Mini Christmas Tree With VIntage Wooden Ornaments
OUR MINI CHRISTMAS TREE IS DECORATED WITH VINTAGE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS AND ANTIQUE GARLAND FOR A BIG IMPACT!
There’s something magical about the charm of a mini Christmas tree decorated with vintage ornaments.
As I mentioned, due to moving we are not putting up a full-size tree for the first time ever. I was a little sad about that until I decorated this small faux tree I have. Over the year, I’ve been buying vintage ornaments, most of which I sell at the antique shop.
However, often times I have a hard time parting with some of the antiques that I find. For this tree, I used two different sets of vintage ornaments that I could not let go.
The first is a set of wooden ornaments. I really don’t know how old they are but I have been researching to try and figure it out. I purchased them from a lady I found on Facebook.
She looked to be in her 60’s and was cleaning out both her parent’s house and her grandparent’s house. For that reason, I would assume these are at least vintage if not antique. I bought quite a lot of antique Christmas items from this woman so it’s in keeping that these are old too.
According to Google wooden ornaments were first used in the 1600s, originating in Germany. In the 1800s they caught on in America. According to this article on vintage Christmas ornaments, they were also produced in the 1970s and 80s.
Some of these wooden ornaments have a little hole in the bottom. I believe that is where the hanging string was threaded in.
The reason I think that is because they also have a small hole on the top where the string comes out. You can see that on the Santa below. I have to do more research to see if that’s an indicator of age. There are no markings on these ornaments other than that.
Some of the wooden ornaments had broken strings so I hot glued hangers to those so I could use them.
The other set of ornaments I used on my mini Christmas tree is a really tiny set of 5 ornaments with characters from the animated Rudolph movie.
You can see Clarice (Rudolph’s girlfriend) below and Hermey the elf above. Aren’t they adorable?
Also on this tree is a vintage mini glass bead garland I purchased from the woman on marketplace.
The other two ornaments included with the Rudolph set are the abdominal snowman and Yukon Cornelius. I’ll link to similar ornaments at the end of this post but the misfit toys options are shockingly expensive! I don’t remember where I found mine but I know I didn’t pay a lot!
For the finishing touch on this tree, I used thin red velvet ribbon and a set of battery-operated mini star lights.
The tree is placed in an old planter I have, I stabilized it with floral foam and covered the base with fake moss. I find hoarding all these things all year really comes in handy at Christmas! 🙂
For a small tree, it is very cheerful and festive!
While I love all things antique and vintage I’ve found the old Christmas stuff to be my favorite. I love looking up the history and doing my research on what is antique, which ones are more valuable, etc.
As far as the value of the wooden ornaments, I think it’s relatively low. The reason being is because wood ornaments are sturdier unlike the glass Shiny Brites, which you would assume makes them easier to find. This is interesting because I see far more Shiny Brite ornaments when I’m out picking than wooden ones.
I’m definitely looking forward to next year after the move and having a new space to decorate for Christmas. I’m sure I’ll be hoarding many more vintage Christmas decorations until then!
If anyone knows more about old wooden Christmas ornaments, please let me know in the comments! I would appreciate it!
SHOP SIMILAR ORNAMENTS BELOW:
Hi Roxanne,
I have what I’m assuming are vintage wooden ornaments. I purchased them over 45 years ago at a very well-known Christmas store with a lot of history when I first got engaged to my ex-husband Nick. I still have them and use them. The name of the store was Holiday Tree and Trim. Everyone would go the day after Christmas for their huge sale!. They unfortunatly closed years ago. (not that many though). I’ll take a picture when I put my Little tree up. I use them every year.
Thank you, I had no idea of the value.
Maryann
Those sound amazing Maryann, thanks for sharing!
Your little tree is charming! I have a small white one in my office with vintage silver ornaments. I like the way you hid the base of the tree.
Thank you, Ruth. Your tree sounds beautiful!