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Tips for your first Christmas village

  1. Start small. You can have a charming little village with 3–4 pieces for under EUR 100 altogether.
  2. Add snow, moss and rocks for a realistic effect, but also to fill up space if you are starting small.
  3. Let figurines bring it to life. Animated pieces cost more than still ones, but what can breathe life into your village on a tight budget are figurines: people and animals.
  4. Compare prices. Check Where to buy to find the shops with the most competitive prices for Lemax and Luville pieces in Europe.
  5. Wait for discounts. Lemax pieces are pretty expensive in Europe, so sign up for the shops’ newsletters to hear about discounts, and wait for special days like Black Friday or after Christmas for the biggest ones (see where in Where to buy).
  6. Get inspired. Join Lemax and other Christmas village enthusiasts in Facebook groups such as Lemax Addicts, and follow them on Instagram.
  7. Watch before you buy. Before you buy an expensive animated piece, look it up on the official Lemax site and watch its video to see everything it does and how it is lit. Videos of other people’s villages (see tip 6) also show how a piece fits and works in different set-ups.
  8. Light the details. Although most houses and animated pieces are lit, and you can also buy street lamps, a village always looks rather poorly lit. One solution is tiny spotlights (which is what I did), another is a light above the village (but not too bright). It would be a shame not to see all the wonderful details!
  9. Invest in adapters, because there aren’t enough batteries in the world to see you through the whole winter :-)
  10. Build upwards. To make your village look truly great, add levels: hills and mountains.

Which train should I use?

For advice on choosing the right train for your village, see the guides from Christmas Villages Canada and Christmas Villages UK.

If you go with the recommended On30 (0n30) scale, note that Bachmann is the only company I could find that makes such trains, and they are pretty hard to find in Europe. I got my train set from moba24.de, but you can also find some at lgbstore.com. For the train I got, if you are in Europe, you will need a converter so that the American 110 V adapter can work with the European 220 V.