Retro Christmas Tree Classics

If you remember the Christmases of the fifties and sixties – or if you like retro chic, modern style look – you want to include classic retro Christmas into your holiday decor.
Make a bold statement, striking and unmistakably retro tree with a silver plate. A true classic fifty to sixty, the money tree was often decorated in a unique color theme. Try Human red and shiny red glass ornaments, or create a retro feel with all blue lights and decorations.
Tip: Add a little magic to your money tree with a retro color wheel. Very popular in the 50s and 60s, a color wheel features red transparent, blue, orange and green inserts that rotate slowly in front of an incandescent bulb. Placed so that light is directed onto the tree, a color wheel creates a game changing light that adds a new dimension of fun fifties to your holiday decor.
If the money is not your style, retro flair to your Christmas tree with strings of multicolored lights big. The tiny bright mini lights that are now the standard did not become common until the late sixties and seventies at the beginning, the lights of the tree years back are large, bright and bold.
Tip: Modern versions of old Christmas lights look great with the originals, but they feature an important difference: they are cool, safe and reliable. If you grew up in the fifties or sixties chances are you remember to burn your fingertips on the lights, or perhaps you can remember carefully analyzed each light in a chain that had been “dead” because of the bulbs burned. No problem with retro-modern replicas, they do not heat up and they are wired to continue even if one bulb goes bad.
For the ultimate in tree Christmas retro, go for bubble lights. True retro icons of Christmas lights, bubbles were introduced in mid 1940 and by fifties, they had become a very popular holiday novelty. Almost all households in a string or two on the tree, and most people over 50 remember waiting for fires to start bubble bubbling.
Bubble lights consist essentially of a glass bottle filled with thick liquid placed on top of a globe with colored plastic that holds a small light bulb. The liquid in the bottle (usually methelyine chloride or a light oil) has a very low boiling point, heat of the bulb causes bubbles to rise and float the bottle, creating a unique “active” ornament. The originals have been heavy fifties, expensive and delicate, but the new retro replicas are lightweight, affordable and reliable.

How To Dress: Modern Retro