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Five Things to Consider When Planning a Christmas Display

Summer is nearly over. How did it go by so quickly? Now that we are past Labor Day, it is time to plan this year’s Christmas display. There are a number of considerations and I would like to address what we consider are the five most important.

  1. 37006stIs the focus religious or secular or both? With the modern holiday celebration of Christmas it is easy to forget that it evolved as a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Many Christians consider it very important to make this statement by displaying a Nativity Scene or Creche. Many people also view Christmas as a holiday for children, so the Santa, Snowman, Nutcracker or Toy Soldier have become an important part of the non-religious Christmas mythology.
  2. Is your display to be indoor or outdoor, or both? Of course, much of the Christmas ritual is centered on the Christmas tree with all of the traditional decorations and accessories and the family traditions that go along with it. Many religious people have replaced some or all of the baubles and tree skirts and, in some cases, even the tree, with an indoor Nativity Scene. Out door displays whether a Nativity creche or a Nutcracker, need to be large enough to be visible and are usually spotlighted. Here, location is important, if they are to be seen on  the street.
  3. 38200stWhere and how are you going to store your Christmas display? Some displays are lighted wire shapes which fold flat and are easily stored, standing up against a wall or lying down. The same storage convenience applies to the painted wood panel 2D Nativity figures and sets. The three dimensional fiber glass or resin mix Nativity or other Christmas statues will require some prior planning for off season storage.If convenient, we recommend that you store these pieces in the carton or crate they were shipped in. These can be stored in a garage, attic, warehouse or annex that is dry and safe. If there isn’t room to use the original boxes, the individual pieces can be wrapped in bubble wrap and laid flat on the floor and on top of each other, up to a safe height. Resin and fabric figures should always be stored in the original carton in a dry area.
  4. How are you going to keep your Christmas display safe and secure? On our website under the heading “Useful Information” we offer a number of suggestions about securing your outdoor Nativity and other Christmas statues and displays. These include tethering, attaching or otherwise connecting the statue to something immovable, like the ground. Indoor displays should be set up away from fireplaces or hot electric lights.
  5. The last consideration is your budget. You will want to view this kind of purchase as an investment. Our  fiberglass and polyresin pieces are not yesterday’s cheap throwaway  plastic figures lighted from the inside or the soft vinyl blow ups which wilt overnight. With proper cleaning and storage they will last you a long time. Whatever your budget, don’t for get to include the cost of shipping/delivery for your item or set.

These are our five key factors. What are yours? Please let us know and, for the best submission, as determined by us, we will give $100.00 off the price of any of our items which sell  for $1200.00 or more.

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Nativity Scenes in Other Lands

reforma-1A few years ago we were visiting Mexico City at Christmas and our friends told us about the displays of Nasciamentos or Nativity Scenes on Avenida Reforma, a main thoroughfare in the City. Each display had been sponsored  by local businesses, non -profit organizations, government departments and charities. They were then rendered by artists from the area. In the tradition of  Saint Francis of Assisi, there was a live Nativity Scene with adult and child actors and animals.

At Christmas, Mexico City is warm during the day and cold at night but mostly sunny, when the sun  can cut through the smog. Reforma is a six lane boulevard with a large city park at one end and statues of revolutionary heroes and majestic fountains dominating the round-abouts at major intersections. Traffic, as with all traffic in Mexico City, is always heavy, so crossing the boulevard to view and photograph the Nativities was a challenge.

reforma-2Many viewers of the scenes were foreign tourists like us, but many were Mexican families, perhaps from villages and rural areas. There were busloads of children and adults from schools and affinity groups and city dwellers out for a stroll. The whole scene creates a pleasant memory for us and a contrast with our own country where a display like this would be nearly impossible.

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5 Steps to Buy a Christmas Nativity Set

60550stWe often talk with groups looking to raise the funds to buy a new Nativity scene for their organization, church, hospital, municipality or charity. They may be looking to replace a Nativity that they have had for years or they may be buying a Nativity Set for the first time. In this blog, we offer some steps and suggestions to help you and your organization achieve this objective.

1. Take advantage of our offer on our website under “Information Request”. Tick off the items that you want pictures and more information on , provide your mailing address and contact information and we will send you full color 8″x11′ photos of any of the sets requested, along with set data and shipping cost to your zip code. This will all be contained in an attractive presentation folder, which can be used at purchasing committee meetings or given to the decision maker. The photos are high quality and can be used to make posters and hand outs for group fund raising.

2. Successful fund raising may start with the identification of a potential benefactor. In a church or charity, this may be someone remembering a loved one, a long time supporter or congregant or a board member. This person may offer a contribution matching monies raised by the group or committee or they may provide the full amount. Remember to involve them in the process as much or as little as they want. They make the rules.

