A Guide to Making Your Own Outdoor Nativity Scene for Christmas

Christmas decorating is fun though it can be a lot of work. But the end result is usually beautiful and cheerful and sends out a subtle message about how you feel about the Christmas holiday. An outdoor nativity scene is the perfect way to let others know about your religious beliefs without being too preachy. One way to have an outdoor nativity scene in your yard is to purchase one. An indoor/outdoor nativity scene, a complete set, is available from Church Supply Warehouse that is approximately three feet tall and cost $1217.00. It's beautiful and each piece is a statue that is a work of art. Or you can buy their lower priced version that has a metal frame and is foldable for easy storage. It is 48 inches tall, 66 inches wide and comes with 210 mini-lights for a cost of $150.00. You can see a picture of it here. Another website where you can buy large outdoor nativity scenes is ChristmasNightInc.com. They have a huge selection, one set is even 87 inches tall, has fourteen pieces and cost $12,299.00. Of course you can stop by your local Wal-Mart of Target store to buy the traditional plastic painted version that has a small light in each character piece. Another way to have an outdoor nativity scene is to make one. It doesn't have to be a big extravagant nativity scene. In fact simplicity suits a nativity more than extravagance does since it depicts Jesus being born in a stable. Most of the materials needed to make your own simple outdoor nativity can be purchased at your local home supply store such as Home Depot or Lowe's.

Make Your Own Outdoor Nativity Scene, Step One: Find a Nativity Scene Design You Like

When I decided to make a nativity scene, I needed to find a picture of one that I liked and could draw. When I plan on drawing a picture of anything at all, I always look for clipart on the internet and use it as my inspiration. I don't copy it; I just look at it and then draw my interpretation of the clip art picture and then add or take away until the finished drawing is what I want. I found a nativity scene that I liked at ABKL Designs. I like that the nativity is in a few simple colors and was a relatively simple design that would be easy to imitate. It was the picture that I used to design my two different outdoor nativity scene ideas listed in this article.

Make Your Own Outdoor Nativity Scene, Step Two: Decide What Materials You Will Use

To make your outdoor nativity scene, you will need to choose materials that are the easiest to work with and hopefully they will also be weather resistant. I think the easiest material to work with is sheets of plywood; either one quarter inch or one half inch plywood. You will also need a jigsaw to cut out your plywood characters for your nativity and sawhorses to prop your plywood sheet on while you cut. Once you make your cut-out characters, you will need a sander to smooth the edges and paint, primer, polyurethane sealer, and paint brushes. It's always a good idea to gather all your materials together before you start your project so you don't have to run all over the place to find things while you are working.

Make Your Own Outdoor Nativity Scene, Step Three: Draw Your Design on Your Plywood & Cut

In step one you found a picture of the nativity scene that you want to use to create your outdoor nativity scene. I would suggest that you draw/sketch a rough picture of your nativity on paper before you start. This will give you an idea of what shapes you want your characters to have. Once you have at least a rough sketch, you can draw your design on your sheets of plywood. There are different ways you can do this, transfer paper, enlarge copies on a copier until you have a large enough paper to use as a pattern or just freehand draw the design on the wood (this is what I do). It does NOT matter if it is perfect and it does NOT matter if you are an artist or not. Just take a deep breath and jump in and do it. I think you will be surprised at how well you do. Simplicity is the key here and the feeling we are going for on your outdoor nativity scene does not require perfection. Now that you've got your wooden cut-out characters for your nativity, it's time to start thinking about paint.

Make Your Own Outdoor Nativity Scene, Step Four: Paint Your Wooden Cut-Outs

The design I chose for a nativity is simple; Mary, Joseph, Jesus/manger, and star which you can see in the picture accompanying this article. I do like a bigger nativity scene with a donkey, sheep, shepherds and three wise men but the amount of wooden cut-outs you do is entirely up to you. Obviously the more characters you want, the more work it will be.

After you make your wooden character cut-outs, use your sander on all the edges, sanding by hand is great but, again, a lot of work. Next step is to prepare the wood for painting by priming it. After the primer is dry, then you can finally add the paint you want. Once your paint has dried and cured for at least 48 hours (or so), then seal the painted pieces with polyurethane to protect both the paint and the wood. By doing this hopefully your outdoor nativity scene will last several years before needing to be repainted and re-sealed.

I have two ideas for painting your outdoor nativity. The first idea I had is to paint all of your wooden character cut-outs black as if they are in silhouette. Then when you set them up in your yard, add garden spot lights behind the black nativity characters to enhance the silhouette effect. The other idea I had for painting your outdoor nativity is to use just a few simple colors and have variations within the same color so you don't have to buy a lot of different paints. You can just add white paint to your colors to lighten them but the differences in color will make your nativity stand out. Use your inspiration drawing to help you to decide what colors to paint your characters.

Make Your Own Outdoor Nativity Scene, Step Five: Set Up Your Finished Characters

It's finally time to set up your very own handcrafted outdoor nativity scene! How will you get your wooden character cut-outs to stand up on their own? There are different ways you can do this. You can attach wooden or metal spikes/posts to the backs of your characters individually. Or you can attach all the wooden characters to one piece of wood along the bottom (i.e. two by four) and attach that one piece of wood to trees in your yard or to posts. It's also possible to attach your characters to recycled tomato cages or wire fencing. Look around your yard to see if you have something available to use to create your outdoor nativity.

Make Your Own Outdoor Nativity Scene, Step Six: Stable and Lights

Generally a nativity has a stable to put your characters inside but you do not have to have one if you chose not to. It's YOUR nativity and it's your message about the birth of Jesus. If you do decide to build a stable, a simple one can be created using a few boards and a brown or black tarp. The black tarp would mimic a cave barn/stable. The boards would be nailed together to create a rough frame and the tarp would be attached to it and then hang down from the back. It doesn't need to be deep to completely house your wooden character cut-outs unless you choose to make it that way.

To make your outdoor nativity scene shine, literally, you will need lighting. Some of the best lighting to use is intended for outdoor use such as garden spotlights which are used to add drama to your garden landscape. Add a couple of spotlights either in front of your nativity to show off your characters or behind them to give the impression of a silhouette nativity scene. For an extra sparkle, you can outline the stable and area around your characters with clear outdoor Christmas lights.

An extra touch for your outdoor nativity is to add either sawdust shavings or straw/hay around the bottom of your characters to really give it that barn/stable feel. You can purchase either item from an animal feed store in your area.

Your outdoor nativity is now complete and ready to send out your subtle message of the real meaning of Christmas to everyone who goes by your yard. Make sure to take plenty of digital pictures to share with others about your handmade nativity scene which will accomplish two things - show off your handmade craft and send out the message of Christmas to even more people!

Resources:
Tarps.com.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Nativity Scene.