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Tips on Collecting and Using Vintage Christmas Ornaments

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Christmas is a great time to surround yourself with bohemian style. Mixing vintage Christmas ornaments into your favorite Holiday decor is a great way to get a beautiful, eclectic look that will wow you and your guests.

Vintage Christmas Ornaments

I love collecting and using vintage Christmas ornaments in our Holiday décor. Vintage ornaments remind me of decorating our Christmas tree as a kid. We always decorated our tree on Christmas Eve and then left it up through the New Year until Little Christmas. Every ornament had a memory and story attached. It was fun to share our favorites.

Here are some tips on how I go about collecting and using Vintage Christmas ornaments in our décor.

To get a boho Christmas décor look, remember it’s all about being eclectic and colorful. I like to mix vintage ornaments and modern ornaments with ornaments I’ve made. I also mix bright, cheerful ornaments with natural elements.

Review What You Have

Start by looking in your own collection of Holiday décor. Do you have any ornaments you absolutely love and can present in a new way? Do you have any vintage Christmas ornaments in your collection? Also, consider asking older relatives and neighbors if they have any vintage ornaments they are ready to part with. Often, people love to downsize their holiday stuff.

Blown glass vintage Christmas ornament
One of my absolute favorite inherited vintage Christmas ornaments. I love the vibrant color and delicate blown glass.

Collect Year Round

If you want to collect vintage Christmas ornaments, you can often find great stuff year round. You just need to know where to look.

Church and Non-profit rummage sales are my favorite places to find affordable Christmas décor. Garage Sale season is another off-Holiday time to find neat, affordable Holiday decorations. People are often willing to bargain because they just want to get rid of the stuff.

Next, keep your eyes open for Estate Sales. Depending on who is running the estate sale, items can be affordable or pricey. If pricey, decide if you want the items anyway or take your chances that the decorations will be there later. More expensive estate sales often have a half-price time in the afternoon or on the second day. Be sure to ask when their discount sale will take place.

Thrift shops are another place I frequent. You never know what you will find, so I enjoy the random hunt of the shopping experience. Some thrift shops put out holiday décor year round, while others just display it during prime Holiday shopping season. Check with your favorite thrift stores to find out their schedules. At the thrift shop I volunteer at, we have a “Christmas Corner” in one section of our shop. However, we also have a slew of Holiday-related donations we hold onto to display closer to December. At our shop, you can also let our staff know what you are looking for. We will keep our eyes out and contact you if we get something in that you might enjoy.

Thrift Shopping for Vintage Christmas ornaments
Thrift Shops are great places to find affordable vintage Christmas ornaments. Check back often, as the shops get tons of stuff in all Holiday season.

Thrift shops often get so much Holiday décor that they price it very affordably. They just want to keep the décor moving to make room for more. I have seen all sorts of great vintage ornaments, wreaths, garlands, you name it, come through our shop and the other thrift stores I frequent.

Finally, check out flea markets and antique shops. Sometimes vintage Christmas décor can be really marked up in price at such places. I’ve seen individual glass-blown Christmas bulbs from the 1950s marked as high as $8 a piece. Meanwhile, we may sell a whole box of similar ornaments for $2 at our thrift shop. Be ready to bargain if you see something you really want. Or if you see something really special, maybe it is worth the asking price.

Tin Christmas ornament from Mexico
Mexican tin Christmas ornament my mother-in-law collected during her travels.

Pick a Theme

Picking a theme for your Holiday décor or Christmas tree may help you figure out what to collect and how to utilize the vintage ornaments you do collect. For instance, for our Bohemian Christmas tree, I recently designed, I was inspired by two things. First, we inherited a set of beautiful hammered and hand-colored tin ornaments from Mexico. My mother-in-law purchased the ornaments in her travels, so they carry special energy for me. We also inherited three hand cut wood snowflake ornaments originally from Germany. I think they were circa 1940s or 1950s. I always admired the ornaments on my in-law’s Christmas tree.

German wood cut Vintage Christmas ornament
One of three vintage wood cut Christmas ornaments from Germany that we inherited.

