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Department 56 is most known for its beautifully crafted Christmas village buildings and accessories, but it seems like they have a bazillion village series. So many, so that you may find yourself asking : “How many Department 56 Villages are there?”

Well, read on because this guide gives you a complete list of every Department 56 village series, broken into easy categories.

How Many Department 56 Villages Are There?

Take a seat—because the answer can make your head spin. At the heart of Department 56 are the core series, like The Original Snow Village and The Heritage Village Collection (which includes favorites such as Dickens Village). Beyond those, there are countless smaller series, plus even more lines created exclusively for other retailers. To keep things clear, let’s first define what will and won’t be included in this list of Department 56 villages.

What’s Included (and What’s Not)

For this post, I’m focusing specifically on village series. That means a few things won’t make the cut:

• Hot Properties Collection – While fun, these pop-culture inspired buildings (based on movies, TV shows, games, and more) aren’t traditional villages. They’re usually stand-alone collections or small series that can be displayed on their own or mixed into larger Christmas villages for fun themed accents.
• Commissioned & Exclusive Designs – Special one-off pieces made for specific retailers or events also won’t be included, since they weren’t designed as part of an ongoing series.

The Four Types of Department 56 Village Series

To simplify things, I’ve grouped the village series into four main categories:

1. Core Villages: are meant to grow and change year after year. The Original Snow Village and The Heritage Village Collections (Dickens, North Pole…) fall into this category. Each year, new buildings make their debut and others are retired.
2. Small Limited Villages: These collections are intentionally designed to be small with a limited number of buildings and figures over a limited years produced.
3. Iconic and Licensed Villages: This category features iconic, licensed village series inspired by beloved movies, TV shows, games, and classic toys. These often become collector favorites due to nostalgia and pop culture ties.
4. Exclusive Villages Made for Big Box Stores: These are mid-range village series that are designed, produced, and exclusively sold through big box stores.

Core Villages

A core village at Department 56 refers to the brand’s flagship village collections—updated each year with new buildings and accessories. While some have been retired, most remain active today. Check out the list below for a list of the core series, the year they were introduced, and the year they were retired (if relevant). Each of these series are winter/Christmas theme design

If you want a deeper dive into each of these villages, check out THIS POST, where we talk more about each series and the difference between them

NOTE: Some of the Core village series fall under the Heritage Village Collection umbrella, a collection of porcelain villages. Those Village series will have the Heritage Village Collection branding on the packaging.

SERIES NAME	YEARS	SUBSERIES	NOTES
The Original Snow Village	1976 – Current	-Snow Village Halloween -Snow Village Harvest -Snow Village Easter -Snow Village Celebrate Love -Chow Town -American Architecture -Bucks Country -Christmas Lane -National Lampoon Christmas Vacation
Dickens Village	1984 – Current	-The Historic Landmark Series -A Christmas Carol	Falls under the Heritage Village Collection umbrella
North Pole	1990 – Current	-Elfland -Woods Collection	Falls under the Heritage Village Collection umbrella
Alpine Village	1986 – 2021		Falls under the Heritage Village Collection umbrella *Retired
New England	1986 – 2020		Falls under the Heritage Village Collection umbrella *Retired
Christmas in The City	1987 – Current
Scenterville	2025		This series is a first of it’s kind. This collection will feature lighted village buildings with a wax warmer incorporated into its design. So now you can bring that crisp winter pine smell to your village.
Christmas Canyon	2025*		Announced in 2025, but the release was postponed until 2026 due to production issues.

Small Limited Villages

These charming, smaller collections blend beautifully with larger village series or stand out as delightful village vignettes all on their own. While many of these Department 56 village pieces aren’t specifically themed for Christmas or winter, you’ll find that quite a few fit seamlessly into a holiday village display.