3. The keys in group fund raising is volunteers and communication. Create a committee with clear responsibilities , not just opinions and set some targets with timing and amounts. Critics and opinionated people can be challenged to either donate time or money to back up their opinions. Once an objective is agreed, the research becomes the most important next step. Use the internet search engines to locate Nativity alternatives, which are rarely available in local retail stores.

4. Once your group has decided which Nativity set to purchase, you will want to consider some money raising techniques. In a church, for example, these may include bake sales, silent auctions, “Christmas in July” and “Nativity Tree” and many other fund raising activities. Local businesses  may want to contribute or the local municipality may have a budget for Christmas celebration. Charitable organizations may be able to obtain grants which match funds raised by the fund raisers..

5. Always try to identify your target donor or donor group and tailor your communications and events to them. After a successful  campaign, be sure to give credit to the hard working fund raisers and to especially  thank the donors. At any point in this process, if you think we can help, please contact us

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The Plastic Reindeer Rule-An Opportunity

life-size-santaIn my last blog I discussed the so called “Plastic Reindeer Rule” created by the US Supreme Court. In summary, this ruling seems to require that any display of religious significance, such as a Christmas Creche or Nativity Scene, should be accompanied by a secular Christmas figure such as a Santa , Toy Soldier, Nutcracker or Reindeer.

Even this interpretation of the ruling is open to challenge by parties like the ACLU. In other cases a Giant Creche placed in New York City’s Central Park at the corner of 5th Avenue and 57th St, seemed to cause little comment. If a municipality or local community wants to play it safe, we may be able to help. Beginning this week, August 8 and through September 30, 2011, we are offering a 10% discount on the price of any Life Size Snowman, Santa, Toy Soldier,  Nutcracker or Caroler Set ordered along with a Life Size or Giant Nativity Scene, such as a 43150 or 41102. Please refer to the discount code “Reindeer 2011″

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The Plastic Reindeer Rule and Christmas in July

The many celebrations of Christmas in July brought to mind the understandable confusion created by the various  interpretations of what has become known as the “Plastic Reindeer Rule”. This decision by the Supreme court in 1984 refers to a Pawtucket RI case (Lynch v. Donnelly) wherein the court ruled that the city did not violate the separation of church and state when it included a Nativity scene among a number of other Christmas holiday decorations(plastic reindeer, candy canes, a wishing well, a Jewish menorah) displayed in a public park. Please see a concise discussion of this and other significant holiday cases.

Its important to note that this ruling only applies to public/government property not private property and may be modified by specific state laws or circumstances. To quote the Pew Forum on Religious Displays and the Courts ” The Supreme Court has relied heavily on a close examination of the particular history and context of each display and has largely sidestepped setting clear rules that would assist the lower courts in deciding future cases”

holy-family-catholic-league-nyc-2010So what does  this all mean to a municipality or business planning a Christmas Holiday Display? In our opinion, if you are replacing an existing creche or Nativity which you have had for a substantial period of time, don’t hesitate, the law is on your side. If you are planning a new display on municipal or state property, combine several secular pieces (Santa, Nutcracker, Snowman) with the Nativity Scene. And, of course, if your display is on church or private property, even in a high traffic, high visibility location, the law is entirely on your side.

We welcome your comments

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More New Arrivals

This is an exciting and busy time of year for us. Our warehouse staff is working hard unloading multiple steel shipping containers containing boxes of our products manufactured in our factories in China and the Philippines. At the same time Claire, our buyer( and President) is busy photographing new items and sets which have just arrived so we can add or update the pictures on our website.

Some of these new items are additions to our Nativity Sets and Outdoor Nativity Scenes as well as a new Toy Soldier. We believe that it is important to continually improve and  add to our sets and individual items. We work with our factories and their designers and model makers to create new and improved Wise Men, Angels and Shepherds as well as adding dogs, goats and various barnyard animals and fowl to our Nativity Scenes.

On our website, you will now see the various social  media icons, including Facebook and Twitter. We hope you will “like” our site and share your photos and stories with us. We will be creating “Tweetable” stories and offers in the next few months as we develop these tools. More on this in our next post.

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Unique Nativity Sets Around The Globe

As I’m sure you’re aware, the first real nativity sets didn’t begin until the first by St. Francis of Assisi in the thirteenNativity scene in Naplesth century, though the birth of Christ had been depicted in art since the origin of the Church. But since the thirteenth century, different cultures and different countries have taken the nativity and added their own spin to it.

Many credit Naples in Italy as the real beginning of the nativity set as an art form. In the eighteenth century there would actually be competitions between families to create the most elaborate and intricate scenes. These scenes were not necessarily biblically accurate, and often depicted more mundane activities as well, like Mary washing diapers.