From these ornaments, I knew I wanted to decorate the tree in bright, mostly primary colors. From there I dug out select ornaments from those that we inherited plus some ornaments in our own collection. I then made Christmas garlands and other boho ornaments to add to the tree. And this year, I’ve been keeping my eyes out while combing garage sales, rummage sales and thrift shops for additional ornaments that will enhance the boho décor look.

Keep An Open Mind

See something cool, but don’t know what you’ll do with it? That’s part of the fun of being eclectic and having boho style. Decide how drawn you are to the items and buy those that really call to you. You can always figure out what to do with the items later. Plus, if you didn’t pay much, you can always let go of the decorations later if you never find a use for them.

Holiday bird decor
Holiday bird fountain I found at a thrift shop for $4. We now also have a whole collection of winter birds we display on our bookshelves.

For instance, I grew up in the country where we were always surrounded by a multitude of songbirds. At our thrift shop, a winter, bird-themed fountain came in. When cleaned up (we dusted it off and then applied some spray glitter to it to freshen up the snow part of it), it was rather charming. I stared at it all season each time I came into work. When it was marked down to $4, I could no longer resist. That fountain became the base to a collection. Now we have a series of winter songbird collectibles that sit on our bookcase for the Holidays. (We also have a summer collection for the rest of the year).

So always be on the lookout for items you can build a collection around.

Vintage yule log and Pfaltzgraff Snow Bear collection
We combined a vintage yule log, gold greenery, and our Pfaltzgraff Snow Bear pottery collection on our antique buffet. In the background, you can see part of our miniature crystal vase collection that sits out year round.

Keep a Holiday Craft Stash

I always keep a stash of Holiday craft supplies and vintage components that I can visit if I am feeling crafty. Holiday craft supplies can often be found in garage sales. Look for unique components to make boho ornaments out of, such as beads, vintage cookie cutters, napkin rings, ribbon, fabric scraps and such. I also often purchase items 75-90% off around the New Year when the craft stores desperately want you to drag Holiday stuff out of their store at any price. That way I have supplies ready to go if I get random inspiration during the year.

Look Online for Inspiration

Going online to your favorite bohemian blogs and Pinterest are great ways to get ideas on how to use your vintage decorations to build a boho Christmas tree. There are wonderful DIY tutorials on how to make felt ornaments, mini dreamcatchers, yarn God’s eyes and more. You will also find great examples for upcycled ornaments from items like old cookie cutters, vintage lace and mini tart pans.

Tart tin DIY Christmas Ornaments
Keep a stash of Holiday craft supplies on hand to craft your own Christmas ornaments.

Add Some World Culture

Bohemian style is all about embracing world crafts and cultures. So finish your tree off with a couple of special ornaments from around the world. Cost Plus World Market is one of my favorite places to look for really unique ornaments. Amazon and Novica also sell a lot of Fair Trade ornaments and décor. World artisans are paid fair living wages to produce their unique crafts, so your money goes to a good cause.

Think Beyond the Tree

Some vintage Christmas ornaments are very fragile. Older glass ornaments tend to lose paint or shine over time. Others are too frail to put on the tree. Consider displaying these ornaments in a glass bowl or in a crystal ice bucket as a Holiday centerpiece.. You can also gently set ornaments into greenery to make a table or buffet centerpiece.

One of my absolute favorite vintage pieces is a 1960s Nativity scene. I found the nativity set in the attic at an estate sale for only $10! Each year, I love unwrapping the figurines and setting them up. It sparks wonderful memories. Our current nativity set is one size smaller than the set we had in our childhood. Our church also had a really large version of the same nativity. When my parents were first married, they collected a few figures each year, as they could afford them.

Collecting Vintage Christmas Ornaments_Nativity
I found this beautiful vintage Nativity set in an estate sale for only $10. Its one of the most cherished items I own because it reminds me of my childhood.

The nativity scene was one of the first items we were allowed to decorate the house with each year, as well as putting up our advent calendars and Santa cutouts on the windows and kitchen cabinets. This was followed by excessive amounts of cookie baking and being allowed to stay up to watch the classic Christmas cartoons like Rudolph. It’s funny how all the memories come floating back as I carefully put the nativity together.

