Can we pull this off in a month? I think we can!
I've been teasing this project for the past week or so, and it's finally time to share my concept for our very first Christmas event!
Ta-da!
Damian's Christmas Village!
In my dream of dreams, I'd LOVE to do something spectacular in the backyard, but this is the first year of attempting a Christmas event so I want to pace myself and start out with something easily viewable and welcoming from the street, but exciting and intricate enough to warrant getting out of the car and spending some time looking.
"A picture says a thousand words" as they say (and I can't spend too much time writing out this blog post, there's WORK to be done!!!) so I've drawn a sketch (above) and written a bullet point list of all the things our quintessential Christmas event will include:
"Peppermint Mickey" photo op
2 life-sized Gingerbread houses (one with cutout windows kids can pose for photos inside!)
Christmas Village display
Let's take a closer look at the Christmas Village, shall we?
The Christmas Village will include classic Victorian Christmas Village staples like a grand train, an ice skating pond, and the sweetest little buildings. The display will also include a 3-dimensional mountain background, tons of handmade snowflakes "floating in the sky," and as many magical surprises as I can pack in!
If I can swing it, I'd love to get some real gingerbread houses in the display too, but at the very least, I'm going to pump in the smell!
Sips & Sweets
It wouldn't be a fundraiser if we weren't selling something, would it? I want to make Damian's Christmas Village the first stop (or at least a must-stop) of the night for families going out and enjoying Christmas lights, so in my head that means hot cocoa, apple cider, churros, cinnamon rolls, and maybe one more item will be on the menu and available for purchase.
Of course, I think as long as we have Peppermint Mickey calling people over to our house, we should probably have candy canes ready to hand out too :)
The Grand Finale
As an extra sprinkle of winter magic on top of everything else, every half hour or so we will turn on a snow machine for the duration of a classic Christmas song - I already anticipate this being many visitors' favorite part of the event!
Can we make all this in a month?
I've already purchased all the lumber I think I will need to make this happen and I'm going to try and get the base built for our Christmas Village this weekend! And we've got arguably the most important part of our little village display already - a gorgeous blue train I found on Facebook Marketplace a couple weeks ago!
THANK YOU to everyone who has asked for a link to a registry of all the other items we will need to make this event happen! I've just completed an Amazon registry - here's the link:
And I will no doubt be spending a large chunk of time at Home Depot again getting more tools, paint, and more - so if anyone would rather help with those kinds of supplies, Venmo donations (please say in the comments that it is for supplies for this) or e-gift cards to Home Depot sent to my email ( PleaseSaveDamian@gmail.com ) would be so so appreciated!!!
I am incredibly excited to finally do an event of this scale for our very favorite holiday! Make sure to follow me on Instagram stories so you don't miss any developments! I can't wait to ring in the most wonderful time of the year with you all!!
<3
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