Then and now - Christmas things you don't see any more

[housemum]

I was buying some Christmas cards in Sainsbury's and for some reason remembered how we bought cards in my childhood (1970s). I remember going into Woolworths, where you bought a selection box of 20/40 different cards. Mum would spend ages looking through the boxes, but whichever you chose there would always be a couple of really naff kitten-looking-at-a-bauble cards and that dismal brown-tinted sheep-in-the-snow painting. Everywhere now sells a couple of designs only in a pack. Also whatever happened to:

Paper chain garlands, like a honeycomb that stretched out and you pinned to the ceiling

foil garlands - the expensive version of the paper ones

matt wrapping paper by the sheet, usually with the print a little off-centre on each colour. Up until a few years ago I bought this from the local cheap market, and used it to differentiate Father Christmas presents.

Peanuts and cashews in ring pull cans (usually given as gifts - whoopee! )

Christmas tree lights shaped like Victorian lanterns

Christmas may have been tacky back then but it seemed cosier when everything was less "tasteful" :)

K-Tel record ads and the Ronco Bottle chopper too don't forget.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without Victor Kiam!!!

Did anyone have what can only be loosely described as a 'lamp'...

It was a black (!) plastic 4-sided affair, with coloured transparent plastic that sort of gave a swirly pattern as the lamp turned on an axis... v odd, but it was v christmassy to me (as I think we only had it on at Christmas [vague])

They still sell similar lamps in JL now... but they have Maisy Mouse on them swirling around...

Fabulous thread - feeling really nostalgic. Remembering loads of these things, we had the After Eight gun carriage and I had forgotten about it...until now!!

Chocolate filled umbrellas to hang on the tree!

New Berry Fruits and York Fruits are not the same thing. NBF are distinctly superior because they have the delicious liquid centre. Last year I bought some NBF online (cos Woolies had closed) but I have now found somewhere else that sells them!

In the 70's Matchmakers were short and Twiglets were long, now it's the other way around - why?

The selection box shaped like a stocking with netting on the front was Mars.
They contained Maltesers Revels a Mars bar a Marathon (before they were called Snickers) Opal Fruits (before they were called Starburst) and a couple of other things i cant remember. Me and bro used to find them hanging on our bedroom door handles on Christmas morning along with one of our dad"s socks which had nuts a satsuma and a Terrys chocolate orange in it.
The post about the maraschino cherries reminded me of something. On Christmas morning when i was eleven i felt a bit queasy after scoffing a whole box of Elizabeth Shaw orangey chocs (the ones that came in a round box lol) Thankyou ladies for reviving some lovely memories.

Hollow choccie tree ornaments - the dog would snaffle the low down ones
Prawn vol au vents for christmas day tea
Christmas TOTPs
All the kids on the street out on their new bikes on Christmas morning.
Jackie annual
Dad pissed by 10.00
Special Christmas day clothes

If only you could open a window in time and have a little look. Would give anything to see my Dad again.

I remember weird candle-powered angels twirling thing (it was gold if that helps). Also, in hindsight, I was given sherry on christmas eve afternoon on several occasions under the age of 10 - as a "treat". I used to fall asleep pretty much immediately but never connected the two (as a child): I think I was being drugged ...

Loving this thread!

Christmas was always spent at my grandparents house. They were farmers and we used to have to wait for them to come in from milking to open our presents. About 10am IIRC.

I remember the crepe paper garlands, the lights that would be unplugged after an hour (fire risk - I think!). The boxes of dates that everyone ignored, the boxes of matchmakers and All Gold (not Dairy Milk because they were for Mother's Day) and Quality Street.

Making decorations out of the Quality Street wrappers! And a Father Christmas for the tree from empty packets of raisins and cotton wool.

Having Christmas in Australia this year is not the same. Although they still sell the crepe garlands in every colour you can think of!

Japanese Water Garden I thought I would start a memory board so any great pictures of Christmas Seventies style let me know.

Devonshire I have one of those candle powered things, but mine is silver and not angels but squirrels! Tis fab (and Danish and modern). Kitsch though . I think the angel ones you can maybe still get from Pasttimes?

Brookeslay Do you know where I can get some of those water flowers? I still think they are pretty even seen through adult eyes.

This thread is fantastic.

We had our foil garlands strung from the ceiling corners to meet diagonally in the centre at the light fitting (paper lampshade obv). One was always slightly off centre.
Rows of string on lounge wall to display Christmas cards
Thin plastic tablecloth featuring holly and berries whih only came out once a year and had bits of congealed turkey on if you looked closely.
A hamper - my mum paid a pound a week all year to the rep (was it Goodmans? or something like that) and it came the week before Christmas, with 'bonus' fruit hamper full of grapefruits and oranges.