Boho Christmas Tree with vintage ornaments

Collecting Vintage Christmas ornaments is fun. You will love your Holiday boho decor when you mix your vintage finds with the right amount of greenery, regular ornaments, and handmade ornaments.

Happy boho decorating!

Up next in our Bohemian Christmas series, check out how to Make Easy DIY Christmas Garlands with Felt and Wood Beads.

Vintage Christmas Ornaments

Cool Ideas for DIY Bohemian Christmas Decorations

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I decided it’s time to do something new with our Christmas tree. I like to change up the theme every few years. This time around, I’ve crafted various bohemian Christmas decorations and mixed them with vintage ornaments for a truly beautiful and festive effect.

Bohemian Christmas Ornaments DIY

To me, bohemian style extends into one of two directions- 1. Decorating in earthy, natural, found objects, or 2. Mixing colorful multicultural items into your own look. And if you are like me, I like to mix natural pieces with the multicultural for a truly unique look.

This series of blog posts gives you a tour of our boho Christmas tree. We went for the colorful, multicultural look. Each post will give ideas and directions on how you can create a similar bohemian Christmas look in your home.

Tart tin DIY Christmas Ornaments

Most of these bohemian Christmas decorations are fun and easy to make. If you feel like being social while you craft, invite some friends over to make the bohemian Christmas decorations with you. I recently participated in two crafting nights with friends. We had a ton of fun painting holiday canvases together. Then we made the alcohol ink painted glass ornaments to give as gifts. I love crafting with friends because we often gain creative ideas off of each other. Each of us has our own approach and style to creating.

Boho Christmas_DIY Christmas Garlands

So happy Holiday boho crafting! We hope these boho Christmas decor ideas inspire you:

*Tips on Collecting and Using Vintage Christmas Ornaments

*Easy DIY Christmas Garlands with Felt and Wood Beads

*Mixed Media Tart Tin Ornaments

*Felt Mandala Ornaments

*Bohemian Feather Ornaments

Apple Oatmeal Cookies Using Fresh New York State Apples

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Apple Oatmeal Cookies make a great lunchbox treat or midday snack, especially in the Fall.

Apple Oatmeal Cookies_New York State Apples

Apple season is a BIG deal here in Upstate New York. Some of the best apple varieties in the U.S. were developed here in New York State- MacIntosh, Empire, Crispin, Cortland, Macoun, IdaRed, and many more.

I was fortunate to grow up playing in my Dad’s organic apple orchard that still produces fantastic apples every year. The 300-tree orchard has been my father’s hobby for over 30 years. My bohemian spirit soars when I walk through the orchard. You can feel the love my Dad has poured into those trees and the land over the years.

I still enjoy spending an afternoon wandering around the orchard. Like connoisseur wine tasting, my dad takes guests row by row to taste each apple variety and make sure the apples are at peak flavor for picking. Surrounded by the abundance of apples and beautiful Fall leaves, you can’t help but feel happy and relaxed.

I love to make Apple Oatmeal Cookies with the freshly picked apples from the orchard. This recipe is super easy. Select flavorful apples. The New York State Apple Growers have a great guide to help you. I used Crispins. These cookies also gain more flavor after a day or two thanks to so much cinnamon.

Apple Oatmeal Cookies_New York State Apples

Apple Oatmeal Cookies

¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups old-fashioned oats
2- 3 tsp of cinnamon (to taste)
½ tsp salt
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
2 apples, peeled and diced

1. Prepare the apples and walnuts, then set aside.

2. Beat together the brown sugar and margarine until fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla.

3. Combine all of the dry ingredients and carefully mix into the wet ingredients.

4. Stir in the apples and walnuts.

5. Drop cookies by the spoonful onto ungreased baking sheets.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 9 to 12 minutes. Cookies will turn lightly brown and harden slightly as they cool.

This recipe makes approximately 2 ½ dozen Apple Oatmeal Cookies.

Happy boho baking! Looking for more bohemian kitchen approved apple recipes? Click here!

