Now days it is even easier to achieve a vintage holiday look - so many stores like Target and Kmart offer the retro Christmas look in ornaments, trees, gift wrap, and more. For the die hard purist, you can always find a vintage aluminum tree on eBay, but be prepared to spend some serious money - no bargains at this time of year! A couple of years ago I was bidding on a rare vintage pink aluminum tree and dropped out at $300 - it ended up going for $1,200! You can also find rotating tree stands and that venerable classic: the color wheel for an instant psychedelic effect.

Another great online resource for unique artificial trees is - www.christmastreesgalore.com. I was challenged this year when designing the holiday displays for Copenhagen Imports in Scottsdale - I wanted three coordinating Christmas trees to go with my color scheme of black & white, red, and silver.

I couldn’t find any locally, so I ordered three trees in white, red, and black (!) at christmastreesgalore - the trees were shipped in a week and they look fantastic. Each tree is decorated in a combination of those same colors and I have to admit - that black tree is something to behold! It looks like a shimmery elegant cocktail dress.

When perusing eBay for vintage Christmas decorations I recommend these key words in the search engine: “Eames Christmas”, “Retro”, “Atomic”, “Mod” and you can find a fabulous assortment of vintage holiday decor from the 1950s through the 70s.

This year we will display two Christmas trees - one vintage aluminum number decorated completely in our collection of what I affectionately call “bored housewife craft ornaments” from the 60s. These Styrofoam shapes were festooned with beads, sequins, tassels, etc. and the more elaborate versions look like Faberge Eggs! Once that tree starts rotating and the color wheel lights up, the light effects rival any concert laser show!

The other tree is a new white one decorated in both vintage and new “candy land” decor: pixies, felt elves, plastic candy garlands, etc. Of course all of the packages must be gift wrapped to coordinate with the theme. I have found some fabulous vintage gift wrap and tags on eBay, but so many stores are offering retro versions now that are just as cool. I like to add vintage sparkly corsages as the bows for something different. Or, you can also use some of the various ornaments discussed earlier as gift wrap accents.

I hope this article helped to inspire you with your holiday decorating – I’ve got to run and finish my snow village of vintage bottle brush trees (“but that’s another show”)...

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Travis Smith

www.kitschmasland.com

www.goodeyeonline.com/design.htm