Series Name	Years	Notes
Meadowland	1979 – 1980
Storybook Village	1996 – 2004
The Historical Landmark Series	1997 – 2008	These buildings were either designated as Dickens or Christmas in the City designs
Seasons Bay Series	1998 – 2002	This is an “all-season” village made to be displayed all year round, easily adaptable to any season.
Literary Classics Collection	1998 – 2003	Many of these were designed to cross over with other core village series
Snowy Pine Hills	1999 – 2000
American Pride Collection	2001 – 2005
Carnival	Sister Series to Winter Frost, but on a smaller scale	Designed to complement other villages like The Original Snow Village
The Holy Land Collection	1987 – 2006	-Little Town of Bethlehem Series -The Easter Stories Series -Parables of Jesus
Winters Frost	2008 – 2013
First Frost	2016 – ??	Sister Series to Winter Frost, but smaller scale

Iconic and Licensed Villages

This category features iconic, licensed village series inspired by beloved movies, TV shows, games, and classic toys. These recognizable designs bring a playful twist to your village display—and they’re often some of the most popular and sought-after pieces each season! Many of these series are standalone, but can also work well with other series.

Note: Some licensed pieces were created to be included in a core village series. These are officially licensed pieces, but they don’t make up a full series of their own. For example, the most recent Home Alone house was designed and released within the Original Snow Village line, rather than being its own stand-alone series.

To add another layer, there are also fully licensed village series (like the Harley-Davidson collection). At the same time, you may also find individual licensed pieces sprinkled into the core villages—separate from the dedicated licensed series.

Series Name	Years	Notes
Disney Park Village	1994 – 1996
A Christmas Story	2005 – Current	This is a decent-sized village series that is still introducing new pieces each year
Grinch Village	2011 – Current	A nice-sized village that is still introducing new pieces each year.
T’was The Night Before Christmas	2003	A small series of resin houses that was only produced for one year.
Mickey Mouse’s Holiday Village	2009 – Current	This village seems to have been called a number of different names over the years. “Disney Mickey’s Merry Christmas Village” and “Disney Mickey’s Christmas Village” are two examples
Harry Potter	2018 – Current
Legends of Sleepy Hallow-een	2008 – 2010	A small series with just a few buildings and figures that would be good for a vignette.
Peanuts	2010 – Current	This is a decent-sized village that is still introducing new pieces each year.
Monopoly	1999 – 2001
Williamsburg	2010 – 2016	Stand alone series but works well with the New England core series.
The Simpsons	2013 – 2014	Made in honor of the 25th anniversary.
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer	2013 – 2015	Small series introduced mid-year
Jim Shore Heartwood Creek	2011-	A small, short-lived series.
Downton Abbey	2014 – 2015	A small series with just a few buildings and figures that would be good for a vignette.
Disney Frozen	2015	Produced for just one year.
Elf The Movie	2016 – 2024	It can be displayed as a standalone, but it works well with Christmas in the City or the North Pole series.
Jack Daniel’s Village	2016 – 2018	No figures were made under this series, but some were made under the New England series that work nicely.
Harley-Davidson	2016 – 2018	Small series with mostly box-sets.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town	2005	Produced in honor of the show’s 35th anniversary

Exclusive Villages Made for Big Box Stores

Some of the Department 56 Village series and buildings/accessories are designed exclusively for specific companies or retailers. The list is ever-growing, but the table below gives information about these types of exclusive Department Village series.

Traditions	Big Box Store
Simple Traditions: Holly Lane	Khol’s
Simple Traditions: Sweet Treats Express	Lowes
Simple Tradition: Pine Isles	Khol’s
Simple Traditions: Holiday Charms	Linen-N-Things, Menards
Hometown Traditions: American Heartland	Walmart
Hometown Traditions: Sweet Streets	Walmart
Traditions by Department 56: Holiday In The Woods	Menards

Department 56 History List

For an exhaustive list of every building/accessory that is part of each village series along with item number and year released/retired, check out this Department 56 village history list page.