Christmas Decorations from the Thrift Store!

I made a point this weekend to hit up the thrifts to find more decorations for our first Christmas tree. =)

My favourite find at Christmastime are those glass ornaments with the glittery decorations. I was able to get three ornaments in this beautiful blue colour with snowy trees, and three pink ones with the snowflake design. Each ball was 35¢!

I also found a grab bag of goodies at the hospice thrift store... For a dollar, there was a small set of mini lights, along with some assorted ribbons and bows.

The last place I hit up on the weekend was the local church sale that happens every Saturday. I arrived bright and early and didn't find much, but noticed that the nice volunteers were just putting the new Christmas items out. I scored two sets of mini-lights in great condition for 50¢ each!

I really love thrifting at places where so much care is taken with the products being sold. The lights were in neat bundles, and had already been tested.

The other neat thing was how the lights were packed up in this old Lumberland hardware bag. Lumberland was the local building supply store that my Dad and I used to go to. They were purchased in 1997 by Revy, which was then purchased by Rona. Can you believe that was almost 15 years ago!? I doubt these lights are that old, but I appreciated the step back down memory lane!

Linking up to HLA's Flea Market Finds and the Penny Worthy Project!

Thrifted Christmas Decorations!

I love shopping at thrift stores over the holidays. Shops seem to hoard all the Christmas themed items throughout the year and bring them out after Halloween (at least in Canada since our Thanksgiving is in October) so November is a great time to find holiday goodies.

I've always liked the warm glow of the older, non-LED Christmas lights and was tempted to purchase them new but found them instead at the hospital thrift store for $2! I tried out the plug and it lit up beautifully. I believe this set is either new or was barely used.

I couldn't resist these two packs of unopened tinsel strands. Such cute boxes and perfectly brand new for 25 cents each!

Same price for this card of 12 jingle bells. They made such a great sound when I picked them up. I think I'll either string them onto an ornament (one bell to an ornament with a ribbon) or attach them to Christmas gifts!

Wedding Cake Knife

I picked up a really beautiful and practical cake knife at the hospice thrift store a few weeks ago. It is stamped with "Sheffield England" on the blade but I don't know much more about it, like whether it's a vintage piece or not.


I think it would be really nice for a wedding cake-cutting but I'm planning to keep it in my kitchen for cakes or pies for ordinary occasions. It's in great shape and cost me 50 cents! I even like this knife better than the silver cake server that I purchased a while back.


While I like the detail on the handle, I noticed while photographing the piece outside that the blade is shiny like a mirror. That's the pear tree in my backyard that you see. :)

Hand-Crank Popcorn Maker

All you thrifters out there know that one of the most often-found kitchen items are popcorn makers. Usually they are the 80s air popcorn makers, some with their original boxes touting the health benefits of air poppers.


I came upon this great "Theater II High Temperature Popcorn Popper" at the hospice thrift store. It is essentially an aluminum bowl with a removable lid that has pouring flaps on either side, and a contraption attached to a hand crank which moves the kernels around the bottom of the pan. It claims to be able to reach the same temperature as commercial poppers, hence the name. This item retails for about $50 new, so I'm happy with the three dollars I paid for mine. I also found product called a "Whirley-Pop" here which looks almost identical and seems to function the same.


I have experimented with this product a few times now, and can confirm that this makes GREAT popcorn! The key is in the kernels being constantly moved around to avoid burning while allowing the fluffier popped kernels to rise to the surface. I have tried using regular pans and woks to prepare popcorn in the past, but usually end up with more unpopped kernels. Further, the lid on this product has steam vents, which allow the popcorn to stay dry and crispy.

I have always avoided microwave popcorn because that "butter-flavoured topping" scares me. As a teenager, I worked the popcorn booth at the local baseball stadium one summer. I'll never forget how our Supervisors asked us to avoid calling it butter, cause it's just some kind of processed oil! It always pained me when a customer asked for extra butter... because that's not what they were getting!


I like the fact that I can control what I'm adding to my kernels when I make my own popcorn at home. This little contraption makes it so neat and easy to make a successful batch. It's quite possible that my piece isn't vintage, but it's comforting to know that they haven't had to change the design after all these years.