Ho ho ho
Category: vintage christmas
Here’s to Pop-Culture!
I had another fun and productive day of thrifting on Saturday. The day included stops at two of Indianapolis’ four Goodwill Outlets and a stop at a regular Goodwill Store just before closing time.
I have to admit that since discovering the outlets, the allure of the regular retail stores has diminished, but this weekend was a good reminder that there great treasures still to be found at the retail stores – like the items shown in the upper left hand corner–including a grab bag of vintage buttons and zippers and two vintage Barbies and a whole bag of clothing and accessories. As someone who transitioned from childhood into adulthood with no remaining Barbie shoes in my personal Barbie collection, I see it as no small feat that this bag had 12 complete pairs! The dolls aren’t in the greatest shape, but again, thinking back to the tragedies that befell my Barbies, they really aren’t that bad considering they are about 60 years old.
My outlet thrifts included a fun salt and pepper shaker set, some vintage cooking utensils and tools, some fun vintage Christmas decor, Vintage comic books in fair condition, a few more children’s books in decent condition, copies of two Opera Librettos and a Chicago Opera program from 1942, two vintage photographs, images of John Bouvier and another gentleman that seem to have autographs, and a collection of vintage toys–including what seems to be a somewhat older collection of bouncy balls.
Down on the Farm
Yee-haw! It was a great day of thrifting in Indy. Check out these great finds from the Goodwill Outlet. Can you tell which of the items below are vintage?
The barn is from 1967 and the two nursery playsets are from 1972. Surprisingly, the teaching clock, which looks quite vintage, turned out to be from 2009 (though the design was originally produced in 1962).
Below – vintage Christmas finds.
Above a vintage Tootsy Truck. Below, some decorative items.
Above – silver or silver plate? After searching for a long while to find magnets to test to see if the metal was magnetic (I ended up finding several – see below), I went ahead and splurged on these heavier items. It may or may not turn out to be a good investment. The fact that magnets didn’t stick to any of these items means that they could be silver…or they could be just be silver plated.
Below – magnets + Rainbow Brite books.
Above: a vintage hat and purse. Below – vintage school supplies, blasting cap, and Hardy Boy Books.
More vintage books. Care to wager a bet on which ones are old and which ones are newer?
The one in the lower left looks old, but was published in 1980 (“My Favorite Book”), and the Little Red Hen was published in 1981. “Tell me about the Bible” (upper right) was published in 1957; and “365 Bedtime stories” was published in 1955. My favorite one in the bunch is the Space Ghost: Scorceress of Cyba-3 book from 1968.
Below: Vintage patterns, fabric, thread and sewing supplies.
Above: vintage games and brass(?) items.
Below a Nestle Dessert Cookbook
Outlet shopper-extraordinare, Evie – posing with a part of our day’s haul.
Vintage or Not?
A vintage puzzle, some interesting wooden tools, Christmas decor, games, books, a cool WWI-era post card, and 3 tins…can you tell which 2 are vintage and which one is not? Hint: think of what you use when you check out at the grocery store.
Raindrops keep falling on my head
There was a horrible thunderstorm that came through central Indiana on my way back from Indianapolis this evening, but even that couldn’t put a damper on another wonder day of Goodwill Outlet Thrifting.
Below: an “Almanac” advertisement for Rawleigh’s.
Above a vintage alarm clock with a music box that plays Edelweiss (circa 1940s-60s). Below a sweet poem and some vintage photographs.
Toys! Above a Playskool “Pounding Bench” and below a vintage Gerber baby doll.
I loved the graphics on the viewmaster canister above…even though it was damaged and missing the actual projector, I couldn’t resist. I did, however find a few view master reels over the course of the day. Now I feel like its a mission to find my old view master so I can try them out…
Below, a vintage “Pachisi” game, only 3 of the original wooden pieces were left but the board and box were in decent shape. I found a few other dice as well…I always try to pick up random dice when I stumble across them because they are fun and functional.
I found a few random notions and wooden bobbins today – the majority of which went to my sister.
I think this set of cookie cutters was my favorite find of the day. There are some fun shapes that I’m looking forward to making.
Below: a few nativity decorations.
I’ve found my share of incomplete puzzles – but I took a chance on a puzzle that I found in a plastic baggie…I didn’t know what the image would turn out to be, but that’s half the fun. I was delighted to find that it was a Coca-Cola advertisement.
Below: Cameron makes a big find!
oldies, but goodies
Just a short visit this evening before a dinner to celebrate my friend Diane’s 50th birthday, but I managed to find some oldies but goodies. 
Three sets of long leather gloves in pristine condition. I always love how soft they are…sadly, my hand is never small enough to fit. Below: a bunny planter, a fun green scarf and some wooden bobbins .
above: a fun book from 1916 and below: some vintage Shiny Brites and Coby frosted glass ornaments. 
a few fun bags above and some vintage books and toys below. 
So, I’m going to have to do some more testing, but this tarnished beauty might turn out to be silver.
Traveling through time
Chrissy, Cam, Evie and I visited the Goodwill Outlets on Indy’s NW and SW sides earlier today. There wasn’t really one theme or outstanding purchase from today’s thrifting adventure; instead, it felt a little like a trip through more than a century worth of history.
Many treasures were found today, including this delightful tome published in 1883.
I love the contrast of these two tales about cats…”Dick Whittington” (1934) and “Puss in Boots” (1955).
Above: Bromwell stainless steel tools and “A Text-Book of Cooking” (1915) and “The American Women’s Cookbook” (1938). Below a book on birding from the 50s and a retro thermos and Coleman drink cooler. Below that, a funky Tupperware pitcher a Johnson’s milk bottle and a retro table cloth.
It’s always Christmas-time at the Goodwill. Today’s holiday highlights include a vintage sled, a wintery paint-by number, holiday fabric and ribbons etc.
And of course there were games…
It is still July for a little longer so, below are some of the patriotic finds of the day.
Above, Cam and Evie, kidding around. Below, the car crammed as full as we could get it. and below that, Evidence that Cam shopped til he dropped!
Act II
Another great adventure with my sister! Our day-long adventure took us to five goodwills. Item for item and pound for pound, I think we did the best with our outlet picks. But Chrissy won the day when she nabbed a pair of very gently used manolo blahnik shoes!
Close, but no fedora! These vintage puzzles were a great find, but sadly, all ended up missing pieces…despite our hard work to comb through the bins where we found them. Despite my disappointment, it was fun getting to see the pictures come alive. Also, my husband pointed out that they might have been discarded because they were missing pieces.
The Thrifty Sisters 