In these recipes from the 1950s, find out how to make classic gingerbread cookies — pretty decorated cut-out Christmas cookies with that famous spicy flavor.
Vintage holidays
Old-fashioned holidays and traditional celebrations
Take a step back in time and revisit these vintage articles and authentic guides to old-fashioned holidays and traditions from celebrations of the past! We have hundreds of classic holiday recipes, plus home decor, party plans, photos and much more!
You can easily browse recipes, articles and more by your favorite old-fashioned holidays — Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter — by event, such as birthdays, weddings — or by season: spring, summer, winter & fall.
You might remember some of these popular fudge recipes from your childhood. We encourage you to try at least one this year (or try them all)!
Here are 38 different classic punch recipes to try — none with alcohol as an ingredient. The fruit juices and different varieties of carbonated waters and ginger ales will satisfy the palate, and cool you off in a most refreshing manner.
Why do we kiss under mistletoe at Christmas? The history of this holiday tradition goes way back. In fact, the ‘missel thrush’ has been by ancient cultures for thousands of years.
Whether you’re a nostalgia buff or looking for Christmas door decorations for your mid century home (or both!), we have some fun and festive ideas!
While there are many different recipes for this classic sherry bundt cake, here is one that has remained popular for decades This dessert is moist and decadent with the perfect amount of sweetness.
The best way to gift-wrap a bulky or odd-shaped kitchen appliance or utensil is – don’t! Give it a fanciful shape, instead – with Christmas paper, ribbons, ornaments and more.
To many Americans living south of the Mason-Dixon line, sweet potatoes must be made with marshmallows! Here are 6 ways to make old-fashioned marshmallow sweet potatoes for a Thanksgiving side dish!
Something new has happened to pumpkin pie: Double layer pumpkin cheesecake pies! Cream cheese blends perfectly with spicy pumpkin, and bakes up smooth and creamy.
Some things never go out of style, and retro Halloween treats never should! We have collected a treasure trove of creepy-but-fun Halloween desserts from seasons past.
If you want to try something new that’s actually old for Thanksgiving, try making this homemade pie crust recipe from 1950!
These Karo lace cookies are so thin & elegant, crisp & crunchy, you can serve them to company, give them as gifts, or hang them on the tree.
Everyone will love the taste of fall in these delicious vintage Libby’s pumpkin recipes! Pie is only the beginning.
Here’s the ’80s way to use everyday corn syrup and tissue paper to make non-toxic face paints for Halloween or a school play!
You can think of these Victorian chocolate and coffee frappe recipes as precursors to Starbucks’ Frappuccino. You can even combine a couple and make an icy mocha frap of your own, courtesy of these recipes from the 19th century!
Soaky was a popular brand of bubble bath in the ’60s that kids loved because the plastic bottles were shaped like cartoon characters. See some here!
Re-create that warm holiday feeling with an almond pudding loaf that’s will fill your home with the delicious aroma of home baking.
In the ’80s, these sweet vintage Dunkin’ Donuts glass jars came filled with Munchkins donut holes, and were meant to live out the rest of their days on a kitchen counter, just waiting to be refilled with tasty treats.
If you’re looking for a vintage-style dessert for a special occasion, check out our collection of more than 100 classic cake recipes to suit all tastes!
Five flavors of whipped gelatin form this colorful, spectacular dessert: a rainbow cake – an eye-catching red, pink, orange, green and purple layered dessert recipe!
Here are more 20 colorfully-illustrated vintage Memorial day postcards for the national American holiday originally known as Decoration Day. These patriotic antique cards are all from the early 1900s.
Remember these chocolate desserts made with Oreo crumbs that look like you’re eating straight out of the garden — Dirt pie and dirt cups? Here’s how to make these simple, silly desserts the retro ’90s way.
These vintage summer clothes from the fifties, all made of cool cottons, were designed for carefree living and summer comfort. Stripes predominated in the fabrics chosen, lending color and dash to these wearable designs.
