Department 56 Articles
Here are some useful articles about collecting and displaying village buildings.
If you have a tip, idea, or information about Christmas village displays that you would like to share, don't hesitate to contact us.
We'll review and post it on our site if we can.
General Ideas
Christmas Decorating Tips for Department 56 Village Buildings - It’s time to kick it into high gear—planning your Christmas village display for this year takes careful thought and preparation.
Create a Portable Department 56 Centerpiece Here's an idea that combines the delight of Department 56 collecting and displaying with the practicality of entertaining: a portable centerpiece. Just move it to the kitchen or side board when it's time to eat.
Tips for Small Dickens Village Displays If you are just getting started decorating with villages, think small. You don’t need much to create and interesting and charming Dickens display.
Stage a Scene from A Christmas Carol Here's an easy decorating idea using Department 56 A Christmas Carol buildings and accessories from the Dickens Village series.
Create a Halloween Display Tips for creating an easy Halloween display.
A Halloween decorating guide, plus four Halloween party ideas...Dept 56 Halloween Villages also make great decorations for your home, and great conversation starters for your Halloween party guests. You could even use your Halloween Village as a centerpiece for your party table.
Department 56 Display Ideas: Use a Glass Cloche to Encase Village Buildings I recently received an email newsletter from Department 56 promoting the gift sets that use the new Long-Life Cordless Lighting technology. The North Pole Series village building "Mrs. Clause Handmade Christmas Stockings" was encased a lovely Victorian bell cloche.
Browse all collectible Christmas village sets and accessories
Christmas Villages
Fan Favorites - What's Your Favorite Department 56 Village?
Get Moving with Animated Department 56
All Aboard! New Collectible Trains Come in all Sizes
In the Movies! Christmas Village Displays of Holiday Favorites from TV and the Silver Screen
Thomas Kinkaid Christmas Collectibles and Village Series For the Hawthorne Village Collection, artist Thomas Kinkade designs collectible Christmas villages.
Unique Themes For Holiday Decorating Have fun with Department 56 miniature Christmas villages this year by decorating on a unique theme, like Department 56 lighthouses or churches.
Tips for Choosing a Department 56 Series to Collect First of all, there really no rules or “guidelines” to collecting D56. Department 56 appeals to thousands of people for thousands of unique reasons.
Department 56 December 2007 Retirements are Here Once again, Department 56 has released their list of retirements for this year (2007).
Christmas Decorating Tips for Department 56 Village Buildings - It’s time to kick it into high gear—planning your Christmas village display for this year takes careful thought and preparation.
Island of Misfit Toys? I love that show! Do you remember watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys"?
A department 56 snow village is a treasure to keep for a lifetime Each Department 56 snow village is exquisitely detailed and beautifully crafted.
Alpine Village Series—Create a European Christmas Village The Alpine Village series from Department 56 appeals to those who want to create a Christmas village with European style.
Celebrate the holiday season with delightful Lemax Christmas Village houses, figurines and accessories The Lemax Christmas Village is a great way to start your Christmas collection.
Charming and fascinating collectible ornaments, figurines and Christmas Villages to inspire your imagination Starting a collection is a fun hobby which can easily turn into a lifelong passion.
Christmas decorating guide using a bisque Christmas Village, unfinished ceramic houses, figures and animals you paint yourself Christmas decorating tips using hand painted Christmas Villages.
Christmas Village Displays—Christmas in the City If your heritage isn’t small town America, how about the big city? Creating Christmas village displays with the Christmas in the City series by Department 56 combines the holiday season and hustle and bustle of city life.
Creative Christmas decorating using the miniature Christmas Village collection Four steps using a miniature Christmas Village to create a display for Christmas.
Delightful Christmas villages to brighten your holiday season Department 56 are famous for their beautifully crafted, exquisitely detailed model villages. If you are serious about starting a collection you should look at Christmas Village line.
Delightful snow village figurines and collectables to commemorate the holiday season There's a great range of snow villages and snow village figurines that you can collect and display.
Department 56 Snow Village—The Original Snow Village Collection The Department 56 Snow Village Collection, or the Original Snow Village, was the first Christmas miniature village series introduced by a fledgling Department 56 company in 1976.
Every Christmas Village is an exquisitely crafted treasure you’ll cherish for years to come Christmas Villages are very popular collectables, because they evoke fond memories of special times and places for so many people.
Gorgeous Christmas collectibles, ornaments and gifts to brighten your holiday season Christmas is a great time to think about starting a collection of Christmas villages, ornaments or figurines.
Holiday decorating using Department 56 North Pole Villages Steps to create a mantle or table display and a list of different the current Department 56 North Pole Villages.
