Vintage style - a modern interpretation of antiquity - is always popular, especially before the New Year, when you really want to take all the most beautiful, festive, solemn things from the past. Decorating the interior “in vintage style” means creating in the house the charm of previous years - antique furniture, real porcelain dishes, vases, dishes, candy bowls, lace napkins.
If it is not possible to find real antiques, on New Year's Eve you can and should make them yourself - delicate pastel colors, framed photos, patchwork bedspreads, bright sofa pillows and magical New Year's details that create the mood.
"The Forest Raised a Christmas Tree"
Putting up a Christmas tree at home for the New Year has always been an event! Traditionally, by mid-December, Christmas tree markets open in every city, where you can buy your favorite tree. And if you have the opportunity and desire, in many regions of Russia you can officially get a felling coupon/ticket for one tree. The coupon is issued at the local forestry, a forest area is designated, usually near a power line, and then you only need to cut down the Christmas tree you like and bring it home.
At different times, it was customary to decorate the Christmas tree in its own way. For example, in the tsarist era, toys in the shape of angels, bells and Bethlehem stars were in fashion.
With the advent of the USSR, the top of the Christmas tree began to be decorated with a red star. And in honor of the opening of the space age, Soviet designers released a pike decoration symbolizing a rocket taking off.
1936-1940 A festive tandem was formed - Father Frost and Snow Maiden and Christmas tree markets appeared
Since December 1936, the celebration of the New Year has acquired an all-Union scope.
the Izvestia newspaper described in its issue dated December 31, 1938 : “At dusk, the first guests of the New Year’s tree came here. Everyone has a badge on their chest with the inscription “Happy New Year, we wish you to be an excellent student.” A huge Christmas tree shines with thousands of colorful lights in the Hall of Columns. Her rightful owner, Santa Claus, came and the celebration began. The guys sang, danced, and recited. After spinning around the Christmas tree, the kids rode on the carousel, and the older boys practiced shooting with an electric revolver. It was all fun, joyful, festive.”
"New Year's Tree Celebration" Newspaper "Moscow Bolshevik" dated December 29, 1945
At the end of the 1930s. Mass production of Christmas tree decorations also began, many of which, in the spirit of the times, were made in the form of airships, airplanes, and machine tools. But the main decoration of the tree was a red five-pointed star. And it was at this time that Father Frost himself first came out to those celebrating with his companion, Snegurochka.
For the first few years after the first Christmas tree, the capital’s authorities practically did not regulate the festive elements in any way. However, the population cut down Christmas trees in such large numbers that this caused concern in the Moscow City Council about the fate of the capital’s forest protection belt. Starting in 1939, this situation began to change, and the city authorities began to strictly monitor the supply of Christmas trees to Moscow and their sale. Private trade in Christmas trees was strictly prohibited in order to reduce the number of illegal logging.
At the New Year's tree in the Hall of Columns during the opening of the holiday. Authors: A. Batanov, V. Mastyukov. Moscow, December 29, 1952
“Now she came to us dressed up for the holiday”
30-50 years ago, every home had a box with beautiful glass toys of various shapes and colors. They were carefully kept in the arms of tinsel and cotton wool for a whole year and on the eve of the holiday they were hung on the Christmas tree with special trepidation. Until now, Soviet Christmas tree decorations, especially rare ones, are valuable among vintage lovers and collectors.
It turns out that many toys in the USSR were produced in series in honor of a specific event. So it’s quite possible to trace the history of the state by looking at the New Year’s decor.
So the Star of Bethlehem gave way to the symbol of the Soviet era - the five-pointed red star.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, glass toys were very expensive, so cardboard, cotton toys and the so-called “Dresden cartonage” - two cardboard figures with a convex pattern, covered with foil - were in use.
In 1936, after the release of the film “Circus” with Lyubov Orlova, toys depicting circus performers and animals became popular.
And in 1937, the airship "SSSR-B6" made a record-breaking flight of 130 hours of continuous stay in the air. In honor of him, Christmas tree toys-airships were released.
In 1949, the country celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin, so a series of New Year's toys based on his fairy tales was released. The Christmas trees of those times were decorated with the heroes of “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, “The Golden Cockerel” and “Tales of the Fisherman and the Fish”.
At the same time, toys made of glass beads and beads came into fashion.
In the 50s, toys in the form of houses, cones, birds and animals, icicles, and balls with depressions, inside of which the light from New Year's garlands beautifully refracts, were mass-produced.
In 1956, Eldar Ryazanov’s film “Carnival Night” was released. Toys in the form of a clock that show five minutes to twelve became very popular, were produced by various factories and decorated almost every Christmas tree in our vast homeland.
With the opening of the space age, New Year's toys began to appear in the form of astronauts, rockets and satellites.
In the 70s, toys in the form of favorite cartoon characters gained popularity.
In the 80s, the disco style took over not only music and fashion. New Year's toys have become brighter, shiny and abstract than ever. And rain has also become fashionable. Sometimes they hung the tree so that neither the toys nor even the tree itself could be seen. But no one cared. The main thing is that everything shines and sparkles!
