Life Size Nutcracker & Mouse King Plush

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Description

Every December the same thing happens in shopping malls and theatre lobbies: a life-size Nutcracker stands by the tree and a queue of kids waits to be photographed next to him. Our customer wanted that moment for their own photo shoots. So we sewed the whole cast of the story's big battle: a Nutcracker and a Mouse King, 1.2 m tall each, made to order for Christmas photo shoots with children.

We didn't have them on a shelf. Nothing here is. The customer sent two cartoon pictures they liked, and we turned those flat drawings into two soft figures that stand on their own.

From two pictures to two big figures

The pictures are at the end of the gallery, so you can compare. The Nutcracker kept his square head, his huge grin full of white teeth, sleepy half-closed eyes and rolled white curls. The Mouse King kept his scowl, his crown and the sabre he's always waving.

At 1.2 m a figure has to hold itself up. Each one has an internal frame and sits on its own round stand, so it stays upright while children lean on it, hug it or peek round it for the camera. In the photo above, the boy between them is about their height. That's the scale that works in a family picture.

A story from 1816

E.T.A. Hoffmann published The Nutcracker and the Mouse King in Berlin in 1816. He named the two children in it, Marie and Fritz, after the children of his friend Julius Hitzig. In the book the Mouse King has seven heads. Ours has one, which is plenty for a family photo.

Most people know the story from Tchaikovsky's ballet, which opened at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in December 1892. Today it's the Christmas show. In America big ballet companies earn around 40% of their yearly ticket money from The Nutcracker alone.

Your own Nutcracker, your own size

A pair like this one, or just the Nutcracker for the corner by the tree.
Any picture as the starting point: a ballet poster, a book illustration, a child's drawing.
Any size, from a big floor figure to a Mouse King plush you can hold in your arms.

More characters from books are in our book character stuffed animals. And if your family's Christmas film is Jim Henson's, meet our Rugby Tiger.

Materials used

Both figures are soft all over: fabric and stuffing on the outside, an internal frame inside and a round black stand under the feet. The frame is what lets a 1.2 m figure stand upright for a whole photo day.

Nutcracker: red velvet-look coat, gold glitter buttons, gold fringe on the shoulders, a gold belt with a glitter buckle, a red and gold hat with a plume, white rolled curls and dark boots with gold embroidery.
Mouse King: a grey velvet-look head with pink ears and a pink pompom nose, a gold glitter crown, a royal-blue jacket with gold braid, a pale-blue sash, red boots and a cape in black crushed velvet with gold satin inside.
A silver glitter sabre with a gold hilt, raised high in the Mouse King's paw.

The faces are sewn from fabric pieces with drawn-on lines, so they read clearly from across a room and in any photo. For yours we can change fabrics, colours and trims to match your picture or your studio.

Lead time

Big figures like these usually take 2–4 weeks. Handmade work sometimes needs the extra week.

First we agree the design with you from your pictures: size, colours, the face, the stand. Then the frame goes in, the costume is sewn piece by piece, and the face comes last. That's the part that decides whether it looks like your Nutcracker.

You get photos of the finished figures before they're packed. For a Christmas shoot or a December party, tell us the date at the start and we'll plan backwards from it.

Delivery

We ship worldwide. Once the figures leave our workshop, delivery usually takes 7 to 20 business days, depending on your country and customs.

November and December are the slowest months for the post everywhere, and they're exactly when a Nutcracker is needed. So for a Christmas shoot, order in autumn rather than in December.

Mention your date when you ask for a quote. We plan the making time and the shipping time together, and pack each figure so the crown, the hat and the sabre arrive in shape.

Guarantee

We've been making toys to order since 2009.

A figure made from a picture has to look like that picture. So we agree the design with you before we start, and send photos of the finished Nutcracker and Mouse King before they ship. Nothing leaves us until you're happy with those faces.

If they arrive and you don't love them, you get a full refund within 14 days, for any reason. The details are on our guarantee page.