Check Out My LEGO Christmas Wreath!
I must say, it’s pretty damn cool lookin’…
Last night at the pub, folks were already singing Christmas songs. Needless to say, everyone at our table was facepalming themselves. 🤦♂️ While I used to be a renowned Grinch every Christmas, I’m starting to grow out of it, and this year took a big leap — got myself some Christmas decorations! There is one rule, though. No decoration goes up before Advent, which this year is on the 27th of November. Also, the tree, something I haven’t done for three whole decades, can’t go up before the 1st of December. Breaking away from the three-decade old mould, this year I’ll also have a tree… a special tree, so subscribe if you wanna see it within the next week or so.
But, back to decorations. I am not going all out, don’t jump to conclusions. It’s just a Christmas wreath. Nonetheless, it’s special, because it’s made of LEGO. Well, everything that’s made of LEGO is special, so that’s quite expected, innit? 😄
While this is no wreath I would risk hanging on the outside door, LEGO’s idea to create a Christmas wreath set, is admittedly very clever, because most folks will hang it in a highly visible spot, which will catch many eyes during a time when people visit a lot.
LEGO’s Christmas wreath is definitely a conversation-starter, and a clever marketing tactic!
The #40426 set isn’t exactly the first holiday wreath, but it’s been 11 years since the last one was released in 2011, and let’s be honest, that one was just a tiny basic — though clever — poly-bag set, with 50 pieces. In contrast, the 2020 set has 10 times more pieces, 510, to be more exact! Now, that’s a respectable number, especially for 40 bucks. If you shop around, you might even stumble upon it for 30 or even 25.
Even at full price, though, I must admit it’s a good set to have. It’s a 2-in-1 in fact, which means you can build a Christmas wreath and an Advent wreath. Technically, there isn’t much of a difference conceptually and traditionally, but the latter is more suited for placing on a table and has the four candles, while the former is usually hung on a door.
For a relatively small set, you do have to pay extra attention to the steps, as it tries to mimic the organic nature of branches and various plants like holly, moss, etc. Interesting note on the plant pieces — they’re actually made of organic plastic. Yay for the environment! The base of the build involves a fair bit of repetition, so while that can become a bit boring, it’s also the faster section of the build. Once the base is done, placing all the plant bits is where you’ll spend most of your time. How accurate does it have to be? I would say fairly accurate, but making a mistake or two, won’t cause any visible damage to the overall aesthetics of the final result.
The final bit is the ribbon, a pretty straight-forward build. The whole thing took me about a leisurely hour to build, with Robbie Williams’ The Christmas Present album playing in the background from vinyl. 🤩 A great album, by the way, if you’re into Christmas albums.
Anything else to be said? Well, it’s a Christmas wreath. It certainly looks like one, and it’s of the right size too, measuring 25 cm in diameter. Oh, and it’s evergreen! You can pack it away and next year display it again. 😁 The buildable candles on the Advent wreath measure over 8 cm at full height, but can be adjusted to smaller sizes to replicate the burning of a real candle. Clever!
LEGO hit the nail on the head with the Christmas wreath 2-in-1 set. If you’re into Christmas, it’s a definite must-have.
Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, LEGO fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer! Read my Hello story here! Subscribe and/or become a member for more stories about LEGO, tech, coding and accessibility! For my less regular readers, I also write about random bits and writing.