Here is our latest article for Vintage Life magazine.
2012: A Vintage Year
January is such a cold month, so little money to spend! Start your healthy eating resolution with large home-made casseroles made in vintage enamel saucepans. Choose a 1940s large roaster or a groovy coloured 1960s pan, mix up the winter veg and leave to cook. Invite your friends to a social dinner to share stories of New Years Eve parties. Revive the tradition of sitting round the table, serving from vintage tureens to create your perfect vintage table setting.
February is the month of romance. Buck the trend of giving chocolates and pamper your loved one instead. Give pretty glass perfume bottles and dressing table sets that can sit in her room all year round. This year pick early flowering bulbs, tie together with a bow and attach a vintage brooch for a bit of sparkle. This is the year of showing you care through actions and thought rather than huge spend.
March is the start of spring therefore the time to embark on the annual clean. This year do it in vintage style wearing a 1950s pinny. Clean your cupboards then line them with vintage wallpaper offcuts to give a blast of pattern and cheer all year round. Read old housewife books for hints and tips of traditional ways to clean saving you money and time.
April is Easter time. This year enjoy home-made traditions by starting the day with hand painted eggs served in vintage eggcups. Arrange an egg hunt for friends and family, young and old. Everyone running around in the spring sun, carrying vintage baskets and collecting chocolate will bring laughter and joy and last much longer than the sugar rush.
May brings warmth at last, now it’s time to sort out the garden and pot up planters. This year use reclaimed and vintage pots, enamel bread bins and metal buckets will add real character to your patio. Paint the garden shed in pastels instead of brown, hang home-made bunting to create your own May Day celebrations. Get the barbecue out, invite friends over to impress them with your hard work.
June is all about our Dads. This year resist the urge to buy slippers and socks by adding some retro cool into his life. Give him a magazine subscription teamed up with a 1960s magazine rack, or an album (vinyl of course) by his favourite band sitting in a record rack. He’ll appreciate the thought even though his feet may be cold!
July is picnic time so get on your bikes and meet friends for a summer picnic. Take a handmade crochet rug and vintage parasol to keep off the sun. Choose a 1950s cased picnic set with pretty china cups and saucers or go for 1970s brightly coloured plastic. Wrap sarnies up in greaseproof paper, add hardboiled egg and homemade lemonade. Play old fashioned games like rounders in teams to work off your lunch, then lie in the sun all afternoon.
August is the time to get away. Reduce your carbon footprint by choosing to go camping instead of flying abroad. Relive the traditions of the 1950s by going away with friends and family, camping in a line of tents or caravans! Make it a vintage trip by packing a wind breaker, folding flowery chairs and loads of brightly coloured melamine crockery.
September is back to school! Introduce vintage to your workplace by adding a desk calendar, pen pot or letter rack. Fed up of tea from a machine? Take a teapot and teacup for your perfect tea at 3. If you work from home introduce a 1960s telephone to your desk. adding colour as well as a retro feel.
October and the clocks turn back and evenings start to get darker. Add a vintage clock to every room, an alarm clock for your bedside table, a 1960s kitchen clock or starburst for your lounge and hall. These days we tend to rely on our mobiles to tell the time so turn back the clocks literally this year and return to an age of ticking gently in the background.
November is bonfire night. It’s always cold so this year wrap up in vintage faux fur and chunky knits. Don’t dress the guy in your old clothes….pull out some modern cast offs to create a spectacular fire!
December is of course Christmas. This year have a Christmas Eve cocktail party and invite all your friends and neighbours. Wear vintage glamour and drink from gold rimmed glasses. Shake a mohito in a 1950s cocktail shaker, add ice to a pineapple bucket and pick up olives with candy coloured little forks. Play your old vinyl, have an old fashioned sing along and celebrate your vintage year!
