Category Archives: made of paper

Christmas Ephemera

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The holidays are a great time to pick up ephemera for your collection. Package tags in the flat packages they some in are one choice, especially is you go ahead and buy many packages. The one place this is a problem is the HUGE packages the “hand-made” ones sometimes come on these days. Saving the entire package, in some cases, is impossible unless you have a closet to devote to this collection. But the normal size packages are usually flay enough to pack nicely, and you are not wasting a great many tags by saving the package intact. Check the dollar stores and in the seasonal aisle at the grocery store.

Antler headbands are also available at the dollar store and elsewhere, and can, over time, make another holiday collection: funny head gear for the holidays. The head band with the mistletoe on a spring, of with elvish ears would also make this collection, and if you want to go whole hog, a series of Santa hats and elf hats can also be collected.

Tree shaped ornaments with bells seem to be big this year, and one can always add to the holiday decoration collection in your abode. Maybe the garlands are especially cute this year, or the colors of the small, unbreakable ornaments are unusual. There is always room for more snowflake ornaments, made from any material, and candy canes and other sweets made from plastic or glass.

Add a few more Christmas cards to your ephemera collection, both by saving one or two from the ones you send out as well as the best of the ones you get in return. There are even collections of Christmas cards where each is different, and the whole set can be saved. Or very special, musical cards can be purchased strictly for the collection.

Don’t forget to save swatches of Christmas and other holiday wrapping paper. The whole role need not be saved, or buy paper in the folded form to save space. Don’t forget to save some of the paper your gifts come wrapped in as well. Especially colorful paper can also be the material for making special holiday beads for next year.

Sample paper plates and napkins are good holiday ephemera collectibles. Look for these at parties you attend as well as the ones you buy for your get-togethers. This also applies to invitations and thank you notes as well. Save an example from each package.

The end of the year holidays provide many opportunities to add to the paper and ephemera collections you may have underway, or inspire you to start new collections. And each year you can add to them with little money spent and not much effort. Just keep your eyes open and search the retail stores you normally shop, as they all carry something for this festive time of year.

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Collecting Christmas Figurines

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How do you go about collecting Christmas figurines? Other than the “buy what you like and see where it leads” collection, like mine, you will need to narrow the field quite a bit. You can collect figurines that represent a specific time in the past, like Victorian Christmas figurines and buildings, during which you will learn about the Victorian times and culture. Or you can go with small town American villages, that show that time and place, the people who lived there and the activities of their Christmas festivities, like Christmas caroling.

If you are not interested in a specific time or place, you might want to collect Nativities. These come in both the traditional depiction of the place and people as we image them, and depictions of the participants in current costumes and any age. Children like Precious Moments and the Hummel children are produced as Nativities. Porcelain and glass Nativities can include only the three main characters or a cast of dozens. People, animals and the buildings of tradition are depicted in many ways. Look for less traditional scenes of wood or paper or metal.

Santa Claus figurines are among the favorites of Christmas collectors. You have figurines representing him in national or various traditional costumes. There are the advertising versions, and products sold in Santa Claus packaging. You can go with the whole flying sleigh and reindeer, Santa and bags of presents. Or you can specialize in Santa at the North Pole with Mrs. Claus, elves, reindeer and the manufacturing of toys.

Some people collect angels, both as a year around collectible and as one tied to Christmas. Whole choirs of angels, and angels playing musical instruments are created to decorate the Christmas season. Angels playing sports or promoting collegiate and professional teams are available for the sports fan. Angels for everybody.

Vintage plastic ornaments and figurines attract collectors. Often these survive only by a miracle and the number of any given figure, made by the thousands, can be reduced to a dozen or less by time and in some cases the materials or manufacturing process by which they were made. These collectibles of the Christmas season are sometimes among the less attractive, but more interesting collectibles of this season.

Pine cones, sycamore balls and various seed pods are painted gold and silver and used as ornaments when times require. Holly berries and leaves, mistletoe and other plants are included in the myths that have grown up around Christmas. All can be collected, to some extent in their natural materials, but more likely in plastic, fabric, glass, wood and pottery form. A herbarium of Christmas plants would be an unusual and interesting collection.

Characters from literature and fairy tales are often re-costumed for Christmas figurines and ornaments. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs may show up as Christmas decorations in festive costumes. Many Disney characters have Christmas cartoons and movies, and there are plates and figurines based on these and other Christmas stories. Other companies also develop Christmas related products based on their characters.

Finally, there are trees and trees full of Christmas ornaments meant to hang from tree branches, lighting fixture, book shelves or any other piece of furniture possible. These come in all the categories mentioned above, plus many others. Here is where you get the animals, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, dinosaurs, fossils, household appliances, hand tools, symbols and geometric shapes. The supply of topics is endless, and no matter your hobby or favorite animals, there are Christmas ornaments for your tree.

The only problem with collecting Christmas ornaments and figurines is deciding what and how many you want. Many manufactures put half or more of their production into Christmas items because there are so many collectors and so much money spent at this time of year to decorate our spaces and to find gifts for family and friends. Select a category and start a collection of that time of year we all like best.

Go to the Table of Contents to see all the topics covered so far.

Click American collectibles to go to the latest entry on this site.