Shop Twice, Buy Once

Over the last couple months, I’ve come across many cute Christmas decorations.  And I’ve been somewhat good at resisting the siren song of ornaments.

Considering that I’ve visited the ornament displays at five Hallmark stores, as well as Target, Hobby Lobby, Von Maur, Elder-Beerman, Kohl’s, Meijer, Wal-Mart, three nurseries and over a dozen gift shops around the Miami Valley, only buying 33 ornaments is pretty darn good.

It hasn’t been a financial strain because falling gas prices have allowed me some extra spending money, and I’m shopping smart.  The Family Fun Farm ornament is the only other Keepsake I’ve purchased since October, and that was nearly 50% off with a bonus points coupon.  And I don’t see myself buying another Hallmark ornament this year, even if they go on sale.

I’m sorry, Hallmark.   But aside from a few pieces, you were just a little too cutesy-wootsie and predictable for me this year.  I became far more impressed by the imagination and creativity displayed by studios such as Demadco and Seasons of Canon Falls, and stores like Target.

They’re also much more affordable.  Most of my choices were on sale and cost five dollars or less.  Maybe not having to spend extra on special boxes and packaging helps keep costs low.

However, what’s helped me rein in my spending most is returning to a store and looking at an ornament a second time.  I’m more likely to have developed a spending sobriety, or immunity to adorable by then.  

Or if I wasn’t able to come back a second time, remembering I already have a collection of over 1,000 ornaments helps too.   If you’ve ever unpacked and hung over 1,000 ornaments on four trees you know how time consuming it can be.   Imagining what I’m holding is the 855th ornament that I’m taking out of bubble wrap and asking myself would I ever get tired of seeing this has helped control my spending, or decide that I don’t need every ornament in a set .

For me, the sign of a great ornament is that it’s as special to look at the second or one hundredth-and-second time as it was the first–and will be for many holidays to come.  It’s like coming across a favorite television episode or movie.  There’s memories and meaning that will always tug at you.

I’ve discovered several lovely decorations over the years.  But the ones to buy are the ones I’ll always be rediscovering.  That’s why they’re worth the money.  And that’s why they can end up being more than a bargain.

October Ornaments Arrive…right after the economic downturn.

Light crowd for the October ornament premiere. I spotted a couple hardcore collectors. They were the ones with dozens of little post-its bookmarking their Dream Books. But most people were heading to the checkout with only two or three boxes. It’s definately the economy.

I myself could only afford two–Tammy Haddix’s Season’s Treatings and Sue Tague’s Decking the Dog–and that’s with the help of the ten dollar gift card I received during the first premiere in July. If I had more spending money I would’ve purchased all three of Sue Tague’s ornaments. I’ve been curious to see them on display, but what I didn’t realize is that they’re made from a combination of materials, not just plastic. The scarves and some of the hair is cloth and yarn. The little boy’s fuzzy slippers in Decking the Dog are actually pipe cleaners. The dog is tangled in real tiny-sized ribbon.

If I do buy another Hallmark this year it will probably be the Play Family Farm ornament. Before seeing the display, I had reservations. For $16.50 plus tax it needed to have more than a battery-powered moo-ing sound.  But it turned out to be a nice enough minature replica of the original toy.

I, like others, am going to wait and see if there’ll be a sale.  A big sale.

Although I’m still not crazy about the look of the Spin-A-Majigs, I’ll admit that the animation when you turn the little crank is amusing. But I can’t see someone–especially small children–turning the crank while it’s attached to a tree without having some other ornaments shaking loose.

A Keepsake Ornament Premiere Saturday only a Disney fan could enjoy

This morning I drove to the Hallmark store and put seven ornaments on layaway.  It cost me $124.66.    And honestly, I wasn’t exactly wowed by my purchases or a lot of the selection for July, except for maybe Trimming the Tree. 

I considered putting Let It Shine back on the shelf.  While not as cute as I expected, I appreciated the imagination behind it, and there aren’t any tiny angels alongside candles in my ornament collection.  I also bought Sweet Little Soldier and Santa’s Sweet Ride, but was disappointed, especially in the latter.  Again I appreciated the imagination behind the concept, but the finished product just looked so plastic and smooth, especially the fake looking ice cream cone.

Not that I consider July’s selections a complete wash.  The best of my purchases so far this year is Tammy Haddix’s Trimming the Tree.  And it sold out fast.  Not just because it was the first in a series, but a lot of heart, imagination and attention to detail and color went into the ornament, and that’s what I expect from Hallmark.

