Vintage/1950's Christmas ideas?

colleensims

My parents and grandad are coming to our house for christmas day for the first time this year and I am cooking and hosting:o Eeeeeeek!!!

I want to have a vintage/ 1950's esque theme about it but after looking around various websites things seem quite expensive. Would love some vintage xmas bunting or paperchains and other decorations and stuff, also things like paper plates, cups etc. If I had a sewing machine I would make some bunting but I dont.

Does anyone have any fab ideas of what I can do on a budget or best places to find things?

I also want to do little party bags with some cheap, funny little bits in just for fun ( my mum once said she never got anything like that at parties when she was younger so I wanted to do a small fun one for her!) Thanks

flea72

You can staple or glue fabric flags to the string for bunting, or make it out of paper.

Party favours could be traditional sweets, floral soaps, hairnets/bobby pins

Depends on which end of 50s you are thinking of and whether British functionality or US rock n roll/kitsch

F

bigmomma051204

To be honest, i think if you dont really know what you want, you will struggle!! I saw a lovely idea on Ebay - someone has scanned and cut out pages from "the wise robin" which is a ladybird book from the 1950s and then has made it into bunting which would look lovely... but there are lots of different styles from the 50s - think u need to give people more of an idea of what you want :cool: Maybe try google images for inspiration and then come back and ask people how or where you could get things from.....

Lilyplonk

British 1950's paper chains made from strips of thin coloured card interlocked can be made very easily. You often get those strips in packets just for that purpose.

Another kind were made by cutting crepe paper into strips, setting two strips at right angles to each other and then folding them backwards over each other till a chain developed. This method does use quite a lot of crepe paper due to the finished 'concertina effect'.

We also made coloured paper lanterns to hang from things. Rectangle of paper, folded lengthways. Make parallel cuts from the folded edge to about an inch from the open end. Open out and secure the short ends together. Put a strip of paper across one of the open ends and, hey presto, a colourful lantern.

Don't forget the balloons to pin in the corners of the room - and watch grandma giggle at the 'naughty arrangement' (two round ones with a long one!).

Pieces of holly tucked behind pictures / mirrors / clocks, tinsel wrapped around frames of anything on your walls, bits of cotton wool for fake snow on your christmas tree ................ and you must have the obligatory piece of mistletoe hanging just inside the front door.

There used to be something called 'Lametta' (long thin strips of glittery foil) that was hung from branches of christmas trees - to represent dripping icicles. Haven't seen it in shops for years, but it was quite effective on a tree.

There were also those '3-d' concertina bells / balls / snowmen - all made out of a slightly thicker tissue paper - that opened out and were secured with a little metal tab. Often the balls and bells would be dangled from the ceiling.

building_with_lego

Ikea has lots of those concertina baubles, about 30-40cm across, at the moment. I got some 50s paper chains from dotcomgiftshop earlier this year, and some bunting, although that's called "vintage" rather than "50s".

I love the idea of scanning old Ladybird books- it's so easy to find them in the charity shops and you could make strings of bunting to give to your friends too. Actually, that's given me an idea....

emg

I was in Wilkinsons today and they had some of those crepe paper decorations (the ones that open out into bells or balls).

pollys

Just had a look at the dotcomgiftshop site, there are some lovely things - doileys, bunting, bun cases etc. Wish it was my turn to do our family party this year!

Pollys

cazpumpkin

poundland sell the lametta in silver , gold and red every year, I know as my tree almost snaps in half with the weight of it! you cant see my tree for the lametta much to the kids horror, its like an impenetrable web! >hangs head in shame<