Old Christmas Catalogs: A Walk Down Memory Lane

When you were a kid, did you get excited when the new Christmas catalogs arrived?  I know I sure did.  I would spend hours and hours looking at  the toys, hoping Santa would bring me all of my favorite things. 

Unfortunately, I haven’t had as much time as usual to visit all of my blog friends lately because of the amount of time  we have been working on the house in Hooterville but recently, during a few free minutes I did have, I was blog-hopping and ended up clicking on a link for an interesting website called Wishbookweb.com.  (Sorry, but I  don’t remember which blog it was where I saw the link.) 

Edited to add:  I now know where I originally saw the Wishbookweb.com link!  It was on the blog, Unshelved Words.  Thank you “Summer Gypsy” for posting about this link.

Wishbookweb.com  is an archive of some vintage Christmas catalogs from as far back as 1933.  It was fun to look through the old catalogs to see what was offered and the prices.

In 1933 you could order a pair of personalized stockings from the Spiegel catalog for just 98 cents!

 

A new wringer washer was $69.50 in 1933!

 

In the 1942 Sears Wishbook, a 7 room colonial style dollhouse was only $1.19.

 

As a teenager, I would  go through the Christmas catalogs and mark all the clothes I liked.    Just for the fun of it, I searched the 1969 and 1971 Sears Christmas catalogs, and the 1970 J.C. Penney Christmas catalog because those were the years I was in high school.  I wanted to see if I recognized any of the clothes I liked back then, or perhaps even outfits I actually  found under the tree on Christmas morning.

I had a pair of these stylin’ white lace-up “Granny boots” from the 1971 Sears Wishbook.

 

I also had the blue and white plaid skirt (#6), the solid blue U-neck sweater (#8)  and white blouse (#7)  from the 1969 Sears Wishbook.  This page also made me wonder what happened to this model (and what she looks like today, 40 years later).   She must have been the highest paid teenage model of the era because she was everywhere.  She regularly modeled in all of the catalogs and Seventeen magazine.   I remember her name was Colleen.  Won’t you sleep better tonight knowing that?  ;)

 

When I saw this page, I almost jumped out of my chair!  I had that white sweater dress with the red and navy stripes.  I had forgotten all about that dress but  I. Loved. That. Dress.   It sold for $13.97!   Even though I had consciously long forgotten this dress until I saw the catalog page, I think it is very interesting that about 8 years ago I bought a white Tommy Hilfiger, long-sleeved pullover sweater that had those same red and navy stripes across the chest.  I really loved that sweater too so I guess I’m quite partial to red and navy stripes on a white background!

 

At Christmas in  1986,  my daughter was 4 1/2.  From the Sears Wishbook that year, I bought her the two dresses on the left; the black and white dress and the red dress with the white collar.  She loved the black dress because the circle skirt would poof out when she twirled around.

 

It was also fun to scan the toys to see what Santa brought her.  Oh my!  This must be where her horse obsession started. My Little Pony.  She had about a bazillion of these.  In fact, I still have all of them packed away because she doesn’t want me to get rid of them!

I know everyone is really insanely busy at this time of year but if you find yourself with a few free minutes and would like to take an enjoyable walk down memory lane, check out Wishbookweb.com. and see what you remember from your past.