Holiday Catalogue people- a walk down memory lane

[bania]

Sugarbear's post reminded me that I used to LOVE looking through the Sears Wish Book to select what I wanted from Santa (lol, my parents made it really easy for themselves).  

I found this website with JC Penny, Sears Wish Book and a few other department store's holiday catalogues fully scanned! It only goes up to 1988 though.  

SO FUN to look back through these:  192.185.93.157/~wishbook/

[Deleted]

My favorite was the HBC rewards catalogue. I would always ask my grandma how many points she had and circle everything I liked within that range. Lol.

[bania]

Nov 24, 2014 13:24:07 GMT -5 @ygmg said:

My favorite was the HBC rewards catalogue. I would always ask my grandma how many points she had and circle everything I liked within that range. Lol.

LOL! Oh, I wonder if I can find those ones. 

[panicked]

My favorite as a kid was Brand Names. I have no idea if that was local or not.

[bex1973]

I love this so much. Us kids used to fight over the catalog!!!

[meij]

I used to sit and look at the JCPenney catalog for hours. I'd furnish my entire imaginary house.

[madringal]

Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog delivery day was the best!!!

[seabitch]

I had forgotten about these! My sisters and I used to sit and browse them, and then play pick (aka I WANT THIS AND THIS AND THIS).

[elleblue]

I loved the Christmas wish books and catalogs! Spent many hours under the tree looking through them and dreaming of what Santa would be bringing me. 

[Captain Serious]

I haven't opened the link yet, but please tell me Service Merchandize is among the catalogs! We did practically all our Christmas shopping there. I mean, where else could you get all your toy, clothing, appliance, and diamond needs met, and have it all prepared for you to pick up in one easy location?

ETA: Bah! It's not there.

[Booze Raccoon]

This was a major part of my holiday as a child!

[iamali]

LHC - I'm fairly sure my mom still has that and still uses it everyday. lolz

[iamali]

Nov 24, 2014 14:26:49 GMT -5 Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear said:

My obsession was the Swiss Colony catalogue. Do any of the olds remember that one? Meat and cheese logs. Petit fours.

Oh, I do.

That was fancy pants stuff to 9 y.o. me.

[bania]

I still have this Wrinkles dog (in the blue dress).  (heart) (heart)

[Deleted]

Nov 24, 2014 14:26:49 GMT -5 Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear said:

My obsession was the Swiss Colony catalogue. Do any of the olds remember that one? Meat and cheese logs. Petit fours.

I loved looking at the petit fours.  They were so pretty.  I was sadly disappointed when I finally got to try them.  They were so gross.  

[kayakjenn]

My sister and I used to fight over the catalogs to see who got the chance to circle first. We used to have to put our initials by what we wanted and I used to put first-middle-last like I was initialing an important document. Hell, I only had one sibling and she had a different first initial, you would've thought a "J" would suffice.

[dowagercountess]

I used to cut out the wedding dresses and make collages.

[elleblue]

And my favorite Barbie of all time: 

[Saint Monica]

Nov 24, 2014 13:54:44 GMT -5 Captain Serious said:

I haven't opened the link yet, but please tell me Service Merchandize is among the catalogs! We did practically all our Christmas shopping there. I mean, where else could you get all your toy, clothing, appliance, and diamond needs met, and have it all prepared for you to pick up in one easy location?

ETA: Bah! It's not there.

That was my favorite & I'm delighted to see they presently have a website

[cabbage10]

it feels like my entire childhood Christmas was from that catalog. I can still spend an hour with those, they are such great memories. I used to "grade" the toys with check pluses and check minuses. The ventriloquist puppet page got a check minus minus. I imagine my grading of a wish book helped cement my becoming a teacher haha

[wysiwyg]

I'm looking at the 1937 Sears Wish Book and the prices are unbelievable. Silk ties for 85 cents and a 3-in-1 play table set for 98 cents. It is really neat to see how things have changed.

[bronxgirl]

I love this!!! This brings back so many memories. I think I had the 1985 Sears wishbook memorized. I was obsessed with the tween clothes and barbies. I have always loved looking at catalogues. I guess this is where it all started.

[stephm0188]

Nov 24, 2014 13:37:08 GMT -5 meij said:

I used to sit and look at the JCPenney catalog for hours. I'd furnish my entire imaginary house.

ME TOO!!

"I'll be a successful business woman and wear these suits to work, but on the weekend I'll wear this plaid shirt and khakis when I take the family apple picking. My living room will have this sofa and I'll have this in the dining room and I'll have Fiestaware of COURSE and my twin daughters will have this white wicker bedroom set and my teenage son will have this comforter."

I was such a dork.

[JayhawkGirl]

I loved looking through them and used my birthday money from my uncle to buy the typewriter I wanted so bad. Then I tried to type a thank you note and hated it!

We save DS's marked up target catalogs so he can look back at them when he's older.

[meij]

Nov 24, 2014 20:18:12 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

Nov 24, 2014 13:37:08 GMT -5 meij said:

I used to sit and look at the JCPenney catalog for hours. I'd furnish my entire imaginary house.

ME TOO!!

"I'll be a successful business woman and wear these suits to work, but on the weekend I'll wear this plaid shirt and khakis when I take the family apple picking. My living room will have this sofa and I'll have this in the dining room and I'll have Fiestaware of COURSE and my twin daughters will have this white wicker bedroom set and my teenage son will have this comforter."

I was such a dork.

Yes, this exactly what I did! I remember wedding and bridesmaid gowns in there too. (I was a year round catolog lover not just at Christmas.) Sometimes I got a calculator out to grand total my dream home furnishings.

[UMaineTeach]

Nov 24, 2014 19:20:43 GMT -5 wysiwyg said:

I'm looking at the 1937 Sears Wish Book and the prices are unbelievable. Silk ties for 85 cents and a 3-in-1 play table set for 98 cents. It is really neat to see how things have changed.

Where as Lee jeans are pretty reliably still $30. 1992 or 2014. Makes me wonder if they were making money hand over fist back in the day or if they continue to hire cheaper and cheaper labor to keep the price the same.

[UMaineTeach]

Nov 24, 2014 20:18:12 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

Nov 24, 2014 13:37:08 GMT -5 meij said:

I used to sit and look at the JCPenney catalog for hours. I'd furnish my entire imaginary house.

ME TOO!!

"I'll be a successful business woman and wear these suits to work, but on the weekend I'll wear this plaid shirt and khakis

I must have known on some level that I wasn't cut out for business. I used to look at the clothes in the LLBean catalog that were labeled "weekend wear" and think, huh? it's pants and a shirt, why can't you wear that to work? it's not jeans!

I remember the giant Penney's books. I bet my mom still has a few kicking around; she's got a coffee table box that got filled with catalogs and rarely/never cleaned out

[meij]

Nov 24, 2014 20:18:12 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

Nov 24, 2014 13:37:08 GMT -5 meij said:

I used to sit and look at the JCPenney catalog for hours. I'd furnish my entire imaginary house.

ME TOO!!

"I'll be a successful business woman and wear these suits to work, but on the weekend I'll wear this plaid shirt and khakis when I take the family apple picking. My living room will have this sofa and I'll have this in the dining room and I'll have Fiestaware of COURSE and my twin daughters will have this white wicker bedroom set and my teenage son will have this comforter."

I was such a dork.

Ok I just realized I still do this. But now on Pinterest. Still a dork!

[stephm0188]

That is four year old me, looking at a catalog. I'm pretty sure that's an Easy Bake Oven on that page.

[Marle]

Oh! the memories of incipient consumerism. It's so touching!