Bambi

Man Was in the Forest — And Bambi Has Been on the Tree

Walt Disney's Bambi was released on August 13, 1942 — the fifth Disney feature film, based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel "Bambi, a Life in the Woods." The film follows Bambi, a white-tailed deer who is the son of the Great Prince of the Forest, from his birth through his early friendships with Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk, through loss, through love, and into adulthood. It is one of the quietest and most emotionally direct of all Disney's films — the title character says very little, the forest does most of the communicating, and the film's central emotional event is handled with a restraint that makes it more devastating than any amount of explicit depiction would. Bambi was an immediate critical success and a slow commercial one — it has grown in estimation with every passing decade, and the 80th anniversary in 2022 was recognized by Hallmark with two simultaneous ornaments of distinctly different formats.

Hallmark's Bambi collection spans 2001 to 2026 — five entries covering four different formats: Magic & Motion (2001), classic sculpted resin (2004), papercraft (2022), premium metal (2022), and a 2026 standard entry. The 2001 "Bambi Discovers Winter" is the collection's most interactive entry: a Magic ornament that spins Bambi on the ice, recreating the famous winter scene where Bambi and Thumper and Flower discover a frozen pond. Connect to a miniature light string socket or the Hallmark Legacy Cord and Bambi spins. The 2022 pair — Gregor Benedetti's papercraft and Joanne Wright's metal Thumper — represents the most ambitious single-year commitment to the franchise in the collection's history.

Tips for the Collection

• 01
  The 2001 Magic & Motion ornament requires a light string socket — plan its placement accordingly. The 2001 "Bambi Discovers Winter" is a Magic ornament that requires connection to a miniature light string socket or the Hallmark Legacy Cord to activate the spinning motion. Place it close to a light string strand that it can tap into — or position it near the cord for the Legacy system if you use one. When the power connects, Bambi spins on the ice. Position it at eye level where the motion is visible.
• 02
  Display the 2022 Papercraft face-forward and flat — it's a diorama, not a figure. The Gregor Benedetti 80th Anniversary Papercraft (QXD6496) is 4" × 4.53" × only 1.125" deep — essentially a flat ornament that functions as a framed scene rather than a three-dimensional figure. Hang it on a branch where the face of the frame is visible straight-on, the way you'd hang a small framed picture. The depth of the papercraft layers is best appreciated face-forward.
• 03
  Display the 2022 Papercraft and Metal Thumper together as the 80th Anniversary pair. The 2022 collection paired a Gregor Benedetti papercraft scene (Bambi, Mother, Thumper, blue birds) with Joanne Wright's premium metal Thumper — two very different artistic approaches to the same anniversary, in two very different materials. Together they represent the breadth of what the 80th Anniversary celebration offered: intricate wood-and-paper diorama on one branch, solid metal Thumper on the adjacent one.
• 04
  All 5 Bambi Hallmark entries — 2001 through 2026 — are at Already Christmas. The spinning winter pond, the forest friends, the 80th anniversary diorama, the metal Thumper, and the upcoming Bambi and the Butterfly in 2026. The forest is deep and the collection continues.