Need ideas for building a christmas market

That sounds really fun! Let's see - I think you need a bonfire or some kind of outdoor heating, otherwise you may have Sims dropping dead from the cold and that really tends to ruin your shopping trip! Food stalls - I'd go with the winter stall and an extra tea/hot drinks stall, and possibly the cupcakes one. (Too bad there isn't one for Germanic-type foods, that'd go perfectly. And mulled wine!)

If you set it up as a retail lot and have cash registers, things should be buyable. Things like woodwork, art, flower arrangements, and collectables would fit really well, and I'd also include a few empty tables for people to use themselves. I'd also use lots of homey-looking decorations in general - stuff from Laundry Day would work really well. Gotta have a really big Christmas tree, you can scale it up. Gift piles would be fun - you might be able to set up a holiday called 'Market Day' or something and add Father Winter in? And then he'd actually show up. An ice skating rink would be really nice, too!

"ryttu3k;c-17312349" wrote:
That sounds really fun! Let's see - I think you need a bonfire or some kind of outdoor heating, otherwise you may have Sims dropping dead from the cold and that really tends to ruin your shopping trip! Food stalls - I'd go with the winter stall and an extra tea/hot drinks stall, and possibly the cupcakes one. (Too bad there isn't one for Germanic-type foods, that'd go perfectly. And mulled wine!)

If you set it up as a retail lot and have cash registers, things should be buyable. Things like woodwork, art, flower arrangements, and collectables would fit really well, and I'd also include a few empty tables for people to use themselves. I'd also use lots of homey-looking decorations in general - stuff from Laundry Day would work really well. Gotta have a really big Christmas tree, you can scale it up. Gift piles would be fun - you might be able to set up a holiday called 'Market Day' or something and add Father Winter in? And then he'd actually show up. An ice skating rink would be really nice, too!

Great ideas, thank you!

And good point about sims getting too cold - I hadn't thought of that.
I had no idea what lot type to use but retail sounds like it would work well. It all depends on townie behaviour; I want them to do whatever other activities I include besides shopping.

Two layouts I like for this kind of lot are:

1. One building in the center, divided into different stores, with plenty of walkway (~6 squares minimum) around the outside, leaving room on the walkway for things like fountains, outdoor seating, stairs, and planters. This allows you to view what’s going on from all angles.

Edit: To clarify, for the building in #1, you would have stores facing out on all 4 sides.

3. A wide path or faux road down the center, dividing two rows of buildings.

Definitely plan around where you want your christmas tree and use the bracket cheat to size it up and make it more spectacular.

Content ideas:

Christmas tree lot

Christmas decor store

Toy store with some interactive display areas set up where the kids can play so the kids will be attracted to that particular store.

Are there enough different candles in the game to support a candle shop?

Clothing store with cold weather clothes only; can be kid-specific, or not

Cafe; I’m not sure if cafe workers will show up if it’s a retail lot, but you can always set it up as self-serve with an accessible refrigerator and a coffee maker.

Place for santa to sit, decorated with presents and stuff, a roped off line to wait for santa, maybe a small (like 2 squares deep) fake santa’s house as a backdrop. Even if no Santa is there, it can look like there’s going to be one and he’s just on a break or something.

Small ice rink

Giant christmas tree

Club ideas:

Dress some townies in good christmas caroler outfits and have a caroling club with the sing activity, then set their meeting place as your christmas lot. I’m not sure if this will get them to sing next to each other in a group or if they’ll only sing individually. You could download a book or paper handheld prop so it looks like they’re carrying their music around with them. You’ll have to move one if them into a lot to be the group leader I think.

Have Father Winter or a Santa you make in a club of one and the town kids in another club. Set their meeting place to your lot and have their group activity to be social with each other. Give the kids’ club the activity of telling a story to the santa club so it looks like they’re telling him what they want for

Have a chair for Santa behind a barrier, such as ropes, with a gate that only the Santa club of one can access. Take a tv and use the bracket cheat to make it really small and put it on the floor partially hidden by other objects, like presents. Have a santa club activity be to watch tv. This will get him to sit in the santa chair. The kids can’t get in, but they weren’t going to sit on his lap anyway, so at least Santa will be in his spot. (I use the tiny tv trick all the time—works great.)

Have an ice skating club with your lot as their meeting place so there are always ice skaters there. Dress them appropriately.

Have clubs for whatever other activities you put in so your lot is always active and filled.