Apple Oatmeal Cookies_New York State Apples

Apple Spice Bar Cookies or Apple Spice Cake

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If you are looking for a flavorful Fall or Holiday apple recipe, try these yummy Apple Spice Bar Cookies (or Apple Spice Cake). The Apple Spice cookies have lots of cinnamon and nutmeg in them, plus molasses. They have an almost gingerbread flavor and are delicious with a cup of tea or mulled cider on a chilly Fall day.

Apple Spice Bar Cookies Recipe

These cookies are cake-soft. Bake them in a 9×12 pan if you prefer a cake or a 10×15 if you prefer bar cookies.

I grew up in 4-H, where I learned many life skills, including baking. One of the projects I entered in the County Fair was an apple recipe collection. New York State is known for many fantastic apple varieties. We had to pick a main ingredient and then make at least ten recipes using that ingredient. We then had to write a review, as well as try and make the recipes as healthy as possible. I think I was about 12 at the time. Check out that snazzy handwriting! I don’t know what happened to the rest of the cookbook, but as you can see, I did happen to save the original Apple Spice Bar Cookies page I created for my recipe collection. This page has been well loved over the years. You can see some of my later notes. I also added a lemon sauce to the recipe.

Apple Spice Bar Cookies Original Recipe

My mother taught me one of the best baking tricks: If you want raisins to be plump and soft in your cookie and cake recipes, simmer them on the stove for a few minutes before adding them to your recipe. Measure out the raisins first then place them in a saucepan. Cover the raisins with water (1 to 2 cups). Then place them on medium heat until they almost boil. Simmer for several minutes until the raisins soften up. Drain the raisins and then let them cool. Stir them in the colander a few times to help the raisins cool faster and release extra water.

If you add boiling hot raisins to your recipe directly, the eggs will curdle. Also, you can use some of the leftover raisin water in your recipes in place of other types of liquids. I don’t use the raisin water in this particular recipe, but with some experimenting you could probably replace some or all of the milk.

Apple Spice Bar Cookies Recipe

Apple Spice Bar Cookies (Or Apple Spice Cake) with Warmed Lemon Sauce

¼ cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup molasses
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
½ cup milk
1 cup simmered raisins, (drained and cooled)
2 cups diced apple

1. Simmer the raisins on the stove, then drain and cool. Also peel and dice the apples. Set aside.

2. Cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg and molasses.

4. Sift together the dry ingredients. Add to the batter alternating with the milk.

5. Add the raisins and apple and carefully stir.

6. Pour into a greased 10×15 pan for apple spice bar cookies or 9×12 pan for apple spice cake.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes. (Insert a knife or toothpick in the middle to test. It should come out clean of batter).

8. When cool, cut into bars and serve with warmed lemon sauce or lemon yogurt.

Lemon Sauce

1 ½ T. cornstarch
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
½ cup cold water
½ cup hot water
½ lemon, juice and zest
2 T. butter

1. In a saucepan, blend cornstarch, sugar, and salt until no lumps.

2. Slowly add the cold and hot water while cooking over medium-low heat, stirring regularly to dissolve the dry ingrdients.

3.Cook 10 minutes, then add the lemon juice and zest and the butter. Stir well.

4. Drizzle over the Apple Spice Bar Cookies (Or Apple Spice Cake).

We hope these Apple Spice Bar Cookies become a delicious Fall tradition in your house! Enjoy!

Check out more delicious recipes here!

Apple Spice Bar Cookies Recipe

Shop Our Fair Trade Gift Guide

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The Holidays are a time of giving, a time to love the world and the people in it a little bit more. We encourage you to shop our Fair Trade Gift Guide this year. Fair trade items are made by artisans throughout the world who live in difficult economies. When their goods are exported, the artisans are paid a living wage. This allows artisans the opportunity to raise themselves and their families out of poverty.

Below you will find unique gift ideas including Fair Trade Christmas Ornaments, Fair Trade Holiday Décor, Fair Trade Gifts for the Home, Fair Trade Jewelry for Men and Fair Trade Jewelry Gifts for Women. Happy Shopping and thanks for making a difference!

Also, remember to check out our other gift guides: Yoga Gift Ideas for Women and Yoga Gift Ideas for Men.