a tin box so they don't get ruined any more than they already are. I just can not bear to get rid of them. I haven't set any of it up since I no longer have Christmas here. I do have a ceramic Christmas village that I made. It's five ( I think) 'old-timey' shops and a Christmas tree that all sit on a ceramic base. I just may see if I can get it out and set it up this year.

Iris, you did a wonderful job of painting those houses!

I love villages, and have always wanted to find a spot I could set one up and leave it up year round. I've even visualized how it could change with the seasons. But it never happened, and now that I am beginning the downsizing process, it probably never will. At least not for me.

But I do enjoy reading about others' villages, and seeing pictures of them. So I am enjoying this thread immensely! Thank you, Beesneeds!

Rusty

My comment was pulled I guess because I said I was interested in buying any pieces that posters no longer wanted. I/m not interested in ceramics because I've made over 30 of the putz houses, including some churches, and have bottle brush trees, but find it difficult to locate people, carolers, etc.

Please tell me where one finds the white ones mentioned here that can be painted. Thank you.

Iris S - what is the name of the catalog for the figures to paint please? Thank you.

I think it was Mary Maxim’s. It’s been a while though and it seems lately they have mostly yarn and fabric crafts in their catalogs.

We have all kinds of houses and a couple of motorized skating ponds-one of them Disney. There’s house and also a commercial district with Home Depot, Walmart, McDonald’s, Krispy Kreme, a Chinese restaurant , library, theatre, pet shop, gym, candle shop, Xmas tree shop, firehouse, police station, gas station, Publix, ace hardware, it goes on and on....right now we have a dozen or so Halloween houses out. We also do an Easter village

Lisa, I would love to see some pictures. Of all of them.

Rusty -- I love putz houses! Mine are modern, simple and not trashy (as some modern repros can be). Just charming, IMO.