While other studios have given the company a run for their money, Hallmark can still create some moments of inspired and unique magic.  I didn’t buy the Living on Baby Time alarm clock because I don’t have children, but my eye kept being drawn to it on the display stand.  It would look great on a tree.

I also don’t have any need for a teacher-themed ornament, but Katrina Bricker’s Teachers Rule looked even cuter on display than it did in the catalog.  And the Sweet Treat Elf which I received as a free gift was nice too.

Not many shoppers were filling up two carrying baskets like in years past.  Most people just had one and most weren’t full.  Maybe it’s the economy.  The people who were filling up two baskets were drawn to the Disney ornaments. 

Also this year my Hallmark store wasn’t offering a premiere day discount. At least I got the free gift ornament, as well as a ten dollar gift card.  I also received a complimentary decorative box with cardinals on the lid and runners on the bottom that gave it the appearance of, I dunno, a tiny holiday sled-box?  Nothing I’d ever buy, but it was free.  Although I’d still prefer some sort of discount.

I’ll probably return in October for Seasons Treatings and a look at the Sue Tague ornaments.  But that’s probably it as far as this year’s Hallmark ornaments go.

Lead me not to Keepsake temptation

I’m a member of Hallmark’s Keepsake Ornament Club; but I must confess: as much as I love collecting Christmas ornaments and anticipate the ornament catalog’s arrival each year, before it arrives there’s also a small part of me that secretly hopes most of the selections won’t impress me.  That way I won’t end up tempted to spend too much money indulging my hobby…again.

 

I no longer have my fat factory paycheck to rely on.  I’ve just charged $700 to my MasterCard to get my trees trimmed.  Then there’s a car insurance payment due in three weeks.  Home insurance a month after that.  Around fifteen hundred if both are paid in full for the year.  I’d like to afford a bicycle what with the high price of gas.  Not to mention that it would be a great source of exercise.

 

And, yes, I know I could just buy the ornaments between July and December whenever I have available cash.  However, the big 15% premiere day discount is in July.  If I’m going to buy other brands of ornaments like Canon Falls I must limit myself to five ornaments.

 

Even before I got the catalog I decided to stop buying most series ornaments.  I’ll always buy one of Mary’s Angels because they’re always well done and very affordable.  (Of course, as a club member I got my angel as a free gift this year.)  But I’m tired of series like Snow Buddies.  Same snowman  cozying up with a different animal every year.  When is it going to end?  When he’s cuddling a possum or a long-eared bat?  Same thing with Toymaker Santa.  Every year the same Santa with a different toy.  The Snowball and Tuxedo series?  They’re best friends.  They frolic.  I get it.  But I don’t need to buy another one.

 

So I opened the catalog.  I zoom past pages 4 and 5.  The Santa Claus collection of ornaments on 6 and 7 is such a ripoff of the folksy stuff that August Moon has done better.

 

Page 8’s Let it Shine ornament, a tiny angel with a wand peering over a small candle, is lovely.  It’s been decades since candles with melting wax dripping off the sides were decoration subject matter.  Seems like I remember it was popular in the seventies.

 

More pages and I clear the Disney, the Peanuts and the Warner Bros. stuff.  On pages 12 and 13, a toy train as well as a teddy bear riding a toy pony catch my eye.  But I already have toy train and pony ornaments.  And I’m sure I have an ornament of a white teddy bear with a top hat somewhere too.  Nice try, Hallmark.

 

 

 

 

Oh, and can you someday please get the rights to some other Rankin-Bass Christmas specials?  How many ornaments based on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer can you make?  (Same thing goes for the Grinch.)  Can you please get the rights to A Year Without a Santa Claus so I can finally have Snow Miser and Heat Miser ornaments?  And the Winter Warlock from Santa Claus is Coming to Town would be great too.

 

But then around page 17 and 18, I hit a serious speed bump–or should I say, snow drift–of snowman cuteness.   Louie D. Lightly is nice.  Not wowed by the scenery at the bottom, but he’s got a good face and interesting hat.

 

Ooops.  The Friendly Snowmen look good too.

 

What is it about snowpeople that for years ornament artists have kept finding creative ways to keep them looking so (forgive the pun) cool?  Yet there are the gingerbread people who stay much the same from year to year, except for maybe a different color icing outline.  I love the jack-in-the-box ornament series, but gingerbread man-in-a-box?  Meh.  Why couldn’t they have made it a gingerbread clown?

