I know it's still a little early to be putting decorations up, but these 1950s paper lanterns are so pretty I'm tempted to keep them on display all year. My mum has some which always come out at Christmas, and as she's unlikely to relinquish them any time soon I was pleased to find my own at the Country Living Fair recently. Aren't they beautiful? I think I like the yellow one with the bird best, but I'm always looking for more.
Lovely underneath too
I also picked up these vintage Japanese paper fans from Acorn and Will, I'd seen them in Homes and Antiques and thought they were really pretty. Of course as they fold down to virtually nothing they're also easy to store, and don't add to the clutter pre-move. [That's my argument and I'm sticking to it!].
I have an ever growing collection of Christmas decorations and baubles and always like to add a couple every year. I'm not usually a great fan of the colour themed Christmas tree, and prefer to mix and match with lots of different colours and textures.The paper lanterns and fans weren't the first decorations I'd bought this year, but when I spotted this box of baubles in the hospice shop yesterday I obviously had to investigate.
There were ten rather dusty baubles in two designs, mouth blown (I think) and hand-painted with snowy scenes of children in hats and scarves, skiing and snowman making. One bauble had a 50p price sticker on it, but as the shop was having a half price sale I thought I'd get a couple for the tree. I took the whole box up to the counter, whereupon the volunteer took one look and said "That's 25 pence, please". I have no idea how old they are, but I think 2.5p per bauble can safely be considered a bargain!
Someone has written 'mini winter wonderlands' on the lid of the box - perhaps they were made for a craft fair and unsold stock was donated. Or maybe someone else had so many decorations they needed to label them for ease of unearthing them from the attic.
Anyone else obsessed with Christmas decorations? What's your approach to decorating the tree?
Lakota x
Linking to Mimi and Tilly's Favourite Thing on a Friday
Flea Market Finds at Her Library Adventures
Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow
Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove
Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
*clutches chest* 25p for the entire box?! You are on fire woman - bargain of the century, must be! They're also beautiful, I haven't seen any quite like those before.
ReplyDeleteJem xXx
LOVELY!XX
ReplyDeleteWhat a steal! I love old baubles, bought some myself today, but they look positively pathetic now.
ReplyDeleteI think that 'yellow bird' lantern belongs to me...
Twenty. Five. Pee.
ReplyDeleteWhere in the name of all things proper and good is this shop. I need to go there.
Love the glass baubles, so pretty. I should look out for nice Christmas decorations but we didn't even have a tree last year as the cat used to love attacking it too much. Still, I think I could string the baubles up somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI do love glass baubles over plastic. When it comes to tree decorating I mix and match vintage and modern, stylish and kitsch in one big colourful smorgasboard! Got to have coloured lights on the tree though, that is a must.
ReplyDeleteI confess I am not too taken with the lanterns BUT those glass baubles are gorgeous. Who'd be mad enough to get rid of those and 25p? I'd have paid a £5 for them anyway.
ReplyDeleteMy approach to tree decorating is to get obsessively anal and stressed about the kids trying to help me decorate. I tend to like things just so and lights. Lots and lots of coloured lights. Which according to my Husband is chavvy but I just love lots of colour at Christmas. This single or double colour theme is far too show home for my tastes ;)
Great find -they're so cute!
ReplyDeleteI just adore Christmas Decorations. I love the old vintage ones the best..though they can be hard to find, or quite costly sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great price on your Baubles!! I think they are adorable. They do look hand blown and hand painted.
I like your colourful lanterns and paper fans. That is a bonus that they are easy to store, as they just fold up, perfect!
Happy Christmas Decorating!!! :)
The craft fair theory seems palusible to me, but what a bargain. I’ve done every varition of Xmas tree you can think of over the years - except purple. These days I have a big tree for silver and gold and a teeny tree with traditional red, white, green colours. Lots of the decorations are made by me, and even have some porcelain figures I made in pottery class 30 years ago, which have so far survived intact. I agree about the yellow lantern. We have hundreds (literally) of Chinese shops and stores, some of them vast, here on the island so cheap decorations are readily available. However, as we so often say, there’s ‘Made in China’ and then there’s ’Made in China’. You can buy as much tat as you like very cheaply and all smelling of cheap plastic, or you can delve deeper for the esoteric trinkets hidden in dark corners.
ReplyDeleteOh wow what a find with the baubles, the lanterns are so pretty too. When I was a kid we had some lanterns like that. We are in desperate need of new xmas decos out hearth display lights have conked out and our fiber optic tree is starting to look rather shabby. There were some gorgeous ornaments at the Xmas markets tempting me to go for a real tree but Ive got no idea where it would go that the dogs wouldnt knock over - they charge around like lunatics!
