How to Build a Halloween Village Holiday Display

Haunted miniature villages are a spooky and whimsical display that you can add to your Halloween decorating display this fall season. Companies such as Department 56 and Lemax produce miniature houses, decorations, accessories and lighting to create a realistic village setting. I use a combination of pieces from both companies, some people prefer to stick to one or the other. This is entirely up to you.

You can collect new houses and accessories every season to add on to your village, and in no time you will have an elaborate display. You can create a lighted holiday village display in your home to decorate for Halloween or Christmas, the basic concept of building is the same for any seasonal village.

Halloween villages are magical, and kids and adults alike will have fun playing with these enchanted scenes. I wish I could shrink down and frolic through my village, and it is my dream to live in a town that looks like this year round! I have been collecting houses and supplies for my village for many years, purchasing new pieces every year to add. The last accessory I purchased a couple of years ago was my spooky train, which I absolutely love! The working train adds a whole new dimension to the village!

I decided to share the step-by-step process involved with creating a holiday village. I have experimented with many ways to build the village, cover the base and add the lighting and I am now sharing these tips with you! Have fun decorating and Happy Halloween!

There are a few things you need to do before you begin building the village.

STEP 1:

Take all of your houses, accessories and lighting out of the boxes and place them on a separate surface than the surface where you are building the village. This way you can see everything laid out and pick and choose items easily when decorating.

STEP 2:

Cover your surface to protect it. If you are building your village on a piece of furniture that will scratch easily, cut a few pieces of foam sheets to the size you need using a serrated knife and place it down on the surface. Then cover the surface with either a table covering or piece of cloth. Use a dark covering that will cover up well when you place the Spanish moss. I have used black fabric as well as printed fabrics that have a natural appearance. You will be adding a moss covering to the finished village, so use textured fabrics that the moss will adhere to.

STEP 3: Create your base structure. You can purchase foam platforms where village houses are sold. There are some amazing platforms, some with working lights and fog. I purchased one platform that looks like an old tree trunk, and I am definitely considering investing in some of the really awesome platforms that are on the market that have lights and fog! However when I started off I wanted to go cheap, so I use the boxes that my Halloween houses are packed in to create mountains.

Start by stacking the largest boxes on bottom, adding smaller and smaller boxes on top. Make sure the box on top has a surface large enough to accommodate whichever house or decoration you want to add to the top of the mountain.

You can make the mountains as tall or wide as you like, just be sure your boxes are sturdy. Keep the foam packing inside to give you added stability.

STEP 4: Cut a piece of fabric large enough to fit over the mountains to cover the front and sides, and the back, if necessary. I used an old tapestry fabric in a brown color with a subtle natural print. From a distance the fabric has a crackled look, which helps to achieve the mountain appearance.

Tuck the fabric over the boxes and around the base of the boxes to mold it to the shape you want.

I love lots of lighting in my Halloween village, so I add extra lights to the base of the village. I drape the cords to the side of the village where I place a six-way plug.

STEP 5: Purchase Halloween purple string lights and drape them over the top of the mountain and along the base of the village. Alternatively, you can use orange lights, if desired.

As you can see in Photo 7, I draped the string lights so they form one layer of lighting spread across the base.

IMPORTANT: If you have a train track, it is necessary to drape any cords for the lights or houses underneath the track so the train will run smoothly (See Photo 8). My tracks have miniature bones, so I drape the lighting underneath and between the bones so the track lays flat on the surface. The trains will not run properly unless they are flat on the surface.

STEP 6: Now it's time to place your houses in the village. Place larger houses in the back and smaller ones in the front and in between. This is where your creativity comes in!

It is important to make sure that any light cords coming from your houses will reach your six-way or whatever kind of electrical you have set up. The cords have a tendency to be short. Some houses come with corded battery packs and some have cords for plugging. You can use extension cords, if necessary.

STEP 7: Place accessories around the village such as trees and figurines. Do this before you place the layer of moss, so you know where everything will be placed. The only item I leave until last are the gravestones in the cemetery, but I create the space for them ahead of time.

Make sure you place the houses on sturdy surfaces. I placed my Dracula's Castle on top of the mountain as a focal point, so I made sure that the boxes I used were sturdy and would not bend.

STEP 8: The final step is to spread your natural base layer. I use Spanish moss which comes in large bags in craft stores. Pull small pieces at a time, and begin by covering your mountains. Spanish moss will stick to itself as well as a textured fabric. I start by adding moss at the top of the mountain, and then press it against the sides, moving my way down. You can choose to completely cover the surface, or leave gaps so the fabric shows.

Then I add small clumps of moss around the base and into corners to cover the fabric and to conceal the string lights on the base. The moss creates a mesh covering, so the string light bulbs do shine through, but you do not see the cords. The moss also looks like natural ground.

Craft stores sell miniature fall leaves which are a nice addition to add over the moss. Sprinkle them around for some color.

STEP 9: Add your last minute touches! I added a lighted moon accessory, and two sets of black light spot lights to the scene. The spotlights are available with village accessories in craft stores. You can direct the spot lights in any direction to highlight your focal pieces. I added all of my character figurines, such as Dracula and Frankenstein, as well as vehicles and a Headless Horseman figurine.

Use your imagination and buy or make items for your village. Have fun and Happy Halloween!

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