This year we had to put up our Christmas tree a little earlier than we usually do. We normally wait until the first weekend in December but the way things fell this year, the last weekend in November was the only real slot we had with time.
Every year we eat lovely things, mull some wine (white mulled wine – recommend it!), put a fake fireplace video on the TV and some music on and get to work. Or at least we both start with working on the decorating. Usually after the biggest baubles are on my husband starts to lose interest and I finish it while he watches. Maybe one year he’ll push through bauble fatigue and make it to the end…
As mentioned in a previous post, our Christmas tree decor has changed from a Scandi theme to multi-coloured mid-Century brights.
We started in 2022 with a mixture of baubles that included dinosaurs, London icons, animals etc. and over the past few years that has transitioned into more of a pure mid-century vintage style bauble-y vibe. See below from left to right for our Christmas tree-volution from 2022-2024.
As you’ll see, it hasn’t changed too much over the years, it’s the same tree – one I’ve had since I moved to London aged 26 (the best way to make sure that a fake tree is as sustainable as possible is to keep it for years and I’ve achieved that). It probably could do with being a little bigger in height but as trees get taller they tend to also get wider and we don’t have the room for a wider tree at the base. It could also ideally be a little more frond-y so that the baubles can really shine, but it is what it is.
2025’s tree is pretty similar to last year’s. There are more baubles, although I’m not sure you can tell that from the photos. I still reckon there’s room for more baubles, although my husband disagrees.
My collection of baubles has grown over the past few years, starting with mostly store-bought decorations, to the point now where the majority of our baubles are vintage.
I love everything about vintage baubles. I love the way the glass shines in a way that plastic just doesn’t, I love the colours, I love the patterns and the styles and I love the fact that they all feel like they have a history of many happy Christmases in them.
I’m not sure if it’s just the algorithm but I have seen loads of trees on Instagram this year that are embracing an old school vintage vibe. I’m not sure if it’s a reaction to years of super curated Christmas decorations or something to do with the economic climate but I’ve seen people switching up their warm white lights to old school 80s and 90s style colourful lights, I’ve seen people covering trees in shiny bead garlands and draping trees in lametta and I’ve seen reels about buying vintage style baubles and dubbing it the ‘gaudy granny’ tree trend.
So in case anyone out there wants to embrace the vintage tree trend and buy vintage style baubles in the UK, I thought I’d do a little look at our decorations and where we have picked them up from.
Baubles
Shiny Brite baubles
If you’ve ever looked into vintage baubles, you will inevitably come across the name Shiny Brite. Not really a thing here, Shiny Brite ornaments were popular in the US during the 40s and 50s. The baubles came in vibrant colours ranging from traditional reds to eye-catching hot pinks and turquoises.
Since 2001, Christopher Radko (apparently also a known name when it comes to US ornaments), has been selling new versions of Shiny Brite ornaments, recreating original styles.
At the time I started shifting our ornament style towards a more vintage one I was struggling to find enough vintage style baubles and so ordered a number of Shiny Brite baubles from the US website (it took a while for delivery and updates were few and far between, so do take note if you want to order from them and have left it close to Christmas).
West Elm in the UK also have a small selection of Shiny Brite baubles each year made especially for them. A few years ago I picked up a box which has some lovely ombre baubles, which are a bit different from others in my collection:
EBay
EBay is always a solid choice for vintage baubles. Prices vary wildly. Sometimes you can pick up a real bargain, like a charity shop selling a box full of mixed baubles of various styles. Sometimes you see baubles on sale for crazy prices.
Although the largest selection tends to be available in the run up to Christmas, the number of people interested in buying baubles also increases. Some of my best finds for the most reasonable prices have been off-season.
It always makes me a bit sad to see boxes of beautiful vintage baubles up for sale because I tend to think it’s because their previous owner died. But I like to think that I am adopting them, giving them a home and a wonderful new lease of life as part of our Christmases.
I’ve also browsed German eBay a lot for baubles and there are some beautiful GDR-era baubles on there. I haven’t yet pulled the trigger and bought any yet as many sellers don’t ship outside Germany which adds in a layer of complexity, but maybe one day I will. If you speak the basics of another language or are willing to Google Translate things, it’s worth trying foreign eBay sites – Germany and Poland in particular have great heritages when it comes to bauble production.
Etsy
I’ve picked up a few boxes of vintage baubles from Etsy. Prices can be higher, but you know what you’re paying and, best of all, you don’t need to get into a bidding war to secure the decorations you want.
Family
The most special baubles in my collection are ones that I have inherited from my nan and grandad. Not only are they perhaps some of the most beautiful baubles in my collection, but they also mean something because they’re something that has been in our family for decades.
I string all of our baubles with 3mm wide green velvet ribbon so that the ribbon loops blend into the green of the tree branches. Most are strung in a dark green but my family baubles are strung in a brighter green so that I can always identify them when we take our tree down each year.
Shops
A handful of our baubles are retro style baubles but are, in fact, new.
I haven’t had great luck in the UK so far, but, I always keep an eye out when we visit European Christmas markets for baubles but never have much luck on the markets themselves.
The best place I found retro style baubles was in a small shop in Krakow called Folkstar (now no longer in Krakow, but in various other Polish cities and available online – they ship abroad).
We picked up a good number of baubles there, both concave baubles, beautiful painted baubles and pinecone-shaped baubles.
Top tip: if you’re going somewhere you think you might buy baubles, pack Tupperware in your suitcase. You can fill it with clothes on the way out there and if you find baubles you like you can pack them in the Tupperware on the way home and they will be protected.
Tree topper
Our tree topper is perhaps a slightly unconventional one. It’s the Hedy tree topper from Anthropologie. Named after Hedy Lamarr and styled after the star-patterned costume she wore in Ziegfeld Girl, this topper is a bit of a different choice but given that my worship leans more towards technology and less towards Jesus, it felt apt.
It is heavy but because our tree is fake we are able to attach it securely to the top by pulling the top branch through the loops of metal and then looping it back down on itself, keeping the tree topper in place.
Tinsel
At one point I stumbled across this picture of a maximalist-style Christmas tree and became obsessed with the tinsel – chunky, multicoloured tinsel, just not your average anemic tinsel. The post was silent as to where it was from, but with a bit of Googling, I managed to find the same or at least a very similar looking tinsel in the US at Hobby Lobby (via VPN, it’s geo-blocked here). I couldn’t find a tinsel in the UK that was similar to this rainbow coloured tinsel beauty and so I decided to be a bit extra and got a shipping company to order several strands of it to their warehouse before shipping it out to the UK.
I regret nothing.
Although our tinsel used to be more prominent on the tree, as the baubles have taken over it has taken a bit of a backseat. But what we do with it now is to position it further inside the tree which creates a sort of sparkly backdrop to the baubles. You don’t really see it in a photo but in real life you catch glimpses of it and its colours catch the light and it gives the tree and decorations a bit of depth.
