If I’m introducing some of my favourite toy brands here, I can’t leave this one behind!

Ostheimer is a German wooden toy company. They have been manufacturing wooden figures by hand for over 70 years.
The family corporation was converted from a private ownership to a foundation in 2001. Supporting forward-looking initiatives and projects always played an important role in the Ostheimer’s corporate philosophy.
The wood they use comes from sustainable and local forestry. The products are painted and finished with organic oil, to preserve the natural qualities of the wood.
You can even visit the Ostheimer workshop if you’re ever in the area, to see how the toys are made. ( Zell u. A. – Germany)

Ostheimer figures seem to be pretty expensive, even preloved they are sold at prices close to retail (or over retail if it’s a rare collectors item), but with a bit of luck you can find yourself a great deal on (german) Ebay or at Ostheimer or Walldorf facebook groups. Don’t forget: you don’t have to buy complete sets right away. Start with one figure or animal, adding something evere year (or have the grandparents or other relatives adding figures/animals to the collection too).

Our Ostheimer collections started with two dwarfs, as a lucky charm for their start at a new Kindergarten this year.
Both Celine and Alice love the Ostheimer figures and animals. The shape seems to be made for children’s hands, even bigger figures and animals are easy for them to hold.
Ostheimer toys have a very distinct look, even though there are similar brands around, it’s easy to recognize this style.

For our nature / seasonable table we have Saint Nicholas and we also have the nativity scene (with a diorama background). I’m hoping to add more nativity scene figures over the years, it feels like it would make a great family tradition. I think these toys can stay in the family for generations. Some parents might remember having an Ostheimer nativity scene at their home when they grew up, which is probably still as beautiful as it was on the first day.

Where Alice loves to take her figure (officially it’s Snowwhite, but she says it’s Alice!) and favourite animal (cat) with her everywhere she goes, Celine usually plays scenes and stories with the different figures we have.
Even the unicorn will end up in the nativity scene and the angel will be a fairy according to Celine 🙂

As a Christmas gift I’ve bought one figure and I’ve put some animals and fairytale figures on our (online) wishlist (for relatives). The smaller animals retail for prices around 10 euro, the bigger animals are usually  17-19 euro and the figures range between 15-20 euro (German webshops).

(If you love Ostheimer as much as I do, make sure to keep an eye on my website for an Ostheimer giveaway!)

Some pictures: