Golden Era Christmas Tree decorations??

[chanteuseCarey]

Would like to go with a more vintage-esque looking Xmas tree. With watching "Its a Wonderful Life" on Thanksgiving Day, and soon to be watching "Miracle on 34th Street", I can watch for some good ideas.

What have other vintage enthusiasts done? Besides tinsel and homemade ornaments? I don't want to make real popcorn or cranberry chains, but paper chains are fun to make and look old fashioned...

 

[Hamilton_Honey]

Would like to go with a more vintage-esque looking Xmas tree. With watching "Its a Wonderful Life" on Thanksgiving Day, and soon to be watching "Miracle on 34th Street", I can watch for some good ideas.

What have other vintage enthusiasts done? Besides tinsel and homemade ornaments? I don't want to make real popcorn or cranberry chains, but paper chains are fun to make and look old fashioned...

Bubble lights are super for Golden Era, Carey. (I know there is a thread here someplace about them)

If you can find some of the old lead "icicles" rather than the plastic tinsel, it's fabulous - just keep it away from pets and babies! I've "recycled" mine for a lot of years by very carefully laying on the branches and removing slowly after.

Another thing I do occasionally in lieu of the icicles is make my own "flocked" or "snowy" tree with tufts of cotton batting laying on the branches and sprinkled with mica "snow" which you often see used in those cute little paper villages. It makes a very striking effect, looks quite charming and helps ornaments to really show up - the lights reflect off the white and kind of looks like moonlight on the snow.

I'll take a breather now and let you know if I think of anything else later.

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Oh, I forgot, a Lionel train running around the Xmas tree is a must! We've got the Polar Express engine and tender, and will add older looking metal cars. I've got three vintage Lionel Blue Comet cars that date to the 20s or 30s, but won't use the newer plastic PE cars.

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Thanks for your input HHoney! Can one still get Bubble lights? I like the batting and mica snow idea, we'll try that this year!

Bubble lights are super for Golden Era, Carey. (I know there is a thread here someplace about them)

If you can find some of the old lead "icicles" rather than the plastic tinsel, it's fabulous - just keep it away from pets and babies! I've "recycled" mine for a lot of years by very carefully laying on the branches and removing slowly after.

Another thing I do occasionally in lieu of the icicles is make my own "flocked" or "snowy" tree with tufts of cotton batting laying on the branches and sprinkled with mica "snow" which you often see used in those cute little paper villages. It makes a very striking effect, looks quite charming and helps ornaments to really show up - the lights reflect off the white and kind of looks like moonlight on the snow.

I'll take a breather now and let you know if I think of anything else later.

 

[Geesie]

There are modern bubble lights. I don't know how they compare to the old ones.

Looking at the suggestions, and some eBay and vintage store Christmas stuff, I started to wish I had things like that. Then I remembered that my family did, and used them continuously. Which is why most of them are gone. The lead tinsel, the bubble lights, the various reindeer figures and so on... Decades of use takes its toll. It's a shame that most of it won't be passed on and appreciated in perpetuum but on the other hand what's the point in having your toys locked up in original packaging?

 

[flat-top]

I posted this in another thread, but take a look:
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/...0100/P/1:100:1040:10530/I/f01324?evar3=BROWSE
1940's style ornament hooks!!!

 

[Geesie]

I posted this in another thread, but take a look:
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/...0100/P/1:100:1040:10530/I/f01324?evar3=BROWSE
1940's style ornament hooks!!!

Hm...
We still do have ornaments from that era and they have pretty flimsy wire hooks too.

 

[Foofoogal]

Shiny Brite. Made in USA.

 

[clubwitsend]

Oh, I LOVE the bubble lights! My grandmother used to have them on her tree, and I was so fascinated as a kid!

These are sort of all over the place era-wise, but one of my favorite shops in NYC (which closed awhile back), pops up again at Christmas sometimes in the East Village and sells only amazing vintage Christmas decorations...as a lover of kitsch and such, this is a dream come true...

