Tips on Shopping for Outdoor Nativity Scenes

If you've never shopped for a nativity set for your church, organizatin, or home, you'll be amazed at the myriad of prices, sizes, and materials from which you can choose. Althought the task can seem overwhelming, it helps to have a basic idea of what's available and what some of your options are.

The five main factors you'll want to consider when shoppng for nativity scene figures are your budget, the height of the statues you have in mind, the number of figures you want to buy, the material you'd like them to be made of, and the added cost of shipping charges.

Good quality nativity scene figures are often made of fiberglass, polyresin, wood, or marble-based resin. Depending on your budget, you might want to just buy statues of the holy family or include an assortment of add-ons, such as angels, sheep, shepherds, kings, palm trees, and oxens.

Here are a few examples of what's on the market.

At the high end of the spectrum is a giant, fiberglass outdoor nativity set consisting of 14 pieces and weighing a total of 854 pounds. The statue of Balthazar stands just over six feet tall and the camel statue is also quite large, measuring 85 inches wide. This Christmas nativity scene also includes other animals, such as sheep, a giant 63 inch donkey, and a 69-inch ox. Other nativity scene figures include the holy family, plus a giant 87-inch angel, a 62-inch statue of Gabriel with a lamb, a 72-inch King Melchior, and a 62-inch King Gaspar. The cost of this type of life-size outdoor nativity scene is about $13,000, and would probably only be considered by large churches or other organizations with a big budget. The nativity scene figures can be purchased separately, however, making it more feasible for smaller organizations to afford these colorful, impressive-looking nativity figures. If that price tag doesn’t make you blink, then you might want to consider a 70-inch hand-crafted Fontanini nativity scene of the holy family. This beautiful hand-crafted depiction of the birth of Jesus is made of marble based resin and weight 170 pounds. Made in Italy, the price is $16,200.

A more moderately priced nativity set is a 12-piece, 53-inch tall fiberglass display weighing 479 pounds. Again, the pieces can be purchased separately, or in smaller groups, so the price can start at about $860 for a 42-inch nativity scene consisting of the just the holy family. One cost factor to consider when ordering very large or heavy nativity scenes is that shipping could potentially increase the cost by 13% to 22%, depending on where in the U.S. you’re located.

Other outdoor nativity scenes include life-size two-dimensional displays, ranging from about $130 for a pair of sheep to around $2,700 for a full 12-figure, water-resistant wood display engineered for outdoor use. In contrast to the fiberglass nativity set, this one only weights a 150 pounds.

An option that is geared for smaller budgets is the 12-piece, 45-inch tall Christmas Nativity set made of polyresin. The full set is around $2,300, but a 3-piece hold family outdoor nativity scene is only about $650.

Christmas nativity scenes can also be purchased for much lower prices, but the potential ‘tradeoff’ may be involve a sacrifice of quality, durability, and craftsmanship.