Ornament Review: Queen Elsa - 2014 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun sculpt and popular character

Cons: Head seems very small, very hard to find

The Bottom Line:

Popular Elsa

Makes popular ornament

If you want, buy now

No Frozen Fan Will Want to Let Queen Elsa Go

It’s hard to predict what will create wild frenzies of popularity and what won’t.  Even as big a DisNerd as I am, I am still surprised by just how wildly popular Frozen has become.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the movie myself, but everything related to the movie just flies off the shelves.  Hallmark is jumping into that popularity by releasing not one but two ornaments related to the movie this year.  The second of these is Queen Elsa, and fans will be delighted to add her to their collection.

As you’d expect from the title, this ornament features Elsa, the character from the movie that made everything freeze.  She is wearing her trademark blue dress, and she has her hair in a braid.  She’s looking over her right shoulder and smiling while her dress trails out behind her.  She is standing on a giant snowflake base as well.

As is usually the case, it’s the details that make this ornament so special.  Elsa has a smile on her face that is truly heartwarming.  There is a design to her dress that looks like ice crystals sticking up plus she’s got snowflakes at the bottom of her dress.  There are snowflake designs on the six sided snowflake she is standing on, plus the snowflake is slightly translucent.  I can easily imagine light looking great highlighting parts of it when you have this hung on your tree.

As much as I like this ornament, unfortunately it isn’t perfect.  Between the dress and the snowflake, they are just too big, and it makes it feel like Elsa’s face is too small.  If you just focus on the upper part of the ornament, it doesn’t feel that way, however, when you view the ornament completely, the lower portion just overwhelms Elsa’s head.

The advantage of the snowflake base is it gives us a nice solid base.  You can display this ornament on any flat surface year round if you so desire.

Unfortunately, the ornament isn’t quite balanced.  The loop for hanging the ornament is on the top of Elsa’s head, and that’s located near the front of the ornament.  As a result, it tips back slightly.  But the tip isn’t bad, and you can easily hide it by the time you’ve got it in a branches of your Christmas tree.

This ornament was not originally part of the 2014 line from Hallmark, but they announced the November release right before Ornament Premier back in July.  The result was a feeding frenzy, and most stores filled up their wish lists for the ornament by the end of the weekend.  As a result, the secondary price for this ornament is already climbing and only going to get worse.

However, there is a solution.  Hallmark has a B line of ornaments they sell in various stores like Toys ‘R Us, Wal-Mart, and CVS across the country.  Elsa is one of the ornaments they are selling in their B line as well.  I have not personally seen this version of the ornament in a store, however, from pictures I have seen, it looks like the only difference between the two ornaments is the snowflake base.  Now I do like that snowflake.  However, since you can find the B line version of Elsa is stores and the secondary price is half that of the official ornament, that is certainly a viable option.  If I hadn’t gotten one already, I would certainly consider this route to get this character in this pose.  Of course, as that variation dries up, the prices for it will probably rise as well.

If you decide you need the official Hallmark Queen Elsa ornament, you’ll want to act fast to get it.  However, the B line version is almost as good.  Either way, if you catch her quickly, she will bring a touch of magic ice to your tree for years to come.

Original Price: $14.95