In the United States, there is a regional variant on the traditional nativity set. The Pennsylvania Dutch created what was called a “putz” at the foot of their Christmas tree. These intricate miniature scenes expanded over the years to include not only the nativity scene, but also other important biblical stories, such as Noah’s Ark. From including other biblical storiesChristmas village, these time consuming miniature worlds began to encompass the secular world, as well, becoming an entire Christmas Village.

Perhaps even more elaborate in ways than the US tradition of the Christmas village is another derivative of the nativity set – originating in Krakow, Poland in the nineteenth century. Called the “Krakow szopka” – this art form is a kind of folk art, as the scene of the birth of Christ usually incorporates historic buildings in the area. Bright colors, gilding, and the prominence of the building in the background are typical. They even have krakow szopka competitions – they can be as tall as two meters (or six and a half feet)!

One of the most important nativity sets is one that did not begin until relatively recently. In 1982 Pope John Paul II started the annual tradition of placing a nativity scene on display at the foot of the Christmas tree in the piazza at Vatican City374px-szopka_krakowska_bronislaw_piecik_mhk_1998.

As well as static nativity sets, from the extravagant to the humble, there are also traditional live nativity scenes that are largely derived from mystery plays, which were prohibited by the Church in the fifteenth century. These living nativity scenes were brought to the United States by German immigrants. In some countries, these live tableaus involve a procession to a final destination, and other times are more involved re-enactments that encompass both secular and religious happenings.

Whatever your take on the nativity, there is no doubt that there are a lot of powerful and creative interpretations of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ.

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About Us- Our Values

During our many years in business, both working for large public corporations, privately owned companies and running our own businesses, we have seen the importance of corporate and individual values on how the company is perceived by its customers and on the success of the organization. Most of us have experienced  “customer service”  with no phone number, no one to answer if there is one, or the endless waits and dead end extensions of a modern customer communication system. Generally, what that ‘”communicates” to us is that the only thing important about us as a customer is when we pay our money and “please go away”.

A recent poll by Young and Rubicam, the advertising agency, discovered that during and  “post recession” consumers were placing more importance on a company’s “kindness and empathy”, “friendliness”,” high quality” and “socially responsible”. It was reported that, between 2005 and 2009, US consumers reported a fourfold increase in in their preference for companies that show kindness in their operations and in their encounter with customers.

Claire and I have always believed that we should treat our customers the way we would like to be treated if we were customers ourselves. Simply put, we believe in the “Golden Rule”-“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Have we faltered and had glitches in our customer response? Of course! We are human after all.

Nevertheless, we are constantly trying to offer the best Life Size Nativities, Toy Soldiers and Nutcrackers and Outdoor Christmas Decor. We regularly improve on and add new products and we stand by the products we offer. We visibly display our toll free telephone number on our website and we try to answer customer calls, 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. More on this in the next post.

In the meantime, I will share with you the beautiful new Life Size Nativity 15 piece with Stable Item 43151. This set  has a new Ox and Donkey, a new King Balthazar and a chicken!43151st00

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Options for Outdoor Nativity Scenes

Ever since Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Claire used live animals and local villagers to stage the Christmas Nativity, Christians in North America and around the world have used all variety of materials and figures to represent the birth of Jesus Christ. These include  banana leaves, wood and straw in Mexico,  carved wood figures in the Philippines, plastic resin and fiberglass statues in the US and Canada and  Renaissance marble works of art in Europe.

Our offerings for Outdoor Nativity Scenes are neither wood and straw nor marble, but rather fiberglass and plastic resin. These are manufactured in Asia using processes similar to building a small boat, which, hopefully will make them durable and long lasting. They are finished with sunlight resistant paint. The figures are fairly heavy, weighing as much as 90 pounds for a large life size King. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend some sort of tethering for each piece to reduce the possibility of damage from tipping over and vandalism as well as theft.

We also offer Nativity Sets with a two dimensional “cut out” look in painted wood. Each of these pieces comes with a base and attachments which can be used to create an attractive tableau in limited space.95200nst

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Exciting New Items for Christmas Decorating

Our major product focus has always been on large outdoor Christmas decoration figures. These include outdoor Nativity scenes and toy soldiers and nutcrackers. We realized, from customer feedback and our own research, that we had to broaden the category of Christmas outdoor decor. So we worked, with our designers and the factory technicians, to create new concepts and figures.

32700stFirst was our new four piece Caroler Set which attractively updated the conventional Dickens era dress and look for Christmas Carolers. We augmented this set with a fabric and resin Indoor Caroler set, which will arrive shortly. Other festive  fabric and resin figures, new this year include the Jester,  Santa with a Horn and Vintage Santa.

We have added more of the beautiful plush animals both for the Nativity and for other Christmas decoration. These include the life size goat and baby lamb as well as brown and white hens, reindeer, dogs, deer and polar bear. A set of two penguins completes the array.

More on our new items in the next blog.