Tag Archives: Holidays

31 ways to stay warm and cozy with LEGO and #BuildToGive

It’s nice to know that the LEGO community are such kind-hearted people. Take our friend Deborah Higdon, for example. This frosty-themed pair of mittens alone would have warranted a feature this time of year but she’ll build a unique pair every day in December. This one happens to be day sixteen. The kind-hearted part is this is for the Build to Give charity; build something with the heart theme, post to social media with the buildtogive hashtag and LEGO will give sets to children in hospitals, care homes and other disadvantaged situations. The holidays can be a rough time of the year for some folks and it’s nice to see Deborah and others become a part of something so special.

I couldn’t pick just one favorite so here is a very dimensional pair wrapped up in a bow.

And finally here’s another that’s sort of abstract, like a mitten snow angel pressed into the snow. You too can join in on the festivities. Simply build something with the heart theme and use the hashtag on all your socials. Like so: #buildtogive. Be sure to check in with Deborah every day this month to see what other warm and fuzzy sentiments she has in store and use the hashtag to see what other talented builders around the globe are doing with their entries.

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24 Days of Brickmas – A holiday challenge for builders of all ages starts today!

Opening advent calendars is one way to celebrate the holidays with LEGO (which you know we love!), but at The Brothers Brick, we’re even more excited by fans who use the occasion to create their own jolly builds. The 24 Days of Brickmas challenge on Instagram is a tradition about just that! Organizer Jessica (@dontbrickmedown) provided a list of daily prompts if you want to join in!

There are plenty of prizes for participants, including some exclusively for children. The Brothers Brick will be contributing two sets of six collectible Minifigures from the upcoming series – one set for AFOLs, one set for KFOLs (Kid fan of LEGO). It’s not too late to try for a 24-day streak, or pick your favorite themes and join in the fun for a snow day.

Here are a few of the early entries for this year’s challenge for inspiration:

snarkybrixx offers up this delightful greeble mosaic full of holiday cheer.

Here are a few more Bricksmas builds that have us seeing red!

LEGO 41843 Family Christmas Tree – A holiday tradition in the making [Review]

Designed with collaboration in mind, the festive LEGO 41843 Family Christmas Tree invites families and friends to build together. With split instruction booklets, modular sub-builds, and clever engineering, the set allows for simultaneous progress, turning construction into a shared experience. In our house, that meant an all-hands-on-deck build session with both kids and grown-ups chipping in for a bricktacular afternoon of holiday fun. Packed with whimsical minifigures, hidden play features, and a finished design that’s perfect for display or imaginative play, this is a set that brings holiday magic to the table in more ways than one.

LEGO Family 41843| 3172 Pieces | Available October 1 to Insiders, Oct 4 to all |US $329.99 | CAN $379.99 | UK £269.99

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Come along as we unwrap LEGO’s biggest holiday set together

LEGO Winter Village Collection 40746 Santa’s Delivery Truck [Review]

To go along with the full Winter Village set this year, LEGO has released a companion set: LEGO 40746 Santa’s Delivery Truck contains 224 pieces and 1 minifigure, and will be available October 1st for US $19.99 | CAN $24.99 | UK £17.99. In the past, there have been gift-with-purchase sets that compliment the Winter Village in general, or go directly with the main set for the year – sometimes even two bonus sets, one in October and one in November. However, I don’t recall a complementary model like this that pairs directly with the Winter Village set and is separately available for purchase. Is it worth adding it to your list? Let’s take a look!

Read on for our full review!

LEGO Icons 10339 Santa’s Post Office – Santa would like a word [Review]

It’s turned to fall in the Northern Hemisphere, there’s a chill in the air and the leaves are turning depending on where you are, and it’s time for Halloween decor… just kidding, of course, it’s time for Christmas stuff already. There’s a Winter Village Multiverse developing between the human world and the North Pole/Santa/Elves world, and this year we get another addition to the the Santa side of the portal. LEGO Icons 10339 Santa’s Post Office contains 1,440 pieces and 5 minifigures and will be available October 4th for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99. LEGO Insiders will have early access starting October 1st. You might think, oh, of course, Santa probably gets more mail than anyone else in the world, there must be a huge facility to process it! Read on to learn the alleged truth about Santa’s mail.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Read on for our full review!