In the 90s (and this was already 30 years ago!) With the fall of the Iron Curtain, the views of Russian citizens turned to the West. Everything American was new and certainly seemed better. New Year's decor was no exception. It has become fashionable to decorate the Christmas tree in a single color scheme. Bows, miniature gift boxes, bells and even artificial flowers were added to the traditional balloons. All this was produced in huge quantities in China from plastic and was proudly called “European style”. Yes, toys have become unbreakable and more varied in style and color. But the charm of handmade Soviet jewelry is a thing of the past. In grandma's boxes with fragile glass New Year's toys.
Party music
Choosing a playlist is an important criterion for the success of your party. The music should be light, recognizable and catchy, charging with drive. When choosing musical accompaniment, you can safely use hits of the 50-60s, soundtracks to the films “Hipsters”, songs of the groups “Bravo”, “Zero” and “Time Machine”. Include works by Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly in the list. It’s impossible to stand still to the songs “Let’s Twist Again”, “I wander”, “We’re Gonna Rock Around The Clock”, “Yes baby”! This music will be an excellent background for games and competitions.
“They hung the beads and began to dance in a round dance”
Does everyone remember the children's song about a little Christmas tree? Of course, it was not the ladies’ decorations themselves that were hung on the Christmas tree, but their likeness—long multi-colored beads specially produced by toy factories. You can easily make them yourself: buy the beads you like at a craft store and string them on a thread or fishing line.1967-1971 Cash and clothing lotteries and New Year's lights from the Mossovet on the streets of the capital
Since 1967, the New Year's cash and clothing lottery has been held annually. According to the order of the Executive Committee of the Moscow Council No. 28/24, the ticket price was set at 30 kopecks. In addition to the sum of money, one could win various household goods from blankets and carpets to a car or motorcycle. The total cost of all tickets was about 30 million rubles, and the total winnings were 18 million.
Dance of the “Snow Beauties” at the children’s New Year’s Eve party in the Column Hall of the House of Unions. Photo by V. Kuzmin and V. Khristoforov. Moscow, December 28, 1973
In addition to entertainment, streets and squares began to be decorated in the capital, creating the atmosphere of a New Year's fairy tale. Thus, since 1969, the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council, by its orders, allocated funds for the purchase and installation of Christmas trees in squares, as well as for their decoration. And since 1971, they began to actively decorate individual squares, streets and avenues.
“And there are gingerbread cookies on the Christmas tree”
Gingerbread cookies and cookies were also frequent guests at the New Year tree. You can buy ready-made multi-colored products at a pastry shop, or you can bake them yourself in any shape. The recipe for shortcrust pastry can be easily found on the Internet. Even earlier, it was fashionable to hang candies on the Christmas tree - the bright candy wrappers sparkled and shimmered like New Year’s toys. And in January, when the tree was dismantled, the candies could be eaten.
“How many colored balls are there on the Christmas tree!”
Of course, traditional balls have also decorated the New Year tree at all times. They were painted, covered with beads and ribbons, and decorated with lace. We have collected six cool ideas on how you can decorate Christmas balls with your own hands in a separate article.The Legend of Tinsel
This controversial Christmas decoration has a fairytale origin story. A long time ago there lived a woman with many children who did not have the opportunity to richly decorate her tree for Christmas. On the eve of the holiday, she decorated the Christmas tree as best she could, because the children so wanted a holiday! And at night spiders came to the rescue. They crawled from branch to branch, leaving behind a shiny web. As a reward for the woman's kindness, Christ blessed the tree, and the web turned into sparkling silver.
The word “tinsel” itself comes from the Tatar and Arabic languages and used to mean a thread made of fake gold or silver. Nowadays Christmas trees are decorated less and less with tinsel, however, if you want to throw a party in a retro style, it can be very useful.
Entertainment
Competitions, fun and dancing are the main entertainment of this party.
- Dance on the record. For the competition you will need several records and music of different styles (boogie-woogie, tango, jazz, waltz, rock and roll). The number of participants is at least three pairs. Each of them is given a record. The couple needs to dance to the rhythm of the composition in such a way as not to leave the record. Musical styles must constantly change. Participants who fail to stay on the plate leave the competition. The competition continues until only one couple remains on the dance floor.
- Dance "snowball". All guests take part in this game. First, choose a leader. He will have to say one phrase from time to time: “Snowball.” Then everyone present stands in a circle, and three to five people stand in the middle. The guests in the center dance to the beat of the music, and the “circle” stands holding hands. The phrase “Snowball” is a signal for those dancing in a circle. After it sounds, the dancers need to open the circle and pull one more participant inside. Each time the number of dancers increases. The point of the game is for all participants to dance at the end.
- Dance of restrictions. Everyone can take part in this fun. At the beginning of the game, select a leader. He must name any part of the body at short intervals, and the participants must stop using it in the dance. If the leader says, “Left foot,” the dancers will jump on one foot and try their best not to use the other. At the same time, you need to continue moving to the rhythm. There is only one left to win this competition.
- Ribbon competition. Prepare several ribbons 2 meters long. A minimum of three couples participate. The girls wrap a ribbon around their waist and give the end to the guy. The partner’s task is to rewind the ribbon onto his belt as quickly as possible, moving to the rhythm of the dance. The winners are the most agile.
- Dress up a dude. The game involves a pair of players. A bag full of various clothes is used. The players are divided into two teams. One dresses a guy, the other dresses a girl. All items are in one bag, and you can take them from there when the previous participant has finished putting on the selected item. The winner is the team that dresses their “mannequin” in the most stylish and outrageous way.
For winnings in competitions, assign a certain number of points to participants. At the end of the party, count the points of all the guests, determine the main winner of the party and reward him with a prize.
Fairy lights
The garland can consist of any decorations tied together into a long ribbon. In the Soviet Union, garlands of paper figured flags with beautiful pictures were popular, because they are easy to make with your own hands: cut out flags of any shape from colored paper, cardboard or New Year's cards.
Electric garlands in vintage style are characterized by large colored incandescent lamps. Sometimes they were even painted with their own hands. Nowadays, ready-made retro garlands can be found for every taste and color, for example, from Edison light bulbs.
Decorations and details
Jewelry is the most important part of style. Antique and not very old, but definitely spectacular, shiny, with gilding or shimmering silver, Christmas tree decorations, large, voluminous garlands, the thinnest snowflakes cut out of tissue paper, bugles and pearls.
To maintain a vintage style, look for pieces with patterns - simple, rustic or sophisticated, elegant pieces with patterns. Ancient classics are now in trend.
New Year cards
How long has it been since you wrote a paper letter to someone? When the Internet had not yet been invented, and not every home had a telephone, people all over the country sent telegrams, letters and cards to each other for the New Year. The older generation remembers that the post office is always especially busy in December, so news with wishes was prepared in advance. Your loved ones will be pleased to unexpectedly receive a New Year's card made by themselves. After all, in any handmade there is a piece of soul.For postcards in retro style you will need: glue, scissors, colored paper, ribbons and lace, newspaper clippings, magazines and music books, twigs, threads, beads... In general, everything that you like in a craft store or has been waiting in the wings for a long time box at home with all sorts of little things.
New Year's decor in vintage style
Wreaths in pastel colors, hand-sewn soft toys, wooden figurines in the form of Christmas trees and snowmen - all these cute little things will help create a festive mood. In the old days, there was no mass production of New Year's decorations made of plastic. Therefore, if you decide to recreate the atmosphere of the past, choose natural materials, muted tones and natural colors.
Vintage style is always nostalgic. On the eve of the holidays, it is customary to take stock and remember the best moments of the outgoing year. Photos and postcards from memorable places and significant events will help with this. Pictures from old family albums, Instagram, Polaroid or film prints can be combined with a New Year's garland, creating an original interior decoration in vintage style.
Party Costumes
Creating a holiday look is not easy, and looking like a mid-century style icon is even more difficult. In clothes you should not use plain materials and muted tones. Everything should be bright and impressive, even the color of the socks. Dresses with a deep neckline and a full skirt that slightly covered the knees were considered the most fashionable and beautiful in the 50s. They wore a tulle petticoat with it.
A retro party gives the go-ahead for bright fabrics and full skirts!
The colors of clothing should be rich. Give preference to bright patterns - for example, polka dots. Girls of those times loved clothes with floral prints: roses, poppies, sunflowers, lilies. You can complement the outfit with a wide belt with a large buckle, long gloves, seamed stockings and low-heeled shoes.
The trendy decorations for this outfit were a green handbag and a scarlet hair ribbon with a large flower. Among the hairstyles, high styles prevailed - for example, a knot on the top of the head with curled curls on the sides. To keep the curl longer, the hair was moistened with sugar syrup and twisted into curling irons. Such curls did not straighten for a long time and smelled like caramel. Fashionistas also decorated their hair with a small pillbox hat.
Makeup should also be bright. To create the look, draw wide black arrows in the corners of the eyes and along the edge of the eyelid. Choose shades of peach, yellow, blue and light blue. And be sure to wear red lipstick! For jewelry, choose beads and large plastic bracelets. Wear a necklace or brooch with colored stones.
Don't be shy - choose daring pin-up style makeup
Men's fashion of this period was also not particularly modest. After all, the guys dictated the style of youth in the USSR. When choosing costumes, be guided by the fact that guys in the 50s and 60s wore checkered, crimson and green “pipe” trousers. The length of the pants should not be below the bone. These trousers reveal colorful socks and high-soled boots.
Be sure to wear a bright shirt with dark plain trousers. Even Hawaiian colors were popular. A long narrow herring tie matched the shirt. Checkered jackets and felt trench coats were all the rage. Hipsters did their hair in the “cock” style or wore a hat. A retro look can be complemented by a musical instrument.