New England Christmas Village Series—Create a Historical Village Scene The Department 56 New England Christmas village series tells the story of Colonial America.
Santa at the North Pole—Discover the North Pole Series by Department 56 This year, Department 56 celebrates the 15th anniversary of Santa at the North Pole in the North Pole Series. Santa's North Pole is a where you’ll find the factories and workshops where the toys and candies are made for kids of all ages.
Review of City Subway Entrance by Department 56 The City Subway Entrance by Department 56 was introduced in 1991 for "Christmas in the City" series and looks great in a typical bustling city scene.
D56 Village Starter Collections: Celebrate Value Series Department 56 has set aside five collectible village buildings as part of their Celebrate Value Series.
Halloween Villages
2008 Guide to Halloween Villages
A guide to Halloween party planning, featuring your Department 56 Halloween display Collecting Department 56 Halloween decorations and Halloween party planning tips.
A Halloween decorating guide, featuring the Dept 56 Halloween Village Collection Top decorating ideas for Halloween, including information on Department 56 Halloween villages.
A quick guide to the amazing Halloween Village range from Department 56 A great list of Halloween villages, accessories and movie themes from Department 56 collection.
Dept 56 Halloween Castle—Spooky with a Capital “S” If you are looking for the perfect spooky castle to grace your ghoulish front window this Halloween, look no further than Castle Blackstone, the best Dept 56 Halloween Castle going.
Department 56 Halloween Display—Kid Friendly and Fun Decorations For little people, spooky sound effects can be scary. So if you have young children, or if lots of youngsters come you your door on Halloween night, Department 56 Halloween Display has general accessories that are meant to be fun, not scary.
Department 56 Halloween Display—Come On Over to the Spooky Side It’s not just about jingle bells, candy canes and horse-drawn sleighs, you know. Department 56 does have a spooky side. The Department 56 Halloween Display was first introduced in 1999 and has since acquired loyal followers.
Halloween decorating using the Lemax Halloween Village collection Creating a Halloween display with the Lemax Halloween Village collection and accessories.
Halloween Decorating Ideas For Halloween, create an easy Halloween vignette using Department 56 Halloween lighted buildings and accessories:
Spooky Department 56 Halloween villages, figurines and decorations are great fun to collect, and make fabulously frightful gifts If you are planning on creating a Halloween village this year, you have to check out the detailed Halloween villages from Department 56.
Ideas for Lemax and Dept 56 Halloween Decorations If you're starved for ideas for this year's ghostly graveyard or cadaverous castle, there's a couple of places to go online to see some real displays featuring Lemax or Dept 56 Halloween decorations.
Miniature Black Lights from Lemax are Perfect for Halloween Displays The right lighting always sets the mood in any situation. For villagers, creating a Halloween display with spooky lighting effects is both fun and challenging.
Get into the Halloween Spirit - Halloween is one of the biggest decorating holidays of the year, second only to Christmas.
Halloween Village Decorating: "Howl Radio" The new introduction for Halloween 2007 is "Howl Radio", headquarters of the shriek-a-licious Howl Broadcasting Corporation.
4 Tips for Easy Department 56 Halloween Decorating
Dickens Villages
A fascinating Dickens Village evokes the spirit of Victorian England Department 56 offers a great range of villages and accessories, including: Dickens Village, New England Village Series and the Alpine Village Series.
Browse through the huge range of delightful dept 56 Christmas Villages, Ornaments, Krinkles and Accessories If you love collecting, or you want to get started, dept 56 will give you plenty of inspiration.
Christmas decorating using the Dickens Village collection from Department 56 Four easy steps to building a mantle or bookshelf display using Dickens Villages and accessories.
Dickens Village Series—A Christmas Carol “A Christmas Carol” village buildings and accessories were introduced by Department 56 in 2000 as a sub-series of the popular Dickens Village.
Dickens Village Series—All Hallows’ Eve If you like to decorate for Halloween but prefer the historical to the spectral, Department 56 presents All Hallows’ Eve in the Dickens Village series. First introduced in 2002, this Halloween village series traces our modern Halloween celebrations back to 18th century Victorian England, the time of Charles Dickens.
Victorian collectibles capture the spirit of this fascinating era There are many great collectibles available from the Victorian era.
Krinkle Ornaments
A collectors’ guide to Krinkle ornaments by Patience Brewster Tips on collecting ornaments like Patience Brewster's Krinkle ornaments and other Department 56 ornaments.
Christmas Krinkles—Unique Christmas Gifts for Giving or Collecting Christmas Krinkles by Patience Brewster are fun, whimsical holiday decorations and home accents.
Crazy Christmas Krinkles to add a touch of magic to your holiday season Christmas Krinkles look great on your tree and they make wonderful Christmas gifts.
