This time of year, who doesn’t need a little extra industriousness? We don’t know exactly how to achieve it (Guarana+candy corn smoothies don’t work – we tried), but we can certainly look to Santa’s little helpers for inspiration.
James Baldwin of Coppell, Texas, built a haunted Old West town for Halloween that could transition perfectly to a spectacular Christmas Village. Here, you can see Santa Claus hard at work, thanks to Santa’s Workshop Decoration Collection. Read about it here in the AtmosFAN Hall of Fame.
And what an inspiration they are! When Santa’s Workshop Decoration Collection was created, fans were quick to discover that the animated elves and their goofy antics had upstaged The Man in Red himself. That’s pretty hard to do – but it certainly explains why this engaging decoration has been one of AtmosFX’s most popular year-after-year.
For those who are new to digital decorating, or perhaps missed this joyful release when it first came out, we wanted to show you a few great ways to add it to your holiday decorating display.
The Basics
Like all AtmosFX Decorations, there are countless ways to display Santa’s Workshop. Whether you simply want to project onto your window or wall, or play it or play it on your TV, there are great options for you. And it’s easy. The most difficult thing is deciding on a place where as many people as possible can see it.
For this reason, so many love to display Santa’s Workshop in a window on the front of their home. Typically front windows are large and allow you to really showcase a particular decoration. And when it is this easy to make your living room appear to be a toy factory run by Santa and his elves, that’s a no-brainer. (And judging from the number of people that will stop on the sidewalk to watch it, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.)
Surface Mode Projections of Santa’s Workshop can be effective indoors and out, but if you really want to maximize your presentation, do like so many do and project on your garage door. After all, it is almost like having a movie screen on the front of your house. You can either front-project directly onto your garage door (from the outside), or you can open the garage door, stretch Window Projection Material across the opening, and back-project Santa’s Workshop from the dry and secure garage interior. Either way, it’s big and bold – and looks great.
For obvious reasons, displaying digital decorations on a TV, monitor or tablet is typically done inside. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t draw a crowd. Anytime you have a family gathering or a holiday party and need to entertain the children, Santa’s Workshop is a great way to do so. Just set it on loop and the elves of the workshop will be busy – and keeping the kids busy, too.
Next Level
For those ready to take their display of Santa’s Workshop to the next level, there are a lot of really clever options that are sure to delight guests, neighbors and passers-by. And the best part, most use the same simple techniques that you use to display on your windows or wall, or on your TV.
For instance, many clever digital decorators have built their own Christmas Village, and in the windows they have projected scenes of the elves and Santa, for example, deploying a toy-wrapping machine … that unexpectedly goes awry. We have seen AtmosFANs use children’s playhouses as part of the village; others have built and painted facades for the same effect.
For those who like to create miniature Christmas Villages, the effect works here, too. You can use a miniature-size projector (pico projector) and project from inside the small house to make it appear there are industrious inhabitants inside. Perhaps an easier way to achieve the same effect is to copy Santa’s Workshop on an unused smartphone or tablet, and place it in the window.
For businesses and organizations that provide children opportunities to visit with a live Santa, we have seen them use Santa’s Workshop as part of their presentation display. For example, as children wait in line to discuss their Christmas list with Ol’ St. Nick, we’ve seen the decoration on display, often made to look like a window that peeks into the toy workshop. Needless to say, it keeps the kids who are waiting in line patient. Just remember, if you are seeking to use this, or any, AtmosFX Decoration for your business, you’ll want to check out our licensing page.
No matter how you use Santa’s Workshop you’ll see that it does a great job drawing a crowd. The opportunities are limitless!
How do you use Santa’s Workshop Decoration Collection in your holiday displays? We want to see it! Send us your photos and videos here using this simple online form!
How do others use ‘Santa’s Workshop’ in their decoration displays? Check it out here!
Jason Miller and family of Brentwood, Calif., have created a lovely elf village using two 42-inch TVs in the “windows,” displaying Santa’s Workshop Decoration. Read about it here in the AtmosFAN Hall of Fame.
Shawn Gusz has some spectacularly large windows in the front of his Guelph, Ontario, home, so he used five projectors and some custom-built frames to create an incredibly sharp presentation. Read about it here in the AtmosFAN Hall of Fame.
The Sablich Family Christmas Display won TV’s ‘Great Christmas Light Fight’ (Season 9, episode 3) when they added a facade to the house and displayed Santa’s Workshop Decoration Collection in the window.
Longtime AtmosFAN Sue Williams of McHenry, Illinois, is a master at using AtmosFX Decorations in miniature. Here, she uses the the smartphone and tablet screens to add some dynamism to the paper mache houses she made to look like Santa’s Village in the North Pole. Read about it here in the AtmosFAN Hall of Fame.
Check out how these and other AtmosFANs use Santa’s Workshop Decoration Collection – as well as many other techniques and decorations – in the AtmosFAN Hall of Fame!
