After the villages were picked out, we needed a place to put them. We looked around at the village platforms and realized it wasn't in our budget so I decided to make my own.
Materials needed:
Old boxes (I had diaper boxes lying around)
Glue gun
Glue sticks
Scissors
Heavy card stock.
I measured the ikea island we were going to use as a base as a guideline. I didn't want to make the platform bigger than it's base :)
I then glued all the pieces together with many hot glue sticks.
I used the card stock to make the edges.
I decided to paper-machee the entire platform to solidify the surface.
I used equal parts of flour and water and old news paper. I covered the entire platform with the gooey mixture. (except for the back as you will need room to run the wires.)
Make sure you let it dry for at least 48 hours as it will need to be completely dry before you put any weight on this structure. Last thing you want is to have the entire thing collapse on you.
We then placed a large piece of white felt over the structure and methodically placed our LEMAX villages scene on top.
LEMAX villages : $250
Village platform : $20
Kids face when they saw the magic happen : PRICELESS!!!