Vintage Christmas shopping

[52Styleline]

Here is a link to a site called "wishbooks" a collection of various Christmas catalogues from 1933 through 1988. I enjoy looking back at what was for sale in the mid century. In the wishbooks from the late 40's through the 50's I often find things that Santa brought me.

http://www.wishbookweb.com

 

[2jakes]

Thanks for sharing the link.

I remember the Western Auto Christmas catalogs that came in the mail.

And the best Christmas was the Western Deluxe X-53 I got when I was 8.

A little faded but still a very enjoyable ride after work.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I'm surprised to see Timex offered the electric watch in 1962. I received one for Christmas 1966, and I thought from the ads I'd seen in magazines that it was a brand new model for them.

As for the toys, I'm amazed by the incredible selection. I don't recall seeing the majority of those in the stores, including our local Sears. Maybe they were only available through the catalog?

 

[MisterCairo]

This is how I normally look smoking a pipe (Simpsons - Sears Canada, 1957, Sears came to Canada via a relationship with Toronto-based Simpsons - the first one ever was my town of Stratford, Ontario. It is just Sears now, Simpsons is sadly no more):

 

[MisterCairo]

From the Canadian Sears catalogue 1987. What was the thought process here, I wonder?

"Thoughtful gifts for under $5":

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ The late '60s social and cultural revolution got many things right, corrected many things that had been wrong in our society, but it also broke a few unwritten rules that kept some of societies tawdriness tucked a bit away.

That ship started sailing in the '70s and has been sailing farther away ever since.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Nothing says "The '80s -- Unquestioned Golden Age of Overcompensation" like a skinny, underweight-looking man in an animal-print polyester G-string.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Note the artificial Xmas trees -- in 1937.

Artificial trees were a minor fad in the mid-1930s, most of them manufactured by a firm which otherwise specialized in toilet brushes. Ho. Ho. Ho.

Note also the emphasis on the symmetry of the fake tree as a selling point. Most natural Christmas trees in the 1930s weren't the manicured and carefully-shaped purpose-grown specimens seen today -- most were wild-cut woods trees, either harvested in bulk and shipped into the city for sale in gas station parking lots, or cut individually by the end user after a hike off the side of the road. As any examination of old family photos from the Era will reveal, the result was usually a pretty mangy looking tree that had to be positioned just-so to hide the bald spots.