Finding unique last minute gifts for the lover of vintage isn’t easy. You might not trust yourself at picking the right item at the antique store. We are now out of time for shipping in time for gift giving and maybe you don’t have a local boutique that sells cute vintage inspired items.
Here are some great ideas for last minute (you can get this accomplished in 24 hours) gifts. Some are a few clicks away and some are going to require you leave the house and hit a couple stores. It depends on how much time you personally have to devote to the gift. But I promise they will make your friend or family member very happy.
Table of Contents:
- Print a Vintage Download and Gift it
- Frameable Gifts for the Boudoir
- Gift a Subscription to Vintage
- Gift an Online Course in Vintage Crafts and Art
- Milk Glass Vanity Containers
Print a Vintage Download and Gift it
If you have access to a printer or can make it to a Kinko’s or office supply store print shop tomorrow, maybe consider a small downloadable vintage book or some other vintage designed downloadable item. If you purchase a downloadable vintage book, you have every right to print it for personal use at home.
The reality is most of these vintage books you can download aren’t protected under copyright. It’s a copyright law thing that doesn’t protect a lot of books originally copyrighted prior to the 1960s. That’s why you see so many people selling them online. (Probably shouldn’t tell you that, but oh well.)
If there are few enough pages in the download, you can easily staple bind the printed pages together. Just remember to have it printed double sided! Here is a simple tutorial on binding a book with staples using simple tools that you (or a friend) probably have at home.
Did you know you can have spiral binding done at Kinko’s? Here’s where you can get started.
Downloadable Vintage Gifts
A sweet list of adorable vintage paper craft you can have printed and ready to gift tomorrow:
- How to Wear Your Hair (1954 book)
- Hats, Hair-Dos, and Makeup (1943 book)
- Styles and Sets for Black Hair (1965)
- Beauty Secrets for Every Woman (1923)
- Vintage Hairstyle Catalogue (1930s)
Frameable Gifts for the Boudoir
This gift requires you leave the house as well. A quick trip to the antique store and then the craft store for a picture frame or 2 will get you everything you need.
In my Crafty and Cheap Gift for the Powder Room post, I mapped out how you can frame an advertisement from a vintage magazine. Shampoo ads, makeup ads, nailpolish ads… all make great decorating in the powder room or boudoir. Read the whole post here.
Really, really strapped for time? Here are a few 8×10 size vintage advertisements you can download and take to the print machine at Walgreens now. Then just go to the craft store and pick out the frames.
Or download high quality photographs of actresses from my favorite website, GlamourGirlsoftheSilverScreen.com, and print them on a machine at Walgreens and frame them as a gift!
Gift a Subscription to Vintage
There are some really great places to get subscriptions that will give your loved one monthly retro entertainment and information.
Subscription for the Lover of Vintage Movies
Turner Classic Movies will provide hours of entertainment every month of amazing classic movies. Turner Classic Movies is often just a part of some regular cable services, but, if you are like me and you have given cable the old heave ho, you are missing this great 24 hour source of the best movies from the 1920s to the 1990s. With the advent of streaming television, TCM is now available with your monthly subscription to HBOMax.
Subscriptions for the Vintage Sewer
If you are looking for a gift for the vintage sewer, consider getting them a subscription to the Charm Artist Collective on Patreon. This sewing collective is run by Gretchen Hirsch, known by many as Gertie of Charm Patterns and the monthly membership gets you access to free patterns and a community of lovely sewing enthusiasts. There are tier levels of subscription making it affordable for everyone.
Gift an Online Course in Vintage Crafts and Art
Maybe you want to help someone learn a new skill? Maybe they don’t know enough about sewing just yet for Gertie’s Patreon. So give the gift of online vintage sewing classes for the beginner sewer through Evelyn Wood’s Vintage Sewing School.
Or! I have always personally pictured myself making illustrative art that looks like the vintage art from ladies magazines in the 1950s and 1960s. But I have no idea where to start. Then I found this! This SkillShare course called Pattern Ladies: Designing Vintage Characters looks amazing!
Maybe an online class on dating vintage jewelry? Honestly, a Google search for “vintage classes online” will send you down a rabbit hole of great options for a last minute gift.
Milk Glass Vanity Containers
See ideas for gorgeous Vanity Containers from Milk Glass in this blog post I did a few years ago. Glassware like this is easy to find at your local antique store or even thrift store. Milk glass is white, but vintage glassware also comes in red, green, pink, blue… Regardless of your powder room color, you can find glassware that will look great as a soapdish or cotton ball holder. Read more here.
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