I love ornaments. All of my readers know that. I love Christmas, yes and I love decorations, and even making decorations all year 'round in preparation for the upcoming Christmas season. Santa's sleigh has a long history, and I've decided to revamp things here a little bit and start with fresh finds.
My daughter recently had her first baby, and I wanted to get her something special for their Christmas tree. I remember when I bought first ornaments for my two girls. As a young mother, I was so excited. Those ornaments still mean the world to me, but in all honesty, their quality wasn't so great when I purchased them, and I'm afraid that the years have certainly taken their toll and frayed a few edges. So perhaps selfishly, I started cruising around the internet and found what I think is probably the top baby ornament website. You can look for yourself at 100s of ornaments for baby boys and girls that they have separated out so it's easy to shop. They also have gender neutral if you're going to a baby shower, need a gift, and the new mother is one of those who doesn't want to know what the sex is.
Check out the first Christmas ornaments for baby section that allows you to personalize the ornament. I just love those. The ones for my kids didn't offer that option ah-hem (30!) years ago, so I wrote on them myself. Not quite the professional look I'm going for, but certainly one filled with good memories.
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After baby ornaments, I suppose that my all-time favorites are personalized Christmas ornaments. Not just the ones for baby, but personalized ornaments for kids and adults. The best thing about ornaments that you personalize are that they really do a great job at capturing a special moment in the life of your family. Further, there are many job faire opportunities for stay-at-home moms with good handwriting. Consider picking up extra cash over the holidays. Seach for local listings for Christmas ornaments job faire. Several of my friends have done it and made upwards of 120 pounds or roughly US$200 per day. It's clearly work that's intense for a few weeks and then altogether gone, a schedule that's perfect for many of us.
In the "old" days, personalized ornaments consisted of a red ball ornament with someone's name painted on it and maybe also the year. Luckily for all of us, the industry has rapidly grown more sophisticated. Today, there's an entire field of differentiated categories. If you want to decorate with Christmas tree ornaments personalized, it's no longer an issue of ball Christmas ornaments for the kids. You can find ornaments for boys and specialty shop has specifically designed ornaments for girls that range from toddler fun through girl teen ornaments about shopping and fashion. Nowadays, there are family ornaments personalized with each family member. Then, consider activities like sports ornaments personalized for everything from basketball and football, to lacrosse and rock climbing. For the more aesthetically inclined, consider everything from art to singing to musical instruments ornaments personalized with everything from the child's name and year to ornaments you can write a personalized message on. (more...)
I've been buying family ornaments in one kind or another for years. Most people know, in today's market you can find just about anything you want that will accommodate your family. Yes, in the olden days, you were limited to a ball. Nowadays, you have family ornaments for 3, 4, 5 and so on up to -- I think the highest I've ever seen was -- 16 people. Of course, that was more of an extended family ornament that had all the grandkids or something. It would certainly make a very good grandparents gift.
I won't spend a lot of time on this category because it's largely self-explanatory. What I recommend is that you check out these personalized family Christmas ornaments. I've been buying from them for 2 years. They've got hundreds, literally, and the inventory turns over a lot, so I always have a good experience and see a lot of new things. Try not to go there and buy just one ornament. It's almost the same cost as shipping 2 ornaments. Plan ahead for sure.
Another aspect to consider are couples ornaments. You usually find these at sites selling Christmas ornaments for families. They make great gifts, and are often called "our first Christmas ornament" for married folks, but can also be given as engagement ornament gifts or to persons who've co-habitated for a long time and are considered by themselves and others a couple. Personalized couples Christmas ornaments range from the traditional snow couple to a pair of pickles. There are lots of couple ornaments out there that are centered in humor and fun.
I'm not unique in my love of glass ornaments as decorations not only for the tree, but also for the Christmas table, sideboard, and wreaths on the doors. There's just something extra special about a blown glass ornament. You KNOW a real person, somebody made that ornament from start to finish. Shiny bright colors and gorgeous jewel tones are the icing on the cake when it comes to decorating with glass ornaments. Each one means something; a glass ornament is never just space filler.
Since the explosion of the internet, I thought it would be relatively easy to find 100s of glass ornament shops, and yet there aren't. After a little prodding, I found out that glass Christmas ornaments are much more expensive to store, pack, and ship, and hence, web retailers tend to leave that part of decorations for the holidays to gift shops. My favorite place is called, appropriately enough, GlassOrnamentShop.com. They offer a little more than 500 glass ornaments decorations from both the top designers like Christopher Radko and Russell Rhodes, as well as beautiful, classic, traditional styles like Glass Ornaments from the Old World with everything from little darling squirrels and other animals to classic Santa Claus ornaments.
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My next task is to offer up some kids ornament ideas. I break that out into the toddler set -- things like Sesame Street ornaments; the kids set -- things like musical instruments and sports; and finally the teen set -- makeup, clothing, and girly-girl things. I'm on the hunt, and will post again in a few days.
The best ornaments for kids that I've found to date are at KidsChristmasOrnaments.org. They do not do a very good job -- and perhaps intentionally -- of having ornaments for toddlers or babies. They concentrate on maybe from around 4 years old up through late teens. In short, it pretty much depends upon what you're looking for.
For example, you can find almost any musical instruments ornaments for kids and that doesn't limit you by age. A clarinet or a violin looks the same no matter the age of the player. For kids involved in music programs at school, this site is pretty complete. I haven't been able to find a ukelele ornament there, but then again, I can't find one anywhere. They do have some pretty rare instruments like a harp, a banjo, and even an accordion.
When I shop for Radko ornaments, I get tired of seeing the umpteenth Santa ornament. You know: Santa in red, Santa in green, Santa in a patterned coat, inspired by Spain, from wherever...it's tiresome. Yes, Radko is known for being the very best quality of Polish Christmas ornaments. In recent years, the designs have been simplified to accommodate a lower price. The majority of Radko Christmas ornaments now hover around $50 US, as opposed to $85 several years ago.
What I like about radko-ornaments.com is that the ornaments are grouped by celebration. You can find Radko Ornaments for special occasions neatly sorted. For example, they got Radko baby ornaments and Radko wedding ornaments. You can find seashore themed Christopher ornaments, or just the little gems if your budget is tight.
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It's always a challenge to find something truly unique for the Christmas tree. While we love continuity in design, many opt for "meaningful" ornaments before opting for "style". Others, choose "tree fashion" over significance. I'm always on the look-out for ornaments that are both unique AND fashion or style-forward.
At the top of my list is the Ornament Girl. I've personally spoken with her numerous times, and I can vouch for her authenticity. She's fabulous, and she loves making unique ornaments. Check out all of the wonderful, rich, and holiday fabrics she uses in her hand made creations. Some of my favorites are the quilted ornaments made entirely by hand, with a little help from her sewing machine. You should also check out how she'll personalize the ornaments for you.
Along this same vein, I like the Christmas ornaments personalized at Christmas Ornament Shop. There are a few thousand unique Christmas ornaments to browse, each in easy-to-surf categories so you don't waste time looking at themes you're not interested in. On that site, the most unique ideas are located in their Santa Christmas ornaments personalized so you can choose from the traditional Santas, to cute, personalized options for the kids. Lastly, they have the best free shipping offer on the ornaments internet: only 2 ornaments gets you free shipping.
I'll stay on the lookout for unique ornaments in all shapes and price ranges. Past the above two sites, I've recommended you stop by others sites for other reasons, but if "unique" is important to your shopping purpose, I'd highly recommend the above two sites first.