The Top 10 Best Christmas Collectibles for Gift-Giving

How many Christmas ornaments do you own? If you display ornaments even after the holiday season, you may be a collector. With so many different colors, styles and sizes, a Christmas ornament collection is easy to begin and build.

Ornament collectors often narrow their focus to a particular design or style of ornament. For instance, they may gravitate toward antique, retro or mercury glass ornaments. Others are inspired by a hobby or profession.

They might collect ornaments from a particular collection or artist, like Christopher Radko, or those that represent sports teams, brands or animated characters they love.

Some people collect Christmas tree ornaments that reflect a particular theme, like animals, stars or snowflakes. Just a glance at the Christmas ornament section will convince you that the collecting and gifting possibilities are virtually endless.  

Older folks may remember the thrill of waking up Christmas morning to find a model train chugging around the tree. That same childish wonder is reflected in Christmas train sets, décor and collectibles.

From operating electric and battery-operated train sets to train ornaments and Christmas train tabletop accents, holiday train decorations are timeless. After all, who can resist a brightly decorated classic engine pulling cars full of cheerful elves and colorful Christmas packages?

There’s no telling where a train collection will take you!

Originally, snow globes weren’t Christmas decorations at all. In fact, the first patented snow globe was the failed result of an attempt to create brighter lights for medical operating rooms. But by the 1920s, as technology made them easier and cheaper to produce, snow globes became popular gifts and collectibles.

While early snow globes usually depicted religious scenes, these days you can find snow globes representing all kinds of designs, from traditional winter scenery to your favorite holiday TV special. Many Christmas snow globes light up, spin or play music.

The best part is, with a snowglobe, you can enjoy a snowy little Christmas all year long.

As heralds of the first Christmas, angels are one of the most traditional symbols of the holiday season. Whether they are depicted as cheerful cherubs or trumpeting messengers, you can find angels everywhere at Christmas time.

There are angel tree toppers and lawn decorations, but angel figurines are probably the most collectible angel decor.

As long as there is Christmas, there will always be new angel figures to please collectors.

Whether it’s a majestic buck or whimsical reindeer, deer seem to pop up perennially on lawns, mantels and dinnerware during the holiday season.

Deer have played a part in both European and North American cultures for thousands of years. They have even been associated with ancient gods. 

But the deer’s popular association with Christmas soared after the publication of a certain famous Christmas poem. When Clement Clarke Moore, the author of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” chose “eight tiny reindeer” to pull Santa’s sleigh, he cemented their inclusion in Christmas lore.

Lucky collectors have no shortage of reindeer decor from which to choose, including deer tabletop decorations, reindeer Christmas ornaments, deer lawn ornaments and other deer-related decor.

Even before we became familiar with a certain jolly animated snowman, people enjoyed making snow figures. With their colorful scarves and jaunty top hats, snowmen are a cheerful symbol of winter and the holiday season.

These days, you can find the winsome snowman depicted in ornaments, on clothing and greeting cards, as well as Christmas stockings and stocking holders.

Snowman collectibles run the range from figurines to soft sculptures. They may even light up, rotate or play music. And none of them are likely to melt!

Funny, floppy little Christmas gnomes are another favorite collectible. Gnomes and gonks, their Scandinavian cousins, are typically dressed in cone-shaped hats and warm knits or fur-trimmed winter wear. Some woodland gnomes don nubby fabrics in muted tones, while Christmas gnomes are ready for the holiday in festive colors.

Gnome lovers have many styles to choose from and their affordability makes gnome decor easy to give and collect.

Colorful and a little quirky, nutcracker figures have been a traditional Christmas gift for centuries. The soldier-like nutcrackers common today can be traced back to Germany in the 1600s. Their popularity became more widespread after Tchaikovsky introduced his ballet, “The Nutcracker Suite.”

These days, Christmas nutcrackers come in all shapes and sizes. In addition to traditional nutcrackers made of wood, you can also find crystal nutcracker ornaments, ceramic nutcracker cookie jars and many other nutcracker-themed products.

While handcrafted nutcrackers may cost hundreds of dollars, less expensive figures in dozens of styles are everywhere during the holiday season. New designs every year ensure a fresh supply for the Christmas nutcracker collector.

Christmas Central offers an extensive collection of nutcrackers, including several designs by Christian Ulbricht of Erzgebirge-Palace, headquartered in the German mountain region where nutcrackers originated.

Who’s more popular at Christmas time than Santa Claus? From Santa gnomes to inflatable Santa lawn ornaments, the big guy can be seen everywhere during the holidays.

Father Christmas and Santa figurines, artwork and ornaments are among the most popular Santa Claus collectibles. Within those categories, collectors might focus on specific images, like Norman Rockwell Santas or Coca-Cola Santa art.

Whether you place him on your mantel, by your tree, in an entryway or on your coffee table, a Santa Claus figure is always a cheerful sight.

The most genuine symbol of the season is the nativity scene. St. Francis of Assisi is said to have staged the first living nativity scene in the 13th century. Since then, people around the world have set up their own miniature nativity scenes in their homes each Christmas season, as a reminder of the holy birth.

Beyond the basic nativity set, consisting of figures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, you might see wise men, angels and various livestock. Some collections expand the scene beyond the borders of the stable, adding figures that represent visitors, villagers and tradesmen of Bethlehem.

Similarly, many folk set miniature villages around their Christmas trees or on tabletops throughout their homes. The practice of putting up a Christmas village, or “putz,” is rooted in the Moravian church, beginning around the late 1700s. The hobby grew with the popularity of putting up a Christmas train around the tree, but really exploded in the 1980s.

Some of the most popular Christmas village scenes use molded ceramic or resin representations of modern and old-time homes and businesses. Miniature Christmas village sets may depict small town American life, Victorian England or a European mountain town, among other settings.