Macho cologne for men was released in the 1970s, and was a retro disco-era fragrance available in musk oil, aftershave, spray cologne, deodorant – plus that seventies staple, soap-on-a-rope.
Bring spring to your table with this lovely, luscious homemade daffodil pecan cake, based on an old-fashioned recipe from the early 1940s!
Planning a wedding with a classic old-fashioned feel? Check out this collection of beautiful vintage wedding dresses from the first two decades of the 1900s!
Ready for Easter? Give the holiday a retro-style boost that’s just as delicious today by making these cleverly-shaped Easter Rice Krispies treats! These bunnies, eggs & springtime cutouts are so easy to make.
Squirt soda, not sweet like other soft drinks. In fact, it’s definitely dry. It starts with sun-ripened citrus fruit and ends up with natural dryness, a quality never before achieved in soft drinks.
For this chocolate mint-whipped cream cake, you layer rich, moist chocolate cake with mint-flavored whipped cream, and frost it with some of the best chocolate frosting.
Here is an easy 1970s chocolatey Coconut Joy no-bake cookie recipe from C&H. With it, you can easily make these sweet treats for the holidays – or any day of the year!
To the average American girl, between the ages of, say, 10 and 17, slumber parties are as important as pizza, add-a-beads and Judy Blume.
Johnny Cash and Miss June Carter, country and Western music singers who teamed up on a Grammy-winning record, teamed up in marriage, too. Here’s a look back at their time together!
These pretty and old-fashioned paper Christmas ornaments are so easy to make, kids and adults can work on them together! As a bonus, they’re very cheap to create. Get directions and diagrams here.
Check out some vintage 1940s birthday cards – along with old-fashioned greeting cards for Halloween, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween and beyond.
This carrot cake Christmas pudding is a variation of the classic holiday dessert, but based on a carrot cake recipe. That means it should make a delicious treat even for those who aren’t fans of old-fashioned plum pudding.
With their bright colors and bold patterns, these vintage Hallmark notecards & stationery sets will remind you of a time when friendly messages to friends were sent by snail mail, not email.
How about a little old-fashioned holiday inspiration? Check out these super-cute retro Christmas cake decorating ideas to help you use frosting to make a wreath, stocking, reindeer, Santa Claus cake and more!
’70s hairstyles were feathery – shiny – bouncy. Here are some real vintage tips from salon experts so women in the disco decade could always keep their hair stylish.
This carefree tie-on poncho is cut in just four identical pieces and put together with simple straight sewing. Best of all, it has a dozen uses, can be made in any number of different fabrics, and cut to any length you like.
Delicious Christmas and holiday recipes with walnuts, including Chess pie, Walnut nuggets, Plum pudding, Walnut stuffing, Scotch trilbies, Panettone, and other delights.
From the era before electricity, automobiles and radio come these very old-fashioned recipes for Victorian Christmas side dishes. Get a taste of the holidays, 1800s-style!
Anyone visiting a county fair in the 1890s was likely to bring home a piece of ruby glass as a souvenir. They once sold for a song, and now are finds you’ll treasure.
Looking for a fun and creative holiday project that’s a little different? Check out these crafty and cute vintage Christmas decorations, based on ideas popular back in the sixties.
Beautiful, festive Christmas plates and dinnerware – like these vintage sets from Lenox and Spode – are still popular. Here’s a look at some of the patterns and pieces you could get in the past!
What kind of sweets did they enjoy more than 100 years ago — especially when ready-made candies were few and far between? People back in
Old-fashioned orange pomander balls made with cloves first became popular around the 17th century, and have been in use ever since. Here’s how to make your own fragrant decoration!
Find out how to make these colorful Christmas decorations: Translucent Tissue paper stained glass art panels to make your rooms blaze with jewel-toned light.
