How to Create a Kid-Friendly Christmas Village on a Budget

Good morning! So this year I became obsessed with the idea of a Christmas village for our house. I had been pinning Christmas inspiration to my Holiday Pinterest board and kept loving images with Christmas villages.

My little sister put up a village in her house and it made me think maybe I could do that too! I am on a budget, so I looked for alternate options to the glass (not super kid friendly) ones. So here is my How to Create a Kid-Friendly Christmas Village on a Budget tutorial!

first step- inspiration

I looked back at my pins and here are my favorites:

Images via 1 2 3 4 (3 & 4 no longer available)

step 2- shopping!

Most of the links suggest downloading a free pattern and tracing and cutting them out yourself. With a baby to care for and a full time job, I just don’t have time for that (although it is a cheap option)!

So I did the next best thing and bought a pack of 5 chipboard houses on eBay for $9.95 (no longer available). Of course, I needed some bottle brush trees on a budget, so I bought a pack of 8 pink trees for $3.75 and 8 white trees for $4.95 (both no longer available). When I was at Target, I saw a little house for $3 so I picked that up too.

On Black Friday, Michael’s had an amazing sale- the Christmas village stuff was 40-50% off plus you could get 30% off your total purchase (including sale items). I got a mini trailer for $3.14, a car for $3.14, wreaths for $1.04, light up lanterns $5.45, and a roll of fake snow for $2.82.

I went back and bought some embellishments (tinsel, fake snow for the roofs, silver beads, tiny pom poms) for $10. In total, I spent $47.42 on everything I need for my budget Christmas village. One Lemax house is $59.99, so I felt like that was a win. Now, it was time to paint!

step 3- paint

I used Martha Stewart craft paints I had on hand. I used the colors Beach Glass, Heliotrope, Pink Taffeta, and Pea Shoot and mixed them with white paint so they were super pastel-y.

The houses come with the windows still in, so you have to punch those out to start.

I painted the houses un-assembled because I figured painting a flat object was easier. Each house needed a few coats of paint. I used a foam brush (it gave a much thicker coat than a paint brush with bristels). I painted the roofs of all of the houses white since I wanted it to look like it snowed.

I then used a hot glue gun to assemble the houses and put on the roofs.

step 4- embellish

I added embellishments like doors (from the windows I punched out earlier) and wreaths with the hot glue gun.

step 5- display your village

To create the base for the village, I laid out books so I could have a bit of a hill

I then added the snow on top, layering it on so the table was completely covered

I put the houses on and realized that the houses were looking a little sad- not enough details

So I pulled the houses off and added embellishments- tinsel, snowflakes, beads, and mini pom poms to the wreaths

The last step was to add fake snow to the roofs. This really softened things up! This was probably the most fun part- seeing everything come together!

I put the houses up and just like that! We have a bona fide Christmas village!

Isn’t this little car and trailer the cutest?! I tried finding mini deer, but they were sold out or too big. Maybe next year!

So, I’m super happy with how it turned out! For less than $50 I love that I have a village that matches my decor and is kid friendly. Plus it makes me smile- and isn’t that what Christmas decorating is all about?!

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