ReplyDeleteI love those lanterns - reminds me of the decs we had at home when I was little. I let my daughter do our tree (since she was about 13 or so I suppose) - she usually has a colour theme and takes it quite seriously (we get told what colours we may wrap presents in!). When I eventually get the job back I wont know where to start LOL! Would love some glass baubles like those :)
ReplyDeletejust found you through mums net, totally brilliant finds!
ReplyDeleteI have some Chinese lanterns similar to yours (not as nice as the yellow birdy one)which I have up all the year in our computer room
ReplyDeleteI'm a real bah humbug when it comes to Xmas and I'm not a fan of Xmas decs. I hate decorating the Xmas tree and leave that to Jim and my daughter. What am I like? I don't mind a wreath, though, and I'm quite pleased with my plassie bag wreath that I made two years ago and which will no doubt be making an appearance this year!
Love Scrooge xx
I am definitely with you on the mish mash aproach to decorating the tree. Those decorations were an amazing bargain and I love the colourful paper lanterns, infact I would happily keep them up all year round.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have some old Chinese lantern decorations pretty similar to yours. I must get out the decorations - it is nearly Christmas isn't it? The glass baubles are a really lucky and beautiful find.
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum
xx
ooohhh i love those paper lanterns those are so pretty and what a good buy those balls were. Since going retro in my home i like to misx and match my colours and not stick to one theme the house suits it ;-) Have a lovely weekend, dee x
ReplyDeleteThere lovely! I am slightly obsessed with vintage decorations. I do like to cram my tree until it is a vintage tackfest! xxx
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the paper lanterns, so so pretty! I have some of those fans, they're ace! I could and probably will write a whole post on my approach to chrissy decorating-minimalist white/snowflaky dangly stuff, at least one thing in each room, including the loo; but over the top to tacky real christmas tree mainly with deco's we bought from places we've visited. we also have a silly 'christmas monkeys' tradition (vintage basketry monkeys dressed up as angels and stuff) which started after a few drinks one christmas!
ReplyDeleteGosh I love your lanterns! So much so I have lantern envy :) Bargain of the century for those baubles!!! Just lovely :)
ReplyDeleteJo x x
I'm very jealous about those baubles, they are lovely !!
ReplyDeleteTwiggy x
That was a steal, not a treasure find.
ReplyDeleteLove all your bright colored decorations and I would keep them up year round.
really pretty, especially the japanese christmas decoration.
ReplyDeleteI have BAUBLE envy!!!!! My approach to the christmas tree is: lights, hanging things. Step back. Change it all. Repeat for at least an hour.
ReplyDeleteOh Lakota, those hand painted baubles are the bauble bomb! So pretty. And so cheap. Bargain what!
ReplyDeleteI love the Japanese lanterns and the pretty paper fans, just gorgeous. I haven't seen any vintage ones here, just reproductions...not the same.
p.s. When are you moving? Is it safe to send "a little something" to your current address? Could you email me when you get a chance please x
OMG who in the world is going to have anything like those glorious glass baubles! 25p for the lot? I would have fainted on the spot!!! Oh but then I would have dropped them - so glad you were able to keep your composure!! xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteI love those lanterns they are so pretty & the paper fans are sweet too.
ReplyDeleteScore of a price on the mini wonderlands!
so charming, I love chinese lanterns too, I buy them very often. I like the christmas baubles too, I love the handmade quality. So looking forward to christmas!
ReplyDeletemongs
mythriftycloset.blogspot.com
That was a hugely lucky find - like the holy grail of christmas charity shopping. Brilliant. They are so cute.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much into christmas but my husband is - so I leave the buying and decorating of the tree to him. We have very few baubles as I really don't care about it and never think to buy any - so the tree always looks a little bare.
I'll add a caveat here: this year I made tree decorations for the craft fair and have some left and if they don't sell in Etsy they'll end up on our tree. Which is funny (to me) seeing as I never bother with decorating the tree.
25p for those adorably cute baubles?!!!!!! you're sooo lucky!!! they sold here 25p per bauble! i loveee the cute scenes on them! I love the decorations and the vintage fans you bought, they're sooo gorgeous and yes i agree that they're also easy to store after use hehe I'm obssessed with christmas decorations too but i havent been starting mine yet *sigh* hopefully soon coz i'm soooo looking forward to that!
ReplyDeletemy tree decorating approach would be as many ornaments i can put in the tree the better :)
xx susan
I'm not a fan of Christmas but I absolutely love those beautiful Chinese lanterns and would happily have them up all year round.
ReplyDeleteI've got a set of 1967 psychedelic baubles I found at a boot sale which I used to pimp up a light fitting.
