(Written by Mark H. Avery)

The holiday season is upon us. Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) have come and gone. It’s time to look for presents. And what better present for the young (and young-at-heart) than LEGO.

As I did in this space about five years ago (see: Building a LEGO City on a Budget), I’m taking the liberty of suggesting a collection of LEGO sets for those interested, like me, in building from scratch a LEGO city. Last time (2019) I set a limit of $600 and $1,200. Unfortunately, LEGO, like everything else, has gone up in price. So now, I’ll try a limit of $800 and $1,400. As before, everything I suggest is available at the Online LEGO Shop and/or in stores like Target, Kohl’s, and Wal-Mart. (Target tends to have many sales at 20% off, but most of these sets should be available with some effort and patience at any of those stores at 20% off.)

While the goal is a city, I’m very comfortable suggesting sets from other LEGO themes that fit into a city! Since LEGO sets stay on the shelf for only two or three years, none of my suggestions appeared in my older essay. In general, there are a lot fewer retired sets floating around on the retail market. Maybe that’s because there are fewer retail toy stores around.

BUILDING A LEGO CITY – BASIC BUILDINGS

I would start my city with the #31141 LEGO Creator Main Street. It’s listed at $140 but is widely available on sale (Kohl’s had it for $98 last week). It gives you a hotel and three stores. And the set has the flexibility of moving the stores around. Since this is a LEGO Creator 3-in-1, you can even buy two sets and have eight different buildings, although I wouldn’t do that with this budget.

I would then add the #31153 LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Modern House, which goes for $100. I’d probably pair that with the #31065 LEGO Creator Park Street Townhouse at $110 (this is an older set, but some stores still carry it). I’d also add the #60365 LEGO City Apartment Building, another $100 set on sale last week for $83 at Amazon. I’d also add the much smaller #60363 LEGO City Ice-Cream Shop at $40. Those five sets together would run about $490, but again, I’m sure if you shopped around, you could save ten or even twenty percent.

That would give me a respectable street of multiple two to three-story buildings. Unlike others, I’m trying to suggest a “real city” with stores and residences, not all police and fire sets. But the police and fire sets are relatively small and inexpensive this year, and certainly add play value. Consider the #60414 LEGO City Fire Station with Fire Truck at $80 and/or the latest #60316 LEGO City Police Station at $70. Together with the previous sets, we’re up to $640. I’d then include a LEGO Creator set, just so I have some spare bricks, possibly to build backs to some of the buildings, or even add a floor to one or two sets.

BUILDING A LEGO CITY – SMALLER SETS

There are always some other smaller sets to help make up your city. I would start with the #60287 LEGO City Tractor at $20 and the #60401 LEGO City Construction Steamroller at $10. They create a nice “road repair” scene. Some of the other construction sets seem too big and too expensive. The #60384 LEGO City Penguin Slushy Van sells for $20, and adds play value.

I would then consider the #60412 LEGO City Fire Truck with Rescue Boat at $35 and/or the #60369 LEGO City Mobile Police Dog Training which is somewhat expensive at $30. The #60362 LEGO City Car Wash, which I think is really overpriced at $40, would add another nice touch. That brings the subtotal to about $155 and the total to roughly $800. I think that would give me a nice setup of both buildings and vehicles to display and play with.

BUILDING A LEGO CITY – HIGHER BUDGET ADDITIONS

Now considering the high budget ($1,400), I would certainly stay away from the LEGO trains – as nice as they are. But if you’re ready to move into the next-level budget category, I think the new red tram-train is really cute and appropriate. You need to remember that an oval of track is also very space-intensive. But if you have the space and the budget, consider the following: the #60423 LEGO City Red Downtown Streetcar, which will run you $90, and two or three sets of train tracks (#60205) at $20 each that will give you an oval to run the track.

Still on (the expanded) budget I would add the latest train station (#60335) at $100 and a pack of trains switch tracks (#60238) at $16. The train station includes a bare minimum of track, but a road crossing, a rather unique train work car, and a city bus. That’s about $262 for an extensive transportation infrastructure.

I’m also a big Fan of the #10308 LEGO Winter Village Holiday Main Street at $100. I haven’t opened my copy yet, but I’m assuming it won’t be too hard to eliminate the snow and Christmas decorations. That would give me an “older part of town” with the two additional buildings and a really cute trolly car that I could also run on my track.

I’m also a fan of some of the very small LEGO Friends sets. I think they would help add to the atmosphere of my town. I’d consider the #42633 LEGO Friends Hot Dog Food Truck at $20, the #41728 LEGO Friends Downtown Diner at $30, the #42606 LEGO Friends Mobile Bakery Food Cart at $11, and the #41753 LEGO Friends Pancake Shop at $11. I would probably try to substitute some more muted city colors for a couple of bright LEGO Friends colors. Add that $72 to my spending. With these additions, clearly, no one is going to starve in my town. Add the roughly $462 to my previous $900, add another classic set or two, and for under $1,400, I think I have a very pleasant and livable city.

Going in a different direction, possibly instead of trains, consider the #60422 LEGO City Seaside Harbor with Cargo Ship. It’s a subtheme that LEGO really hasn’t had in a while. But it is $110, I especially like the little building that comes with it.

The #60373 LEGO City Fire Rescue Boat at $30 would be a good complement to that. I’m also a big fan of the #60407 LEGO City Red Double-Decker Sightseeing Bus at $30. That’s $170 instead of $460. If it’s within your budget, you can still add some of the food shops I previously mentioned.

BUILDING A LEGO CITY – CONCLUSION

I would stay away from road plates. I’m not a big fan of the most recent road system, but more importantly, it adds significant cost, $20 each, and you’d need multiple sets. Use manila folders (preferably grey) with lanes marked with highlighters instead. I don’t think they currently exist as sets, but I’d consider the Pick-A-Brick wall or BrickLink.com to buy assorted greenery to add to the atmosphere. The same goes for building my own streetlights and traffic lights. Have a few extra dollars left? I’d probably purchase a couple of $10 cars to add to the mix.

There you have it. My suggestions for putting together a LEGO city in 2024 from scratch for both display and play. Happy building, and happy holidays!

What do you think? Do you have any favorite sets this year that you recommend for a city builder? Your comments are always appreciated!

And you might also like to check out my previous posts:

• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 1 (introduction)
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 2 (building a large LEGO city)
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 3 (rebuilding the city)
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 4 (LEGO city layout)
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 5 (LEGO set purchases)
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 6 (LEGO city transportation)
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 7 (model railroading)
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 8 (LEGO company interactions)
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 9 (LEGO shopping)
• On the LEGO Trail: Visiting LEGO Train Shows
• My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 10 (collecting LEGO catalogs)
• My Top Ten LEGO Regrets – What Are Yours?
• Learning From Model Train Layouts – Part 1
• Learning From Model Train Layouts – Part 2
• Building a LEGO City on a Budget (2019)