This fresh and zesty raspberry champagne punch is a fruity cocktail that is easy to make, tastes delicious, and looks gorgeous. Here’s how to do it, with a recipe from the ’80s!
It’s a joy for the whole family to get in on the planning and making of holiday cookies days and even weeks before Christmas day arrives. Here’s a classic cookie collection from the ’50s.
Here are three old-fashioned plum pudding recipes – classic Christmas desserts full of fruit, booze, and other good things that there is little room for the dough.
Try these Triple Treat holiday bars: A vintage bar cookie recipe from 1973! They’re easy to make. Take one pan, bake one base, then top 3 different delicious ways.
Here is a group of irresistible cookies of every kind which you’ll enjoy making as much as giving. From Woman’s Day magazine (December 1962) Cookies
Here’s a cute little vintage Christmas tree craft from 1950. You can cut the tree and decorations out of paper, then and you can use it as a table centerpiece or a mantel decoration, hang it up, or just play with it.
If you’re looking to recreate that special vintage Christmas cookie recipe that your grandmother used to make, or want to discover old-fashioned cookies to make new again, here’s a big tasty collection of treats for you!
If you’re looking for tips on doing something just like they did it 100 or more years ago, you’re in the right place! Here are
If you love the rich taste of maple syrup, we’d like to tempt you into giving a sweet twist to your holiday baking: these vintage-style snow-topped thumbprint cookies with a hint of maple!
Two Christmas traditions (eggnog and Kringla) rolled into one soft, cakelike cookie. Here’s how to make classic eggnog kringla cookies with this recipe from 1990.
Here are a few ideas for antique-style Christmas embroidery you can use to create small gifts. We have also included some bonus patterns, also from the early 1900s.
Get retro Thanksgiving recipes for turkey fondue with horseradish sauce; winter garden salad; caramel rum pumpkin cake; ham supreme in crépes; two-tone tower salad and ported raspberry pie.
Want some retro-style holiday decor? Find out how to make some vintage Christmas crafts from the ’60s: a burlap wreath, tabletop Christmas trees, a starburst decoration, papier mache ornaments and more.
Four thin yellow cake layers tower upward – separated by thick creamy whipped cream with fresh berries – in this delicious classic strawberry torte recipe from the ’60s!
This holiday chocolate nut squares recipe makes a delicious vintage cookie bar – filled with chocolate, pecans or walnuts, plus coconut on a sweet cookie dough base!
These ‘Good morning, pumpkin’ pancakes combine warm spice flavors with real pumpkin for a breakfast treat that will get a warm welcome. Get the classic recipe here!
You can make these super easy wax & tissue paper flowers for Christmas or any time of year! This vintage craft uses basic supplies, but creates a surprisingly beautiful result!
Take a look back at some of the most popular vintage Black & Decker electronics and small appliances from the late ’80s, including everything from Dustbusters to irons, and food processors to toaster ovens.
Whether they’re right out of the box or in your favorite recipe, here is is an easy way to tempt the vanilla wafer lovers in your family: Make a nilla wafer cranberry cheesecake!
Retro paper plates, napkins, placemats, cups and more – all affordable and all disposable – were new and popular in the ’60s. Here’s a look back at some of the products & patterns available then!
Halloween greeting cards made especially for children became popular in the 1970s – most far more sweet than scary. Look back at these vintage Halloween cards for kids from the ’70s and ’80s!
This peppermint marble angel cake gets an extra festive touch from peppermint extract and bonus bits of crushed peppermint candy. Here’s a vintage recipe from 1990!
What vintage Halloween candy did people get when trick-or-treating? See classic Butterfinger bars, Brach’s candy, Milky Way, Dubble Bubble, Baby Ruth, candy corn and more!
Here’s a vintage Johnny Appleseed Pie recipe from the Log Cabin kitchens for an apple pie that Johnny Appleseed himself would have been proud of, with extra flavor from maple syrup.