 

[dhermann1]

Bubble lights

Here is more information about bubble lights than you ever wanted to know existed. This is a link to a website dedicated to antique Christmas lights in general. Extremely fascinating, actually.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=44937

 

[dhermann1]

Here is a pic of some ornaments my father must have bought in 1947, made in Czechoslovakia. There were originally a dozen, I'm sure, but the ravages of time have reduced them to 7, not all completely intact. But they're still exquisite.

 

[Bingles]

I have bubble lights on my tree... I got them at Target, and they look/work great. Much safer than the original ones.

 

[get_atomized]

Oh, I LOVE the bubble lights! My grandmother used to have them on her tree, and I was so fascinated as a kid!

These are sort of all over the place era-wise, but one of my favorite shops in NYC (which closed awhile back), pops up again at Christmas sometimes in the East Village and sells only amazing vintage Christmas decorations...as a lover of kitsch and such, this is a dream come true...

I don't care for Christmas and try to participate as little as possible but these decorations almost make the holiday kind of appealing to me! I love that style of trinkets/ornaments

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Here is a pic of some ornaments my father must have bought in 1947, made in Czechoslovakia. There were originally a dozen, I'm sure, but the ravages of time have reduced them to 7, not all completely intact. But they're still exquisite.

Very nice and well-kept. My mother has some glass tree decorations that were made in occupied Japan.


Lee

 

[Foofoogal]

I use nothing but vintage decorations at Christmas and just have to say
clubwitsend you made my day. I am so glad it is in NYC as I would be broke in 5 minutes in that shop. Woww..

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Our daughter dug out of the garage one of the xmas bins, and hung up some of the construction-paper chains. The stockings (the old fashioned kit kind made with glued felt pieces and hand sewn sequins) got put on the fireplace too. We got a lovely tree today, a gift from my youngest sibling to us.

The silly party store velvet and trimmed xmas hats we got last year are all out available to wear. One is a striped headband with a dangling felt mistletoe, when I wore it last year to the CA Pops Orchestra holiday concert last xmas, one lady attendee said I looked like a Who!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I don't have a tree at home (my house is too small, for one thing, and it's too much bother for another), but I still have several strings of vintage Noma C-6 lights that I used when I did have one -- as long as you check them over carefully and avoid those with dried rubber insulation and cheap no-brand postwar strings, they're still safe and attractive -- just use common sense and don't leave them burning unattended. I also have a terrifying illuminated plastic Santa Face that I used to hang in the front window until the neighbors complained it was scaring their kids.

We put up the tree at work last night -- we didn't use popcorn strings this year because the concession kids rebelled when I told them they were going to have to string it, so instead I festooned the tree in 35mm film cut from old trailer reels, and we cut out Pop Corn and Coca-Cola logos from cups and boxes for ornaments. The tree topper is cut and folded from another popcorn box. I'm going to tie ribbons around some old film cans if I can scrounge some up and place them under the tree for the final festive touch.

 

[Brooksie]

Sometimes I like to hang candy canes on the tree, it always seems old fashioned but I really do no know if it is or not? [huh]

 

[chanteuseCarey]

I'd love to see a pic of this tree LizzieMaine!

We put up the tree at work last night -- we didn't use popcorn strings this year because the concession kids rebelled when I told them they were going to have to string it, so instead I festooned the tree in 35mm film cut from old trailer reels, and we cut out Pop Corn and Coca-Cola logos from cups and boxes for ornaments. The tree topper is cut and folded from another popcorn box. I'm going to tie ribbons around some old film cans if I can scrounge some up and place them under the tree for the final festive touch.

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Even if they aren't old fashioned I think they look that way too We make candy canes ornaments by twisting together two different colors of pipe cleaners too.

Sometimes I like to hang candy canes on the tree, it always seems old fashioned but I really do no know if it is or not? [huh]