At one time Dept. 56 houses were just for Christmas, but with the introduction of the Haunted Mansion into Snow Village, a whole new holiday was targeted for haunting. In our fall displays we combine pieces from Dickens’ Village and Snow Village to make frightful scenes.

With a little bit of effort, you can use Dept. 56 houses for a table centerpiece and have them lit as well! Your table must be able to separate in order to insert leaves. Feed your wires through the gap and gently close so that there is as little space as possible, without pinching the wires. Using a tablecloth especially for the display, cut a hole in the center to feed the wires through. You can opt to assemble on a platform or directly on the table.

A wintry Dept. 56 display has a Valentine flair with heart-shaped lights on the garland and a heart wreath made of cockscomb on the mirror. Kensignton Palace, home to Princess Diana is the center piece and a fitting way to remember her.

Whether placed amongst baskets or sliding out of the entertainment center, there’s always a spot for a Dept. 56 house! By elevating houses on boxes and gracefully placing cotton batting, you can achieve the illusion of houses sliding out of a cabinet.

Visitors are always surprised when they slide open the linen cupboard door to reach for a towel and instead find a lighted Dept. 56 display! No room is left untouched when it comes time to spreading holiday cheer through all parts of the house.

A hatbox is the perfect stage for a holiday fantasy. In our two versions, The Olde Globe Theatre and Shakespeare’s Birthplace steal the show. We filled a decorative holiday hatbox with empty accessory boxes and topped off with a cutout round of Styrofoam to use as a platform. To finish, we sprinkled some snow and wrapped an artificial berry garland around the perimeter.

The living room fireplace is home to Dept. 56’s Dickens’ Village. Clustering houses together and at different heights with trees interspersed can add interest and depth to a display.

The kitchen sink is a riot of holiday activity with Department 56’s 12 Days of Dickens’ Village series displayed on the window niche shelves. To add to the 12 Days theme, “Ten Lords Leap” and “Nine Ladies Dance” in the handcut paper garlands that hang above the sink area. These were made from Martha Stewart templates. The shelf decorations were made out of scrapbooking paper. We cut several sizes of trees and used a hole punch to make holes in the shelf papers.

Placing houses in a wreath is a tedious task, but the results are worth it. Here, we’ve placed the original Dickens’ Village starter set houses in a large pine cone wreath. By carefully running the wires behind the wreath and up behind the streamer of ribbon, we were able to light the houses.

Sprawling your houses throughout the home creates holiday cheer in every nook and cranny. By clustering a small number of houses together, you can create an interesting display almost anywhere — on a dresser, in a basket collection, even on top of an air conditioner box as we’ve done with the Tower of London and Big Ben.

Serving vessels are perfect for Dept. 56 houses. Be it basket, cake plate or serving tray, they allow you to seamlessly incorporate small displays anywhere in the house during the holiday season.

With moss and summer trees, a wintry village can be transformed into a lush and green summertime display. Dickens’ houses can be used, but we found that there are more pieces from New England Village that are more suited to summer and beach side displays.