Here are three different recipes for vintage pumpkin meringue pies – one with a homemade pie and meringue topping, a second with a ginger-infused meringue, and the last using a pre-made pumpkin pie with a nutty meringue on top.
Make a double batch of these chicken meatballs with cranberry glaze – serve what you need, and freeze the rest for a spur-of-the-moment party.
Charlie Brown? Check. Grinch? Yep. You can also see how Johnny Depp, Elvira, Martin Lawrence & Tom Hanks got into the holiday spirit years ago on these vintage Halloween TV specials.
For this easy ’50s ColorVision cake recipe, pick 3 colors, then make your cake to match. Raspberry, strawberry, cherry, orange, lemon… any delicious flavor of fruit you like best. Here’s how.
These easy vintage cream cheese frosting recipes are one-bowl affairs with almost endless variations. Name a favorite flavor, and the chances are you can make it this easy way.
Are you ready for Halloween? A look back at some old-fashioned Halloween party tips from 1910, in the days when the holiday was more about gatherings than candy collection.
Here are 12 amazing classic apple pie recipes, collected from newspapers published across the US throughout the ’60s!
Here’s a recipe that will turn pumpkin into a pie faster than Cinderella’s fairy godmother turned the fall fruit into a coach: Pumpkin Dream Pie – and all without any cooking or baking.
On the top of one of the taller buildings of the time, the Hotel Majestic’s roof garden was where the elite partied back around the turn of the century.
These delicious classic pumpkin cookie bars are sort of like a denser pumpkin bread, and pair perfectly with a tasty orange-y cream cheese frosting. Get the retro recipe from the 80s here!
Iced Nesselrode Pudding, a chestnut-based chilled sweet, was considered to be very expensive, very fancy, very tasty — and was, consequently, very popular during the Victorian era.
As long as there have been kids, there have been _bored_ kids. For parents in the ’60s, one magazine offered these great old-fashioned ways to have fun.
Did you ever have one of these vintage Paas Halloween makeup kits from the eighties, so you could go trick-or-treating looking like a vampire, clown, werewolf or ghost?
Go a little retro this year! Make delicious holiday butter cookies and lots of different pressed Christmas cookie designs – including spritz – from these easy vintage recipes.
Depending on your preference, this retro creamy chocolate mint pie recipe from the 80s uses either Creme de Menthe liqueur, or you can use a little peppermint extract.
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier became the bride of Senator John F. Kennedy – the future president – at this elegant society wedding in 1953. See what it was like!
Here is one theory about how the Liberty Bell was cracked, according to an old man who confessed to breaking the famous bell when he was just a boy.
Here’s a selection of vintage 4th of July postcards to celebrate Independence Day, all dating back to the first two decades of the 20th century!
Here are a couple recipes for petits fours – along with ways to make the frosting, fondant and decorations for these tiny cakes, all in the ’50s style!
This deliciously festive pear-cranberry cobbler recipe from the ’90s is filled with seasonal fruit and a crumbly topping.
You’ll love this old-fashioned clove cake that’s really different from any other spice cake you ever tasted.
This pink lemonade ice cream cake is surprisingly easy to make – it starts with a boxed cake mix, and gets dressed up with filling and frosting. Try it!
Gone on Grape? Crazy for Cola? Batty about Birch? Whatever your soda pop passion, this retro recipe for soda pop ice cream is a cool, new way to enjoy more of it.
Here’s a whole year’s worth of cute printable retro calendar icons that you can even print or save to use to make your own planner or calendar!
This is maple-pecan chiffon cake with maple-flavored frosting, for the day you want something very, very special! Your guests will think you are wonderful!
Take a look back at the latest and greatest toys from 1986 in these pages from the vintage Toys R Us catalogs called the 80s Out of this World Toy Book.
Delight your guests with a lovely lemon layer cake with a luscious lemony buttercream frosting and lucious fruit preserves on the inside.
