2013 Lego Holiday Sets

This post from last year describes the holiday bonus sets that Lego made available in 2011 and 2012. For 2013, two holiday bonus sets were available – one in October and one for “Brick” Friday in November. The sets were offered to shoppers who spent $99 or more in an official Lego store or on Lego Shop-at-Home on the dates the promotions were running. We organized our Christmas shopping list so that we could take advantage of both offers and this past weekend I finally had a chance to build the holiday sets.

The first set is an outdoor Christmas tree lot. There’s a cute little shelter decorated with lights under the eaves and little wreathes along the fence. There are a couple of pieces in this set that I hadn’t seen before, including 1 x 1 x 3 bricks high posts with a clamp at the top and bottom (see photo below), as well as a new style of shutter that hangs from the clamps (aka hinges). Also, one of the minifigs has a style of baseball cap that I haven’t seen before; it has six panels and a curved brim, consistent with the style of ball cap we’ve all been wearing for years now. In my opinion, it would have been great if Lego included one larger tree with two smaller trees, rather than all three in the smaller size, but otherwise this set is a great addition to the Winter Village theme that Lego first brought to market in 2009.

The second set is a Christmas tree delivery truck. As with many Lego vehicles, scale relative to the accompanying minifig is a bit off. But the truck is beautifully detailed, with a hinged tailgate, opening/closing doors, an elaborate front end and attractive fenders all around. I believe the delivery man has a custom overall design (printed) that includes a little Christmas tree on the back patch. Believe me, there are lots of Calgarians who’d appreciate having their Christmas tree delivered, especially with the below seasonal temperatures and terrible road conditions we’ve endured for much of December!