Christmas is around the corner and Hanukkah has just ended. From Black Friday to December Wednesday (the 13th to be exact) I scoured 9 thrifty shops in search of:
- Mini ornaments for my small Christmas tree
- Star Christmas tree topper
- A dreidel
- White flowers, artificial
- A chess set, blue and white.
Did I wait too long to begin my decoration shopping? Did I beat this holiday challenge? Read about my lively and festive shopping excursions to find out. 👀
(Photo by Bianca Brown)
Mini Ornaments and Star Christmas Tree Topper
When I picked up the circular box of 15 mini ornaments off the Goodwill shelf, I felt so lucky! I was unsure if it was possible to find ornaments this mini from any used store. I have a small tree. Twenty-five inches tall and fourteen inches at its widest point, this sparse white tree is meant to be decorative / not the main event, but I prefer it this way.
This first set (yes, first set) of ornaments are five clear, five silver, and five translucent gold. After I placed the 15 baubles on my tree, I got excited. They weren’t enough to fill out the whole tree, but it gave me a better understanding of what details I wanted in the other ornaments: warm tones, still mini but varying sizes.
Days later at MTA Thrift, I nabbed a box of 12 ornaments and even another bag of 7 ornaments from Discovery Shop. The box came with 6 silver, 4 glitter gold, and 2 glitter red baubles. The bag came with 3 glitter silver, 2 pear, 1 champagne, and 1 rolling horse ornaments.
After shopping at 9 (!) used stores, I only found 1 star Christmas tree topper. It was literally half the size of my tree, so I had to leave it be. I got 34 ornaments for $13.75 and 0 star Christmas tree toppers for $0. Not bad.
(Photo by Bianca Brown)
Artificial White Flowers and a Dreidel
Classic Hanukkah colors include blue, silver, and white. The idea of white roses (or a similar set of flowers) for Hanukkah to pair with my red roses for Christmas was and is super compelling to me. I’ve had quite a bit of luck finding clean, great quality artificial flowers in the past. I expected the same this go-round, but my luck ran out. I was disappointed but not completely deterred.
I put a dreidel on my list because it seemed I lost the one I had. The loss was a total mystery to me, but the fact that I wanted one to replace it before Hanukkah’s end was not. I combed through every shelf of every used store I went to. No dice! No dreidel!
Just a day or so later, I was at home looking through other Christmas decorations. I pulled out my window Christmas lights from a medium storage container only to find my dreidel underneath! Likely, I wouldn’t say no to a second dreidel, but there’s still a general lesson here. One almost any reduce-reuse-recycle girlie will tell you: check everywhere you can before you declare something lost and replace it. No white flowers and a beautiful dreidel at a cost of $0.
(Photo by Lady Escabia – Pexels)
Blue and White Chess Set
It is a dream of mine to have a beautiful, ornate blue and white chess set. It’s function and aesthetic, just like dreidels. Beautiful and gameful. I knew this was something that I wouldn’t find at just any thrift store, but I looked and looked. The closest I got was a glass (!) chess set at a Goodwill.
The box proudly declared that the chess set was decoration only. It came with translucent gray and white chess pieces and a translucent checkered chessboard. It was only $10. I stood looking at it for a good few minutes, but ultimately decided against it. While decorative and beautiful, the blue and white theme is a Hanukkah necessity!
The Takeaway for Holiday Decorations
Creating this list of decorations and leaving no stone unturned as I searched was exceedingly fun and even surprising. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that most used stores have ornaments all kinds. Also, start thrifting for those holiday decorations earlier, girl. Haha! Happy Holidays, everyone.
