A time to reflect and give back, the holidays offer a perfect opportunity to take a closer look at what might just be my favourite part of the holiday season each and every year. Ten years ago, I had the silly idea to start a LEGO Christmas bauble gift exchange – and 220+ custom-built MOCs later, our annual Secret Santa is still my LUG’s favourite activity. Let’s find out what’s behind this tradition that’s slowly depleting the world’s supply of LEGO Christmas baubles, shall we?
History of a Holiday Tradition
Back in 2015, I found myself in the role of LUG Ambassador for the German online community Imperium der Steine. We had a small team of dedicated members that would organise activities and contests. Clearly, we had too much free time on our hands and many a silly idea got brought to life, be it elaborate MOC-Olympics or even our own printed LUG magazine.
So when we were brainstorming for a holiday activity, no one batted an eye when I threw around the words “Christmas baubles,” “LEGO,” and “gift exchange,” and we got to work…
Earlier that year, I had once again come across legendary Nannan Zhang’s Christmas ornaments. They were from a few years prior, but the concept was still intriguing: The confined space of the Christmas bauble shells required ingenuity and finesse, and considering how much I was enjoying building microscale models, I was immediately drawn to it. Nannan had built baubles in a variety of themes so the potential was obvious!
I had plenty of ideas of what I could fit inside one of these transparent prisons, but when my mind drifted to what my friends would build into these baubles—or even my idols on Flickr—it all fell into place. Why not give them a reason to do just that? Secret Santas were a thing, after all, and while no one really enjoyed having to buy a cheap gift for a colleague or classmate, maybe making it about building custom LEGO creations was the angle it all needed. I was sold, and thankfully, my LUG admin team was, too, when I suggested doing something like that for the upcoming holiday season. There was a catch, though…
Various LEGO Christmas Baubles From 2009 to 2020
The one thing we hadn’t considered in our naivety was sourcing the baubles. It turned out that they weren’t all that easy to find outside of the holiday season. And LEGO ornaments weren’t exactly cheap, either. LEGO only produced a few different designs each year (17 different ones between 2009 and 2020, to be precise), only sold them only around the holiday season, and quickly retired them after—resulting in limited offers on the aftermarket and price tags that we really weren’t able to stomach. At least not if we had to source 24 of them!
We weren’t willing to give up all that easily, though, so I pitched the idea to the Community team when we visited Billund as part of a LUG visit. Back then, there was no project support, and the annual LUG support was a more-or-less standardised allotment of sets, but I figured asking wouldn’t hurt. They loved the idea, and with a classic “We can’t promise anything, but we’ll see what we can do”, we parted ways.
Most of you will have an idea how this story progresses, and indeed a little while later, we received a big box straight from Billund. Christmas had come early: LEGO’s Kim Thomsen (whose Eurobricks avatar fittingly still features a minifig Santa Claus) had magically sourced a Christmas tree’s worth of LEGO ornaments, along with some small sets for the advent calendar we wanted to pair the activity with. And so we were off and went to work, like a bunch of Christmas elves!
The original announcement banner – translating to “Advent, Advent, a Christmas present?”
Sometime in October, our announcement went live, and members quickly flocked to the thread in our forum. People loved the idea of building a custom gift for a LUG friend! We gave everyone a few weeks to sign up and mailed out baubles shortly afterward. People had to pay a small sign-up fee to cover the shipping costs, but to sweeten the deal, we had sourced 24 LEGO sets to create an advent calendar for everyone partaking: Each day we would unveil a different builder’s bauble along with a prize they had won. Not that we had to, the 24 slots of our first Christmas bauble gift exchange filled up in no time! Here’s an overview of those first 24 baubles (does anyone notice Imperium der Steine used to be very Star Wars-focused)?
The original 24!
The forum has since split up and dispersed, but the tradition is thankfully living on. We hosted the initial two gift exchanges on Imperium der Steine, and since moving to RogueBricks, another seven exchanges have followed. What started with exactly 24 baubles for the 24 days leading up to Christmas has now morphed into 30+ builders partaking every year.
Not much has changed since the first one, though: The prizes have gotten bigger, and now we publish small custom poems along with the entries, both in German and English, due to our growing international member base. We also post two entries on the weekends to cover the additional sign-ups. But despite the effects of growing, it’s still something everyone looks forward to the next year the second it’s over, eagerly awaiting the coming October when sign-ups open again!