I might suggest to DP that we have a retro 80s Christmas this year - very happy times.

I just remembered that my gran had those hollow coloured foil wrapped chocolate baubles on her tree (which was a white fake 70s one) but she had the same ones on for years and she was always saying to us "Don't eat those whatever you do, you'll be poisoned!". How weird, I never questioned why she didn't just throw them away.

Im on the hunt wildstrawberry ,I shall let you know Ive heard they do single flowers at Hawkins , might have to try ebay and little old fashioned shops.

"Weird candle powered twirling angels thing" - Angel Chimes and currently having a bit of a resurgence! I loved them they were my favourite part of Christmas.....angel chimes

Christmas day Top of the Pops, - and all those 70's flares and glitter - and my dad making rude comments throughout...

A bowl of nuts - always the brazils left, as even our nutcrackers couldn't get into the darn things - oh and using the nutcracker as a threat to torture my little brother with.....

I remember the swearing from my dad every year putting decs up. Tinsel for each corner of the room reaching into the middle ( that inevitably would keep falling down!) We also had these Candle decorations that hung from the ceiling. They had a ball on the bottom of them and something similiar to angel hair that hung down too. I remember being early teens and begging my parents to get rid of them!

My squirrel chimes are like this

this website made me chuckle :)

One thing that I will never see again, is a nylon (yes a real nylon of mums) stocking filled with little gifts on the end of my bed. I always wanted a proper cloth Christmas stocking and never had one as a kid. I was almost relieved when mum stopped doing stockings! And it always had an apple as well as an orange in the foot.

Our decs were multi colours and foil ones from the picture rails, baubles on a silver tinsel type tree only 2'6'' so it stood on a table. We had no fairy lights at all. For some reason, only the lounge was decorated!

I was the kid who enjoyed eating the box of dates! (Not all in one go, obviously)

Mum used to riffle through the multi card boxes to see whether they were 'tasteful' or not before she bought them.

Morecambe and Wise, Two Ronnies, TOTP on TV

Soap on a rope is making a comeback!

Lametta was thin strips of metallic foil usually in gold and silver that hung over the tree <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=lametta+on+christmas+tree&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=634&tbm=isch&tbnid=cls3DvtLtb8KoM:&imgrefurl=lovethosecupcakes.typepad.com/love_those_cupcakes/2009/12/index.html&docid=vSXlgJsJuDx6kM&imgurl=lovethosecupcakes.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ed19d1b883301287675556f970c-500wi&w=500&h=667&ei=7unETpWANdOr8AOSn4izCw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=569&sig=104032461954376089872&page=1&tbnh=137&tbnw=101&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0&tx=39&ty=101" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">like this

Angel hair was white fluffy stuff like thin cotton wool that you draped around your tree to make it look all misty. If you put too much on (a la my mother) it looked like your tree was wrapped in a giant cobweb

I remember waitng for the TV and Radio times to come out (you had to get both becasue one was for BBC and one for ITV) and seeing what the Christmas films were. There was always a new 'big' film on on Christmas Day.

IMO a stocking is not complete without an orange, some nuts and some chocolate coins. I would also say that Christmas is not complete without a Bunty annual (or Beano or Dandy) but I have recently discovered that Bunty is now DEFUNCT. .

cakeymakey yes that is exactly what i remember. Wonder if my mum still has them and if so i wonder if i can pinch them. Sure it was hard getting the replacement candles as they were really small and thin so that is maybe why i haven't seen it when we visit at Xmas time.

Ohh, binful, those colouring books with the patterns in were called Altair Designs. I was addicted to them, and the colouring posters, right up to the age of 11 or 12.

My mum (who isn't much given to sentiment) dug out of her loft a half-finished poster coloured in by me at the age of 11 - it brough tears to my eyes. I have given it to the DDs who are now finishing it off - 33+ years later!

Loved Bunty's cut-out wardrobe, there was one on the back of the comic every week. I miss comics like that, that were full of stories - I'm sure children today would still like them.

I had the big poster in a tube too - can't remember what they were called, mine was lots of dolls in arch windows.

Went into the new 99p shop in town today - loads of foil ceiling garlands and lametta! I did resist and just came out with colouring books...

I think Lakeland Plastics have one of those candle-powered angel things in their Christmas catalogue? Tealights now so easy to get hold of replacements :)