Retro Holiday

Christmas is a wonderful holiday for vintage collectibles. There are so many wonderful options and ways to approach the holiday with vintage decor in mind. The two most collectible time periods tend to be the Victorian period and the mid-century modern stuff. Ornaments made between the 1940s and 1960s by the Shiny Brite company are particularly collectible.

You'll find a variety of vintage Christmas collectibles so don't limit yourself to the traditional glass balls. You can find Victorian Christmas decorations, beads, tinsel, and artificial Christmas trees and wreaths. One of the most collectible Christmas decorations is the artificial Christmas tree. The Space Age era aluminum Christmas trees are particularly sought after, but many collectors also enjoy the feather trees that were popular with the Victorians. There are also Christmas lanterns and candles from companies like Gurley.

If you want to make collecting vintage ornaments an annual tradition, one way to begin is to start with the Christmas tree. For the first year's purchase you could start with an aluminum Christmas tree and color wheel. Then each successive year, buy some ornaments to decorate it, or consider a vintage tree topper. Once the tree is fully outfitted with ornaments, then it's time to consider the rest of the house.

Vintage bubble lights make an attractive adornment, or some stockings for the fireplace. The Victorians liked to dress their dinner table with ornate mantels that run the length of the table.

Also, when it comes time to planning Christmas gifts for grandparents, vintage ornaments are often the first thing I think of getting. I like to buy ornaments for my grandparents that could have been the kind they hung from their own trees when they were kids. My mother's mother particularly loves getting these ornaments as she kept quite a few from when she was growing up, but of course some have broken over time because they are so fragile.

As you can see, there are lots of different ways to bring a little bit of vintage nostalgia into your Christmas celebration.