Ornament Review: Sweet Little Mouse House - 2016 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Cute ornament that lights up

Cons: Light effect could be better

The Bottom Line:

Noelville gets the

Miniature compliment

That fans will enjoy

Better Miniature Compliment to Noelville

When Hallmark started emphasizing their miniature ornaments again in 2016, they naturally wanted to grab collectors, so they tied in some ornaments to popular series.  Even though Noelville had ended the year before, they released Sweet Little Mouse House to try to grab collectors of that series.  In my case, it worked.

This ornament features a gingerbread house all decked out.  Yes, there are gingerbread walls, but there are hard candies on the roof, gumdrop bushes, and hearts for shutters on the windows.  We even get candy canes on the corners, and a gingerbread man waving at us in the front window.

To the casual observer, this ornament looks like the Noelville Mouse House, also a miniature ornament, that Hallmark had released during their ornament collectors event the year before.  The differences are minuscule when it comes to looks.  There are windows on all four sides of this ornament, and a slight difference in the roof.  Also, this ornament is slightly larger.  We’re only talking a quarter of an inch, but in the case of a miniature ornament, that is a big difference.

And that size might be to help incorporate the largest change between the ornaments.  Like the piece in the official series, this ornament lights up.  No, you don’t attach it to a light string – the bulb is already inside the ornament.  Instead, you press down on the chimney (which, yes, is another difference between the two ornaments).  The light only stays on as long as you are pressing the chimney down.  Honestly, I wish it stayed lit for a few seconds after you press the button.  Additionally, the bulb doesn’t light everything evenly.  The back window and part of the roof are the most obvious examples.  Still, given the size of the ornament, this is a fun addition, and a great way to tie into the official series.  To make the bulb light up, we get a micro button battery.  Trust me, this thing is really small.

The ornament does have a flat base, so it will sit out on any flat surface, but given the size, it might be easy for this one to get lost in everything else going on around it.  Then again, that would be an issue for hanging it on a tree.  The loop to do that is just forward of middle, and that means the ornament tips back slightly, but in the middle of branches, you probably won’t notice.

I still haven’t figured out why this is a mouse house other than the size.  But name issues aside, the Sweet Little Mouse House is a great addition to any miniature ornament collection due to the light effect.

Check out the rest of the Noelville ornament series.

Original Price: $9.95