The 2024 version – now evolved with poetry in two languages!
Building Baubles
With history out of the way, we need to talk baubles. With more than 200 custom designs to look back on, we’ll only have time to feature some highlights! And there’s not just Secret Santa baubles, after all the format is universal. So without further ado, here’s some of my favourite bauble eye candy from across the years.
Martin’s custom bauble for none other than the master of microscale Dan Ko was a Christmas-y celebration of Yordan’s love for speeder bikes and his involvement with the speeder bike contest that year. It’s both personal and highly detailed, with the speeder bike even sporting a red nose and antlers!
One of my favorite baubles is this one by the aforementioned master of microscale. Back in 2021, Yordan created this masterful 2D-esque piece for our Secret Santa, complete with Santa and sleigh, with his usually whimsical piece usage all over the place! Did you spot the handbag for the reindeer’s reigns? Or the minifigure collar for Santa’s beard? A true master class in creative piece usage!
When your Secret Santa builds in a certain theme, sometimes it’s best to try and capture that in your bauble build. Mark did just that and shrunk an iconic scene from cinema history down to just 5×5 studs, making smart use of the Jurassic World dinosaur babies!
You like your movies more contemporary? How about this masterfully crafted Milano from Guardians of the Galaxy? Built by Michael for our Secret Santa in 2018, this microscale design still holds up!
For some, the Christmas baubles present the perfect format to make their foray into the world of creating their own custom creations. It’s hard to believe, but this traditional German Christmas pyramid is Lukas’ first MOC! And since using party hats for Christmas trees wasn’t enough, it even spins!
Should you be lucky and draw a LEGO designer, you might just try to recreate one of their sets in a bauble-fitting format. This adorable version of the iconic LEGO Wooden Duck was built by Christian a few years ago when he had to send a bauble to Billund, complete with rolling wheels and a string to pull it with!
Sometimes personal is best. So when Elias drew Michael (of the Guardians of the Galaxy bauble fame), he recreated one of his MOCs. His adorable version of Michael’s All Terrain Troop and Cargo Crawler wowed everyone. Using microphones for wheels, a ski pole for a satellite outpost, and adding just the right splash of colour with the pink tree, this wowed everyone two years ago!
If minimal is more of your taste, this bauble by bicycle-loving Marin is a masterclass in simple elements used well. All black on a white base, it’s more of an art piece than a bauble – it doesn’t need pomp to be powerful!
I will close this bauble round-up with a favorite of my own: For this whimsical Christmas locomotive, I pulled out all the stops (and weird bricks). Minifigure utility belts are being used for the windows, Elves necklaces for detailing around the smoke box, and even their sprue finds use as the cowcatcher!
Christmas Poetry in Motion
As you can see, LEGO Christmas bauble contents come in many shapes and forms. Personal or not, they all tell a story and are a testament to each builder’s skill and patience. And sometimes, you even want to build more than one!
I’ll leave you with a gallery of different themed baubles I’ve built over the years—all of these started with a single bauble for our annual Secret Santa and then quickly spiraled into a whole series of Disney Princess, Harry Potter or classic LEGO set ones!
In RogueBricks fashion I will close this one with a poem—composed by our very own Nerd-in-Chief Dave Schefcik:
Through winter’s chill and freezing cold the baubles make their way,
Contained inside a world of dreams on miniature display.
Encased in glass, creations small, a merry sight to see:
Tiny trains and scenes of Yule in LEGO artistry.
RougeBricks leads this charming dance where tiny wonders hide,
In spheres that hold a world so small yet filled with joy inside.
For neither fame nor fortune, these festive orbs take flight,
But for the joy of giving and spreading sheer delight.
Each bauble holds a story, a personal touch so clear,
Glimmering ‘neath the twinkling lights, a beam of jolly cheer.
As they adorn the Christmas tree in holiday’s embrace,
A tradition to uphold and toast the season’s cherished grace.
Time to put this year’s bauble gift onto the tree! Happy Holidays!
Best of BrickNerd – Article originally published December 22, 2023.
Have you created a brick-built LEGO Christmas bauble before? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.
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