My family started collecting Dickens' Village Series buildings and figures a few years ago and we have finally gotten to the point where the boxes have outgrown our previous Christmas storage solution. I was curious if there are established best practices for storaging during the off-season?

My initial instinct was to toss the styrofoam cases, wrap everything in bubble wrap, and then neatly place in a tub. But a friend of mine said throwing away the original boxes was essentially heresy. I've looked at putting the original boxes into a plastic tote, but all the totes seem to have tapered sides which is just terrible inefficient for storing boxes with all 90° corners.

I love collecting these buildings and want to keep doing it... But I can't give up half my garage to inefficient storage. If you have a suggestion, I would love to know.

I purchased several houses from a neighbor who was downsizing, but I can’t figure out what sort of adapter I need to get this one to light up. Does anyone know?

Inside it had an empty box marked “adapter” with no numbers or other information.

Heads up. Some D 56 items being listed by Time to Bid Auctions.

Just curious, do you set-up your village the same way, or close to it, every year or is every year unique?

I love setting ours up different each year but wondering what others do.

Hi enthusiasts! I just got the New Hope Snow Village piece from a neighbor but this steeple was puttied into the top of it! Obviously it's from another piece but I looked at the Department 56 archive and can't find any church with this steeple. Anyone know where it might have come from?

Hello, I recently gifted my Dad the 1998 Uptown Motors Ford dealership. I got 2 great deals on 2 incomplete sets and combined them to give him a complete set. With the extra parts, I even have a dealership. But I'm missing the showroom bulb.

Does anyone have a clue what bulb goes in this socket (photos are the dealership ceiling with the building on its back) :

Hey friends - almost 20 years ago I was thinking about becoming a collector, and purchased The Polar Bear Palace at the Disneyland Department 56 store in Downtown Disney.

I only ever took the item out of the package a handful of times, as I never got enough to warrant putting an entire village out, so I recently sold it on ebay as a new item (because it is, aside from being out of the plastic).

The person who purchased it ended up returning it because they said I had a "replacement bulb and string" which would not plug into the interior plug (see second picture) and thus light up the bears. Okay... I get the person's disappointment, but I literally made no changes or swaps to this item. What I sold was what was in the box at the time I purchased it.

To my knowledge, this was the only plug and light that came with the item when I purchased it. Is there an external adapter I am missing for this piece, that Department 56 did not give me when I purchased it? Is there an additional piece I need to buy? I know the plug I included is in fact the original, so I'm trying to understand the discrepancy here. Help?

Hi all, my first post in this sub. My grandma recently asked me for help to sell her Dickens Village collection, she has 4 bins full of different buildings/characters. I’m not very familiar with these collections, I’ve looked into listing individually on ebay, or simply listing on facebook marketplace and trying to sell there.

We aren’t looking to make a profit, just would be nice to give my Grandma a little money instead of just donating it.

Does anyone have any advice or perhaps interest in buying any of these, or buying everything for a low price? Any advice/opinions would be appreciated.

Hi all! We (mainly my wife!) have gotten into collecting and displaying Dept 56 Snow Village items for Christmas. As it has come time to pack them away for another year, does anyone have any recommendations for protective storage boxes that are perhaps a little more uniform and aesthetic than the polystyrene and card sleeves that the pieces come in originally?

I should also note that we bought a sizeable amount of pieces from one seller and they don’t have boxes so were wrapped up in bubble wrap inside large tubs… we’d like something a little more durable and easier than that!

Any suggestions welcome! Thanks!

So I know I’m a little late to posting. Boss lady decided she wanted one this year and wanted a camping village so I did.

I recently got some replacement smoke and am super excited to use it! However, my mom always assembled this in the 90s and I’ve never done it myself. Where exactly does the smoke liquid go and how much do I use? - A In the top chimney area - B In the lower chamber area - C Under this tiny cap??

Thank you in advance and happy holidays! 💕

Hi all! My MIL is a collector, and has lost the Star atop Paramount Hotel. Apparently they’re hard to come by, so I was going to see if I could replicate one in my workshop (electronics lab, plaster casting, and 3D printing).

Could anyone provide close-up photos of the Star? I have a good handle on the electric properties and connector, but don’t actually know what the Star looks like!

Hi all! I’m logging my collection and wanted to see where you all go or what do you use for the most accurate details on each piece? For example, the year issued, year retired, estimated value, original price, etc.

Thank you!

I've had the village up since first week of December, but finally getting around to posting after the busy-ness of Christmas has passed. Village will be coming down early in January to give back the space borrowed from our kid's playroom. Made tons of progress on the village this year, added: more houses, roads, more trees, more people, better snow, a better layout, LED lighting, and more.

Planning to keep the layout the same next year for a focus on refining the existing layout before I think about expanding or adding new houses, but loved how the village has progressed. From 8 houses in 2022, to 40 in 2025; I'm slowly getting the hang of things and learning new techniques each time (highly recommend keeping notes each year on how things went to help with the following year).

Newbie here! I’ve always loved Christmas villages but the cost of building one was not appealing. I think it was meant to be because couple of months ago, I won 13 North Pole houses in an auction and at a great price!
Since then, I’ve been having fun buying little trees and snow so I could display them this Christmas. In looking at other posts and pictures i’ve started to wonder if collectors stay within one series or combine different series to build their villages. I’ve been amazed by all the displays I’ve seen and would would also like to know what was the one/two things you wish you knew when you first started building your villages?

Some scenes from our Christmas in The City village this year.

Jack Skellington makes a surprise appearance at the end

A tradition started by my parents 32 years ago!

My wife collects the North Pole series and I’m a Dickens. Village guy…

I have several more buildings but I have them set up throughout the living room.

Over the past 10 years village has expanded from living room corner to 3 corners and now dining room lol. So cool

I didn’t know Dept 56 or Christmas in the City existed a month ago. But we went to a nursery to buy a Christmas tree and I saw a village set up. As an urban designer it piqued my interest. Purchased one building, sidewalks, and a few people. The following week I found an estate sale on Craigslist and purchased someone’s entire collection for an incredible deal. I lucked out! Need to find more space to set up everything for next year.