By now we all know that I love Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. This means that every now and then, I need to pay homage to the late great Charles M. Schultz by building something fun with my Dad. Two Christmas’s ago whilst out and about looking at Christmas light displays, we saw a number of houses who had home-made painted plywood seasonal shapes that were surrounded by lights and they looked so cool. My partner and I decided that that would be a fun thing to try and make ourselves so we roped my dad into the project and off we started. After much discussion of what we wanted our seasonal garden decorations to be, we decided on the Peanuts gang.

Today’s post is actually a project I completed last year (2024) but I was feeling too burnt out to actually compile a blog and post it in time so I figured I’d try again this year. There are plans to continue this project and add more characters as we go, so hopefully we can update this blog or continue it as the years roll on.

It just so happened that Dad already had a few sheets of plywood lying around (as one apparently does) which became the base of our standees. We wrangled the boards into the house and then using a projector, we started tracing out the shapes that we wanted. This wasn’t as easy as you might think as there were so many little details, not to mention getting size and ration all correct. The first character we traced was Snoopy dressed as a vampire featuring Woodstock inside a pumpkin. As this was a relatively new project, we figured something smaller for Halloween would be a great start. The second and larger image we used was one of the Peanuts gang singing carols. This original image had 7 of the gang featured in the image but we figured that might be a little tricky to translate into a garden stand so instead we focused on the 4 main characters at the front (yes we plan to do more!).

Once we had our images traced, Dad took the plywood sheets to his workshop where he cut them out on his jigsaw. Unfortunately I have no photos of this process as Dad was too excited to wait for me to rock up with my camera to document the process and instead cut everything out in what felt like an hour. Dad also was supposed to wait a few days so I can come down a photograph/take notes on how he made the back of the stand but as we both have ADHD, he thought he’d tinker on it for a while and got so hyperfocused he finished it way too quickly. Alas, I have no images of the display being made however, as we plan to make more, another blog will be added or this one will be updated with steps eventually. Please feel free to check back soon for that!

From what Papa Bear has explained, he created ‘spinal supports’ for each figure to give them extra support and strength. These back supports were then attached to the bottom platform via hinges and latches. Everything was attached with wood glues, staples and screws and all up, is pretty sturdy. The latches can be unlatched which allows the bottom board to be folded up, making storage of the display a little easier, you can see how it folds in the painting progress photos below. It’s also worth noting that Dad had almost everything he needed already in his workshed and some parts of this project were removed off previous similar projects that were no longer needed (the hinges and latches came from faux grass displays we made for a previous pageant). We both love to recycle and use things we already have even if it means over-engineering things but what can I say? Dad came from a time where things were built to last and he will make sure the things he builds last as long as he needs them too.

Once the basis of the stands were cut out and mounted to a standing frame, they reappeared in my home ready for painting. The first thing I did was paint the stands with a white water-based primer base. This unfortunately took away most of the pencil marks so they had to be added back in which was one of the most fiddly parts of the whole project.

When it came to painting the stands, I honestly just used whatever acrylic craft paint I had on hand. Some of these paints I bought years ago, some were super cheap and most were empty which all added to the fun. Despite the primer being white already, the first thing I did was start with large white areas such as Snoopy himself. From here, colour was added in thick layers; normally 2 to 3 coats to reach the colour and tones I wanted. The final part of painting was adding all the black outlines and then details. For Snoopy, he was done in about 2 days (allowing for ample drying time but it was also summer so that really helped). The Peanut’s gang took about 3 or 4 days. Whilst painting, I took a few liberties and adjusted things so they looked more coherent once painted (such as avoiding scarves or avoiding adding polka dots to Sally’s dress). Some colours were also adjusted to better suit the overall image. To seal in the image, we only had a spray sealer on hand and ended up using two cans of paint sealer. As these displays are now in their second year of usage and mostly live outside, I think they have held up pretty well even if Charlie Brown has bee poo on his face.

When I say my back was killing me by the end of this project, that’s an understatement. I think I ended up in bed for several days unable to move from how sore I was but we weren’t quite finished.

To make our stands stand out, we decided that adding some lights would be a really fun idea. After discussing various lighting options, we decided on LED light strips that we adhered to the edge of our plywood with Gorilla el glue. I’m sure there were better ways to do this but honestly, I was in too much pain and I already had the glue on hand. I’m sorry again I have no photos of this but once the pain reaches a certain point, I don’t really remember to photograph things.

After much neurofen, we got to enjoy having the Peanuts gang sing carols in our yard for the festive season. When I say that those lights were bright, they were BRIGHT! So many neighbours came to compliment us and we genuinely looked forward to seeing them light up every evening. We had them on a set timer so they wouldn’t shine through the night which worked a treat. Snoopy sadly ran out of time to have lights added so we assume one day that will be rectified (maybe next year?).

As the festive season has already begun, we have been enjoying the company of vampire Snoopy and are now eagerly looking forward to the Peanut’s gang joining us soon. These garden standee’s really were a labour of love; they may not be the smoothest, or the most accurately painted but their lumps, bumps and dents kinda make them cute and unique. Also I never realised how lumpy the illustrations of the characters were just in general.

As for future characters, I’d love to add a few more from the Peanut’s crew to our Christmas set. I’d definitely want a Christmas Snoopy and Woodstock and to add more children as the years go because Franklin and PigPen need to be here too (gosh not to mention Peppermint Patty and Marcie)! Within a decade I’ll have the entire gang!
This year during Halloween, I did wonder if I should try doing something a little different. I was wondering how people would feel about Over the Garden Wall as I think there are some fun and unique characters that can be added plus its a little darker and different. Who knows? I guess I’ll see how much plywood Dad has in his shed when the next season rolls around.

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