Delightful krinkles, snowbabies and Christmas Villages to brighten up your holiday season Krinkles are crazy, whimsical ornaments designed by Patience Brewster and make a great collection you can display.
Each figurine and ornament in your collection is a treasure to be cherished Figurines are great things to collect and Krinkles offers a great selection of ornaments to get you started.
Halloween Krinkle Ornaments by Patience Brewster If you are looking for the perfect Halloween witch to grace your Halloween display this year, look no further than Patience Brewster Krinkle ornaments from Department 56.
Krinkle Ornaments for Easter Table Decorations If you don’t already fuss about Easter table decorations, you may want to once you see the Easter Krinkle ornaments from Patience Brewster. I mean, who could resist “Mr. and Mrs. Carrot Shoes”!
Magical figurines, ornaments and all kinds of collectables you’ll cherish for years to come. Once you start collecting Krinkles by Department 56 you will be able to create a display with your new collection.
SNOWBABIES
A collectors guide to Dept 56 Snowbabies ornaments Department 56 Snowbabies and tips on building an ornament collection.
Charming snowbunnies, Krinkles and other Easter treasures from Department 56 Snowbunnies are delightful collectable figurines that are offered by Department 56.
Delightful Christmas figurines to brighten up your holiday season Collecting Christmas figurines is a wonderful hobby and a great way to decorate your home during the festive season.
Delightful Snowbabies, figurines and ornaments to cherish for a lifetime If you are looking at starting a collection, Snowbabies can be very enjoyable to collect.
Delightful Snowbunny figurines for a happy hoppy Easter Department 56 offers a great selection of Snowbunny figurines that you can collect.
Christmas Village Accessories
Amazing collectable ornaments, figurines and Christmas Village accessories to inspire your imagination How do you decide which pieces to collect?
Create a magnificent Christmas display using the Dept 56 backdrop starry night Information and four easy steps to building a Christmas Village display.
Department 56 Retired Pieces
Delightful and fascinating collectibles for holiday decorations, magical gifts, or just to indulge your passion for collecting. Once you start your collection you might find a particular Christmas Village evokes memories of special Christmases of your childhood.
Department56 villages, figurines and collectables for Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, or any time of the year Establishing and building a Department56 collection.
Fabulous Department 56 collectables for special occasions, or just for any time of the year Department 56 pieces are retired after a set period of time, so the designs are effectively limited edition pieces.
General Department 56
A gift-giving guide to m and m collectibles A list of seasonal M and M collectibles offered by Department 56.
Buying Department 56 Collectibles A list of several preferred merchants for buying Department 56 collectibles.
Delightful department 56 villages, ornaments and accessories you’ll cherish for years to come Department 56 has a wide range of collectables available, from traditional Christmas villages to Krinkle ornaments.
Department 56 New Introductions for 2005 Several times each year, Department 56 introduces new village buildings, accessories, Snowbabies and Krinkle ornaments.
Fantastic figurines, ornaments, Christmas Villages and other collectables to turn you hobby into a passion Information on collecting Department 56 Villages, Ornaments, Krinkles and Accessories.
Fascinating collectible figurines, ornaments and villages Getting started on collecting and what type of figurines you should collect.
For a whole world of fantastic collectibles, eBay is the place to go eBay is a great place to start or build your Department 56 collection.
The wonderful, ever-changing Department 56 catalog of villages, figurines, ornaments and other collectables The Department 56 catalog features an extraordinary array of beautiful model villages, accessories, figurines and ornaments.
Department 56 Display Ideas: Use a Glass Cloche to Encase Village Buildings I recently received an email newsletter from Department 56 promoting the gift sets that use the new Long-Life Cordless Lighting technology. The North Pole Series village building "Mrs. Clause Handmade Christmas Stockings" was encased a lovely Victorian bell cloche.
Guide to Dept 56 Classifieds A D56 Classified Directory. Trying to sell all or part of your Department 56 collection? There really is no better place than the Internet to reach a large number of buyers.
Other Village Series
Christmas Village Cutouts So what exactly do we mean by Christmas village cutouts? Simply put, cutouts are the large shapes of Christmas trees, castles, churches, snowmen, jolly elves, and sleighs cut from plywood that spring up out lawns all across the nation at Christmas time.
Colonial Village Christmas Houses by Lefton Lefton introduced the Colonial Village Christmas houses in 1987, a collection that includes more than 100 porcelain buildings that evoke simpler times in the early American tradition.
Steps to Construct My 2011 North Pole Christmas Village Set
Thomas Kincaid Illuminated Village Christmas Tree If you collect Department 56 Christmas miniature villages, you are no doubt familiar with the work of Thomas Kincaid.