 

 

Maybe it’s because snow people are three dimensional and more flexible, and not a food source.  They don’t own edible real estate.  If someone could write a great holiday song or story about a misfit gingerbread man who saves Christmas that might start the wheels of inspiration turning and boost their status.

 

And then I turn to page 18, and it’s full on candy theme assault.  Candy has made a comeback in recent years with several ornament makers.  Visions of gumdrops dancing on my purchase list.  Sweet Little Soldier?  It must be mine.  Oh yes, it must.

 

Santa’s Sweet Ride looks like a must-purchase too.  It’s Santa flying a plane made out of friggin candy.  Little imaginative touches on both ornaments such as the cookie wafer roof and the main body of the plane being an ice cream cone really sell it for me.  So cool.  Santa is magic.

 

Onward I go and notice Hallmark still won’t drop the impractical pull string idea for motion ornaments.  I’ve purchased a couple and worry about the string eventually breaking after a few pulls.  What’s wrong with a wind-up key or a battery powered push button model?  Is the string supposed to have some sort of nostalgic or toy-like quality?  It just doesn’t seem very durable.  On the other had, that’s less ornaments I’m tempted to buy.

 

Lily Fairy on page 20 is part of a series.  But I like fairies when they’re well done.  Maybe this one won’t look as cute on display at the store as it is in the picture.  If this is going to be a long running series it would be nice to have some racial diversity. I have black and hispanic angels.  Why not the fairies?

 

The carousel tiger and kangaroo look interesting.  The Nick and Christopher series is fun, but I don’t need another one.

 

Uh-oh.  Must…resist…snow…people…cuteness.  Trimming the Tree and Season’s Treatings on page 23 are nice.  The polar bear with a box of 64 Crayola crayons?  Nice, but I’ll pass.

Ah, baby and toddler ornaments.  I’m safe for three pages.  But page 27 rules with a sneak attack of unexpected adorable from Sue Tague.  $37.50 for the set of three.  If I had to choose just one it would have to be the two kids making the snowman.

  

 

 

 Fisher-Price Play Family Farm ornament could be a must buy if the detail is good.  I’ll wait and see.  That and the Fisher-Price Play Family House were my favorite toys when I was child.

 

 

 

I don’t need the Teacher Rules ornament, but the one Katrina Bricker designed is awesome.

 

 

Whew!  Disney and Warner Bros and storybook characters.  I’m safe for a few pages.  Yada, yada, family and chick stuff.

 

All the way to page 42.  Peek-Buster Elf looks more like Peek-Bully Elf.  I’m still waiting for elves to make a comeback in the ornament world.  Maybe the Cheer-O-Meter ornament.  I’ll wait to see what both look like on display.  Not digging the Spin-A-Majig ornaments, which is a good thing.

 

Playing it Cool and Snow on the Go on page 45 seem interesting.  I’m hoping that’s an ice coffee the snowman is carrying.

 

More pages of movie tie-ins, superheroes and, of course, more Disney.  Ornaments for pets….ornaments benefiting charities…

 

Page 54 and I like the Santa and Hippo ornament because ”I Wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas” by Gayla Peevey is my favorite Christmas novelty song.  It’s the anti-”Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”.

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe the Magic Eight Ball and View Master ornaments.  Maybe not.  I would definitely buy a Lite-Brite or Operation ornament.

 

 

 

 

The mini-arcade Pac-Man just might be the hot ornament of the year because it lights up and makes all the Pac-Man sounds.  I won’t buy it though.

More pages.  I guess as long as there are fans of The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind    they’ll never stop making ornaments for them.  Same thing with Star Wars and Star Trek.

A lot of cool items on pages 62 and 63, but more toy-like than Christmas-y to me.  I loved Statler and Waldorf on the Muppet Show, but I don’t want to have them on my trees.  The Space Ghost and Jetsons ornaments are something I’d keep around my computer.

 

Then it’s cars, trains, and motorcycles.  I glance at the Keepsake Ornament Club selections on page 70 and the limited quantity ornaments on the inside back cover and then I’m done!  Whew!

 

Overall good selection.  I was expecting some sort of green-themed ornament such as the recycling symbol made to look like a wreath.  I’m still waiting for them to do something more creative with coffee and lattes.

 

Right now I have twelve on my list that I’d like to buy, but it would cost me $187, but that’s without the premiere day discount.  Hopefully, by July when the ornaments premiere, I’ll be down to five.  Or six.