Fresh from the oven, it’s the ginger-brick man

We’re all familiar with the loveable LEGO minifigure, right? And some recent sets and creations have also brought us the big-fig, whether from Harry Potter, Castle, or even a generic theme. But what about the minifigure representation on a medium scale? Donny Chen introduces us to a fresh-baked midi-scale LEGO figure with his delicious gingerbread man. In these post-holiday times, I must admit there’s such a thing as too much sugar. So thanks, Donny, for tempering the size of this cookie-fied fig to something more diet-friendly.

A LEGO build on-theme for the present holiday

Trying to recreate fabric using LEGO bricks has always been a difficult feat for me. So many ideas have been left on the backburner because I couldn’t figure out how to work out a cape on a character build. But when it came to making a bow, as in the bundle of ribbon topping a present, I knew there had to be a better way to achieve the look without resorting to specialized pieces with a reduction in scale or simple curved slopes with no volume. Last year, I cracked the code on the bow of my dreams. But it wasn’t until this Christmas season that I was able to fully realize my vision of a perfect present. It’s helped quite a bit to have increased availability of the 2×2 inverted curved slope, plus enough time to engineer a box with a half-plate of “ribbon” running down each side.

From everyone here at The Brothers Brick, we hope you have a merry and safe Christmas with plenty of LEGO sets under the tree!

This gingerbread house requires some real dough…

Stilly Bricks has paid tribute to my favorite holiday tradition: crafting miniature houses out of cookies. But this particular house isn’t quite so miniature. Rather, it’s a luxurious candy-covered manor suitable for the upper crust of gingerbread society. The use of staggered teeth plates gives the impression of realistically runny icing, while the use of star and heart pieces perfectly replicates those hard candies that seem to exist only in gingerbread architecture. And I can practically taste the peppermint railing on the porch.

LEGO 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride and 40604 Christmas Décor Set [Review]

It’s the holiday season, and the mall is total chaos. But your kids need to find those latest Friends and Ninjago sets under the tree. Well, LEGO has a holiday present for you because they’re offering up two holiday themed gifts with purchase to make the shopping worth it. 40603 Wintertime Carriage Ride and 40604 Christmas Décor Set will be available this December with qualifying purchases. Let’s unwrap things a little early and have a sneak peak at these sets.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Don’t open until Christmas? Nah, click right now.

A message from a thankful editor

For me, an American in Washington state, today marks Thanksgiving, a day built around good food and counting one’s blessings. I’ve crossed the first off my list with this lovely LEGO turkey, complete with a pair of golden brown drumplates. And normally I would spend the rest of the article gushing about the techniques I used, how I was inspired, or what I plan to use it for. Maybe I’d even make a joke – something about carving it with a brick separator, no doubt.

But instead, I’d much rather focus on the second point I listed above: giving thanks. Five months ago, I took on a heaping helping of responsibility at The Brothers Brick, and I’m so incredibly grateful for the team here and all the help and patience they’ve given me as I’ve adjusted to my new role. I have the honor to work alongside some truly inspiring people, and my admiration of their collective writing ability, IT know-how, graphic design skill, and LEGO artistry knows no bounds! And thank you too, dear reader, for clicking on the link, for reading our posts, for commenting and enjoying this wonderful hobby with us. TBB exists to serve the LEGO fan community with news, reviews, and a spotlight on the best creations we can find. And we would be nowhere without our readership!

Feel the holiday season approaching with the new 10325 Icons Alpine Lodge set [News]

With just over three months till Christmas, LEGO unveils this year’s addition to the prominent Winter village collection – 10325 Icons Alpine Lodge set. Unlike the last year’s 10308 Holiday Main Street, the new lodge will take you away from the busy uptown, straight to a distant rural resort. The new model comes with 1,517 pieces and five minifigures, and will retail for US $99.99 | CAN $129.99 | UK £89.99.

A thick’un of a chicken!

LEGO or not, nothing screams Easter like baby chicks and ovoid objects. Andreas Lenander smashes the two together to create an avian friend that’s an absolute unit! The sculpting of its yellow egg of a body is spot-on, deftly applying all kinds of curved slopes to emulate a tangle of feathers. Two comically small wings stick out to either side, tipped with leaf parts in orange. And I love the pop of feathers sticking out the top of the bird’s head. But most notably, I just can’t get over that derpy face that would feel right at home in the Angry Birds franchise. It’s a great use of one of my favorite parts for character creation: the white technic ball with an eye print. Happy Easter, everyone!