Well done on the baubles, that's such an immense bargain. x
So pretty ....I just collected a few vintage glass balls from my local charity shop...I am soooo hooked on it...I visit it all the time and always find something. Love your sweet blog. xo
ReplyDeleteLakota, all I can say is...eeeee! I love them! In my few years of chessy-shopping/car booting, I've never come across such wonderful glass balls with handpaint on them. They look very LS Lowry/Helen Bradley. Love the chinese lanterns too. You did well, girl! :)
ReplyDeleteJoy x
25p???! Wowzers, I am proper jealous of that find. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAdorable.
x
25p!!!!! Words fail me!!! Love those lanterns too.
ReplyDeletexxx
Ooops, thank you for pointing that out - it might be me who is dense here :)And you're welcome.
ReplyDeleteComment in English to your hearts' content :)
I am loving the lanterns and fans so bright and beautiful I would have them out year round :) Once I realized Christmas decorations were not just red and green I really got into decorating, I love turning the house into one big giant sparkle fest!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to start looking round our charity shops for Christmas stuff, I could do with something properly vintage, as opposed to just Horrible & Old, which is a fair description of most of our current deccies. Those baubles are fabulous.
ReplyDeletethose baubles are amazing <3
ReplyDeleteOh sweet I had a wee tear in my eye when I saw the lanterns, we had heaps of them when I was a little girl. Long gone, but such lovely memories. Thank you thank you for the warm fizzles. Happiness to you V
ReplyDeleteOh I love those baubles. I am very jealous indeed!
ReplyDeleteOur tree is hopefully going up next week. We always have a real one and the decorations are a mish-mash of my mum's old ones I remember from childhood and more recent additions of mine.
Oooo,those baubles are SO pretty! I would have them dangling around all year long!And the lanterns!!!XXX
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see your tree! Im not big on xmas decorations cause my mom is bad at decorating and consider it a chore to decorate with her. But in the past we had themes like "angels" or "cats" for our xmas ornaments, but now we just decorate with old favorites. If it were up to me, we'd have a white xmas tree with black ornaments and silver garland.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing deal. These are the shops that I love donating my items to, because I know that someone will appreciate a good deal and they'll sell it for a low price.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite ornaments are the hand painted ones!
Hi my dear!! Wow, what a lovely bargain-very unique and special and just waiting for you too! Have a great week ahead xx
ReplyDeleteLanterns are the prettiest thing ever! <3 Love love love!
ReplyDeletex
Lost in the Haze
Wow, I completely LOVE those baubles, even without the fact that they were 25p, which is amazing! Really cute pictures on them. And I can see why you got all those decorations at the fair they look beautiful all hanging up together like that. I reckon you could definitely get away with having them hanging up all year round... Sarah x
ReplyDeleteFab baubles - and they look so pretty hanging from branches outdoors!
ReplyDeletewow! lucky you to find such great baubles at an even better price. Sadly my OCD won't allow a multicoloured tree :(
ReplyDeletePaper lanterns all year round is a lovely idea but I bet they're a bugger to keep dust-free with all those nooks and crannies!! x
Gorgeous lanterns, you could definitely have them up any time of year.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit bah humbug about
Christmas, it just all get too MUCH, you know? But I have to "do" Christmas, even I wouldn't make the kids do without, and I would make room on my tree for those bargainacious baubles! xxxxx
I love all your finds very much but if I had to choose, it would be the lanterns and I would never let them leave my sight
ReplyDeletewhat gorgeous baubles!
ReplyDeletewhat a deal, love your Chinese lanterns so pretty. We decorated this weekend. I wanted to decorate our tree Mexi-style ,but Buddy started without me.
plus our tree is plastic and I hate plastic trees.
Besos
I cannot believe you got the entire box for 25p! Amazing deal!
ReplyDeleteI don't do themed or trendy Christmas trees. I just decorate mine with ornaments I've collected over the years. Seems more meaningful than covered in ribbon and matching ornaments trying to look classy. Speaking of, I think I'll start decorating this week!
Hi, just popped over from Scarlets blog at Beyond the Nook, loving the lanterns, we had some when I was a kid growing up in the 60's. I bet my parents have still got them in a corner of the loft somewhere. Thanks for bringing back lovely memories of childhood.X
ReplyDeleteThose paper lanterns are lovely!
ReplyDeleteAnd you're so good at scoring a good thrift... me... not so much!
Oooh the lanterns are awesome! I bow down to your bargain prowess with those baubles - brill buy :o) Scarlett x
ReplyDeleteThose lanterns are so pretty! And the Christmas bulbs are awesome. Thank you for joining TTF and have a great week!
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