It’s a Wonderful Life Village

09 December 2013

From 1994-1998 Target stores sold the It’s a Wonderful Life village during Christmas. I was home on Christmas break and so what does any freshman/sophomore/junior in college do on the morning after Christmas? Go to Target to buy half price It’s a Wonderful Life houses with your mom, of course!
Even then I was cool…december-2011-007-1_thumb_thumb
My mom and I would buy a few pieces each year to add to our collections~they were $7.50 after Christmas.december-2011-014-1_thumb1_thumb



My Grandma and my mom taught me to write memories on things, otherwise they are just things…december-2011-101-1_thumb1_thumb
Apparently, Kristin wasn’t interested in buying IAWL houses, she just wanted to come to lunch…december-2011-015-1_thumb1_thumb
and then I would store them in a green rubbermaid bin under my Dad’s pool table where they stayed until I was married.december-2011-011-1_thumb_thumb
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But then, an awful thing happened! Without any warning, in 1999 they stopped selling the collection at Target. The nerve!december-2011-009-1_thumb1_thumb
It was so sad…if we would have known we probably would have bought the store out in 1998…december-2011-018_thumb1_thumb
Walgreens sold a line later around 2003, 2004? This Gower Drug was from there, but they just weren’t the same….december-2011-010-1_thumb1_thumb
Then, last year, some kind reader told me that Lowes had a line of It’s a Wonderful Life houses and I added the bridge and the Bailey Park sign to my collection. It’s probably good that Target stopped selling them when they did, because I really don’t have room for a whole, big village. december-2011-016-1_thumb_thumb
This is what the back of the boxes looked like, with all the different buildings and figures in the collection.
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If you ever see these at thrift stores or yard sales, get them!! They sell really well on Ebay. The following are especially hard to find and sell for big bucks! I’m including links so you can see what they look like (I have no affiliation with these sellers or Ebay~just wanted to show some examples)
Bedford Falls Police Station (scroll down on these)
Thanks for letting me share~it was fun taking a walk down memory lane. I love pulling out the memories with this set every year…
do you have a Christmas village? Do you remember the IAWL line at Target?
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*** re-post: I posted this last year and promised I would post again this year with updated Ebay listings so you can keep your eyes peeled in thrift stores! ***

1 comment

  1. It wasn't until the past several years that I've been focusing on "It's a Wonderful Life" village collection. Years ago, after Christmas, a music teacher co-worker/friend would drop off a village piece for me each year I'd helped him on set designs. My youngest daughter had researched Donna Reed for a class project while in elementary school, and became interested in the movie with Jimmy Stewart. I came to realize my Bedford Falls Station, George & Mary's House, Anderson's Clothing, and Chapel were all part of the same collection. I've since added several more pieces to my series. So your village blog has been of interest to me. I'll have to show it to my daughter who is now in college. Thanks for the fun!

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