Today’s Christmas decor consists of perfectly printed baubles, fairy lights, strings of beads, beautiful garlands and tinsel. While we now have a lot more to choose, the decorations we have today aren’t so different to those from the 1930’s.
UnderTheChristmasTree twinkle our way through the decorations used during the thirties in our Bygone Christmases.
The one thing that was different in Britain during the 30’s in comparison to today, is that the decor back then had no co-ordination or colour scheme – it was seen that all bright colours could be used because materials weren’t very easy to get a hold of.
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On top of that, there was no such thing as artificial Christmas trees. Men invariably were the ones who chopped down their annual Christmas Tree and in order to get it to stand up, it would be nailed to a crossboard and then onto the floor – there was no such thing as a tree stand then and invariably the tree was decorated on Christmas Eve.
Baubles were beginning to make an appearance in the UK during the 1930’s and so were hung with pride on the christmas tree. Fairy lights were also making an appearance but for many, these were unaffordable and so people invariably stuck to hanging candles from their tree’s.
Using what you have at your fingertips was the way in the 30’s. People would often involve their children in making popcorn strings by threading the popcorn through a string using a needle. These would be strung across the tree and even throughout the house.
Many people often used paper to make paper chains, much like children do today. A paste would be made by using flour and water and these decorations would be hung with pride on the christmas tree and throughout their homes.
Imagination was key to decorating christmas tree’s in the 1930’s. With that said, religion was a huge factor in decoration and one of the most popular innovations of the 1930’s was the introduction of elegant nativity sets made from ‘Chalkware’.
Do you still hang 1930’s vintage Christmas ornaments on your tree each year?
Get in touch below and tell us how your family decorate the Christmas tree in part of our ByGone Christmases series.
