Anybody besides me who collects Dept 56 "Dickens Village or similar?

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herb

Guest
Just curious if I'm the only one of the gang here who spends hours and hours setting up all those lighted houses (we have 18) and all those people and vendors etc. etc.

I must admit it looks nice when it's done... but it takes so much time.

Any other kooks? LOL

herb :)
 
M

Mariposa

Guest
Me, Me, Me. LOL Actually I started out building 1/12 th scale miniature doll houses and a couple years ago picked up a kit of Greenleaf HO buildings. These turned out great and just this year I set up a whole village out of them. Been running around town looking for figurines and accessories. But I'll be darned if I want to dismantle my lovely village after Christmas. Sooooo, just spent a couple hours picking up supplies to make green trees and other flowering landscaping items so I can chuck the snow and re create the village around Easter. Figure I will just paint over the snow and they will look plenty Spring, Summer, and Fall enough to last all year. LOL

I swear that someday I'm gonna figure out how to build myself a model cruise ship that opens up for display and then I can play cruise all year with my little people happily partaking in all the fun things onboard. I will be able to decorate my own cabin in any colors I wish. I'll bet creating the meals in the dining room will take me about a thousand years though. LOL LOL LOL Now that's what I call Therapeutic Recreation at it's finest.
 
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L8inAZ

Guest
What a great idea Mariposa, It sounds like it would be neat to do a year round village. Keep us updated on your progress.. Stephanie
 
S

SusanA

Guest
We do, but not to your scale yet. Went to Switzerland in 2001 and fell in love with it. So when we saw the Dept. 56 Alpine Village, well that was all she wrote. We bought 2 of the pieces a year ago and then this year we bought 4 more. We have many of the small pieces you are talking about with the people, St. Bernard, etc. that goes with this village. I know this is just the beginning of this and hope they keep making more pieces for our Alpine land. Going into the Dept. 56 store in Downtown Disney could be dangerous for me. Thank goodness we don't live in that area. So many fun things to see that we don't get in our departments stores here that sell these.

Don't want to put them away, but know we will be doing so in another week.

Have a Happy New Year.

Susan
 
T

TC

Guest
Re: Anybody besides me who collects Dept 56

Takes so much time??? You ought to try putting up the 85-90 that we have (plus the people, trees, walls, etc. that go with them). Get 'em down from the attic after Thanksgiving and put 'em back up around, oh, May or June. Why? 'Cause I'm @ddicted to the little $%&!&# things!!! It is a truly magnificent thing, though, when they are all set up across the livingroom floor (a good 25 feet), all the lights out except for the ones in the village houses, a strong toddy or two or three, kick back and before long, it's almost as if you were really there. Kinda like playing with a toy ship in the bathtub!
 
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Luv2B@Sea

Guest
Re: Anybody besides me who collects Dept 56

Be careful Herb, when you least expect it, those houses multiply! And, at 'their' time of the year, they have been known to take over whole living areas...
We loved our New England Village, then there were some Dicken's pieces that fit sooo well, then Christmas in the City found us and suggested placement in the bookcases....we ended up with 2 layers of towns spread out over the entire length of the living room. Enjoyable? No question about it, but lots of work too. After all you HAVE to change and improve on your village every year!
 
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birds

Guest
Re: Anybody besides me who collects Dept 56

Oh yeah...I have Dept. 56 Original Snow Village....all over the house! We built our house with special outlets in the shelves just for my village and now we have outgrown those shelves!
 

the brit

New Member
Re: Anybody besides me who collects Dept 56

Oh yeah...I have Dept. 56 Original Snow Village....all over the house! We built our house with special outlets in the shelves just for my village and now we have outgrown those shelves!
I have the dickens village but sadley had to move and ran out of room for more
I did however buy a cratchit house whose chimney would smoke if I could find the right stuff for it but sadley even dept 56 doesn't know what to use!
 

seamom

Staff Captain
Wow, A thread from 21 years ago. How time flies.
Sure does! I joined a couple of years before that! I actually didn’t notice the dates til you mentioned it and have made the mistake before of answering old posts in the past. Tonight, I thought another poster called Mariposa had joined and ironically had the same interests as our original but it was actually one of the one and only. Good memories of the lovely one we lost: a strong, positive woman through the end.
 

Skipper Hub

New Member
I have Dickins Village with 32 large pieces and dozens of peddler carts, many accessories and attachments etc. including street lights , landscaping, etc. Actual display takes up about eighteen feet. Can be more or less depends on how far apart you place the major pieces. Mine are usually around four to six inches apart. I actually create two streets to separate business, recreation, community and homes.
All at or over fifty years old, retired and in perfect condition including original containers.
I am literally too old to deal with it all now! As much as I loved doing the setup and displaying it for neighbors and friends, I needed relatives to take it out of the attic for me this year.
Trying to assess the value is next to impossible. So many retired pieces etc,
 

addictedrob

New Member
I've got a whole mini village going on too. The struggle is real, but once it's all lit up, it's like Christmas magic happened in my living room. Totally worth the effort, though.
 
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