The pieces people photograph
Giant Christmas Props & Nutcracker Hire
A 6ft nutcracker at a doorway does something a wreath cannot: it makes people stop, and then it makes them take a picture. These are the oversized pieces — nutcrackers, sleighs, baubles, snowmen and lit showpieces — hired by the day, the week or the season and installed by our own team.
Giant nutcrackers: hire or buy?
Search for a giant nutcracker and most of what comes back is a retail box — a seasonal line that turns up in a supermarket aisle in October and is gone by December. That is fine for a front garden. It is a different proposition for a shop front, a mall concourse or a hotel lobby, where the piece has to look right at close range, stand up to six weeks of public traffic and then be somebody’s problem to store.
Hiring changes the maths. You get a prop built for commercial use, delivered and stood up by the people who own it, and taken away again in January. You are not buying a two-metre object that has to live somewhere for the other eleven months of the year.
- Commercial-grade rather than a seasonal retail line.
- Delivered, installed and collected by our own team.
- Pair them — nutcrackers work best flanking a door, not standing alone.
- No storage, no January trip to the tip.
Nutcrackers
Our nutcracker soldiers — the classic doorway pair, and the piece most often asked for by name.
Oversized showpieces
Sleighs, baubles, snowmen, animated figures and lit trees — the props that hold a big space on their own.
Where a giant prop earns its keep
Scale is the whole point. A big prop in a small space is clutter; the same prop at the right sightline is the reason someone crosses the road.
Entrances & doorways
A flanking pair reads as an invitation. This is where nutcrackers, archways and lit trees do the most work.
Concourses & atriums
One centrepiece beats six small pieces. Height carries across a room; detail does not.
Photo points
A sleigh, a throne or a backdrop, sited so people can queue for it. Every photo taken is somebody advertising you.
Outdoor frontages
Car parks, forecourts and market squares, where the piece has to read from distance and after dark. Pair it with stilt walkers or characters on switch-on night.
Making a big prop look intentional
The commonest mistake with giant props is one of them, in the middle, on its own. A single object in open floor reads as a display that has been abandoned. Group it: a pair either side of a threshold, or a lead piece with two or three supporting props at descending heights so the eye has somewhere to travel.
The second commonest mistake is lighting it as an afterthought. A prop that photographs badly does not get photographed, and a prop that does not get photographed is doing half a job. Our trees and lighting aisle exists mostly to solve that.
If you would rather see it done than work it out, our display scenes are twelve complete schemes with every prop in them listed and priced separately.
Common questions
Can I hire a giant nutcracker rather than buy one?
Yes. Our nutcrackers are available to hire, delivered and installed by our own team and collected again after Christmas, so there is nothing to store.
How tall are your giant Christmas props?
Heights vary by piece and are listed on each prop’s own page where we hold them. If a prop has to fit a specific ceiling height or doorway, tell us the measurement and we will tell you what fits.
Do giant props come in pairs?
They can. Nutcrackers in particular are usually hired as a flanking pair for an entrance. Add the quantity you want to My List and the quote comes back for that quantity.
Can you install giant props outdoors?
It depends on the prop and the site, so it is a conversation rather than a yes or no. Tell us where it is going and we will tell you whether that piece suits the position.
How far in advance should I book a giant prop?
The largest and best-known pieces go first. Big installations are typically booked nine to twelve months ahead, medium retailers two to six months ahead, and smaller venues six to eight weeks ahead.
Where we work
We deliver and install anywhere in the UK. We are based in Wigan, so everywhere below is within about a hundred miles of the warehouse — the places we can get to fastest, and where a same-week site visit is straightforward.
- Wigan
- Bolton
- Warrington
- St Helens
- Manchester
- Salford
- Liverpool
- Preston
- Blackburn
- Blackpool
- Chorley
- Southport
- Chester
- Wrexham
- Lancaster
- Kendal & the Lakes
- Leeds
- Bradford
- Huddersfield
- Sheffield
- York
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Crewe
- Shrewsbury
- Derby
- Nottingham
- Birmingham
- Carlisle
- North Wales
Tell us about your Christmas
Add anything you like to My List and send it over — we come back with one quote for the lot, delivered, installed and collected. Or just ring and talk it through.