Christmas village sets, nativity scenes and figurines

Christmas village sets: what the grid holds

Miniature houses, trees, figures and accessories make a Christmas village, built up over the years on a mantelpiece, shelf or sideboard. This page lists ready-made sets and single pieces, mostly in wood, resin, plastic and ceramic, and buyers rate the range 4.4 out of 5 on average.

The small Lemax pieces in this grid are accessories, such as signs and figures, not buildings, so pair them with houses of a matching size.

Buying Christmas village sets: scale, materials and power

Shelf size and scale

Measure the depth of the shelf before you order. Houses here are 7 to 12 cm deep and most animated scenes 13 to 20 cm, while a candle bridge is 33 cm wide and 45 cm tall. Then compare heights: a 7 cm figure beside an 8 cm house looks wrong, because the door is lower than the figure. Pieces sold in one set or one range are more likely to match.

Ceramic, resin, wood or plastic

• Ceramic: polished white houses and frosted trees. A set of 5 houses, 9 trees and LED tea lights weighs 2.4 kg and a 13-piece set 1.7 kg, and ceramic chips or breaks if dropped.
• Resin: hand-painted detail on figures and scenes. An animated skating scene weighs 0.55 kg.
• Wood: lit houses and scenes, such as a set of three that weighs 240 g.
• Plastic: sets such as a 10-piece light-up town or a 25-piece mini village, and several musical scenes.

Light, music and power

Most light-up pieces run on batteries, and the listings give AA or AAA, so check that batteries are in the box. One animated scene also takes a DC adapter, one ceramic set uses LED tea lights with a remote, and a clay gingerbread house has a timer. Two musical scenes play 8 songs or carols. Many listings say indoor use and a few say indoor and outdoor, so read the usage line.

Light colour matters on a shared shelf. The animated scenes list multi-coloured LEDs, while the wooden lit scenes and a 10-piece town list warm white, and mixing the two on one shelf looks uneven.

Laying out a village

1. Measure the surface and leave room behind it for cables or batteries.
2. Put the tallest houses at the back and the smallest in front.
3. Fill the gaps with trees and figures, in groups of two or three.
4. Spread white cloth or cotton wool as snow, and keep cables out of sight behind the buildings.

Storing a village

Wrap ceramic and resin pieces one by one in tissue or bubble wrap, and keep the box dividers if the set came with them. Take the batteries out before the box goes in the loft, because old batteries can leak.

Building a Christmas village over the years

A ready-made set fills a mantelpiece in one purchase: one ceramic set has 5 houses, 9 trees and LED tea lights, another has 4 houses, 7 trees and 2 deer, and a plastic village has 25 pieces with figures and vehicles. Add one animated scene as the focal point, then small accessories, which cost £6 to £13 in the listings, as the village grows.

Common mistakes

• Ordering from the photo alone. Close-up photos give no scale, so read the size in centimetres.
• Mixing scales. Compare the height of the smallest figure with the doors of the houses.
• Putting heavy ceramic on a thin shelf. The ceramic sets weigh up to 2.4 kg.
• Skipping the power line. Most light-up pieces take AA or AAA batteries, and a few add an adapter or a remote.

Nativity sets, snow globes, gonks and nutcrackers

Four ranges sit beside the villages, and each has its own page.

• Nativity sets hold the stable and the figures of the holy family, shepherds, wise men and animals, in sets of 3 to 24 pieces, mostly resin with some ceramic and wood. Half of them cost between £21 and £85.
• Snow globes and music boxes are glass or resin and run from about 8 cm to 26 cm tall, with some musical and some lit by LEDs. Half of them cost between £15 and £39.
• Christmas gonks and gnomes are mostly soft figures in cotton, polyester or plush, sold singly or in sets of two or three, and half of them cost between £8 and £14. The Christmas gonk craze explained covers where they come from.
• Christmas nutcrackers are decorative nutcracker soldiers and figures, not the kitchen tool or the ballet, from 12 cm tree ornaments to 1.2 m giants and mostly in wood. Half of them cost between £13 and £25, and nutcracker soldiers: history, meaning and how to display them gives the background.