15 Vintage Christmas Ornaments For The Nostalgics At Heart

The holiday season inspires a sentimental, nostalgic cheer in all of us. We get to bust out the old boxes of decorations, tried-and-true family recipes of endless creamy, cheesy casseroles, and who can forget those oversized Christmas sweaters? 

Each Christmas, we use ornaments to remember past Christmases, but we also add ornaments every year to make new memories. Millennials, here’s a chance to represent your hipster style! 

There are plenty of vintage Christmas ornaments that fit into that outdated, obscure, so-ugly-its-cute hipster mold, and we’re here to show you some of our favorites.

QUICK LOOK: OUR 3 FAVORITES

Vintage Christmas Ornaments and Tree Decorations

Perhaps the most emblematic symbol of Christmas is the Christmas tree; the Christmas tree is not just an object, but a whole experience that symbolizes the spirit of sharing and passing traditions from generation to generation. 

We go with our families and friends to pick out the perfect tree, then through the awkward ordeal of tying it to the car and subsequently trying to fit it through our door. That sweet pine-needle scent just smells like Christmas!

We spend hours decorating the Christmas tree, remembering the occasion in which we made or received each ornament. Here are our top 15 vintage Christmas ornaments and tree decorations that put a hipster twist on this year’s Christmas memories in the making.

1. Connectable Vintage Christmas Bubble Lights by Minetom

These multi-color, bulbous, spin-top looking lights come in an assorted set of 9 red, yellow, and blue bulbs. Bulbs come with a green wire so you can string them together to wrap around the tree or hang from a mantle place. Each bulb also comes with a separate clip if you’d rather place them on your tree like an ornament.

These lights are unique to modern generations yet harken back to the days of old. You can impress your friends and remind your parents of their childhood Christmas tree lights at the same time! Pair these lights with your favorite 70’s style. 

2. Snoopy and Charlie Brown String Lights by Urban Outfitters

This package of 8 burlap and flannel ornaments comes with two each of bell, stocking, tree, and ball shapes. They proffer an old-fashioned feel with their rugged, outdoorsy materials. 

Flannel is the veritable uniform of the modern hipster, even if they’ve co-opted it from the wintery lumberjack. What says hipster more than flannel? 

Flannel shirts, flannel jackets, why not flannel ornaments? After all, they represent the colors of Christmas.

4. Hallmark Keepsake Ornament, Nifty Fifties Set

This 3-pack ornament set comes with three distinct blown glass figurines of warmly dressed dogs and cats. These ornaments’ weathered texture and 1950’s style makes them appear to be long-held family heirlooms. 

The box they come in is equally old-fashioned and worth displaying. These ornaments appeal to the hipster crowd for their classic, granny-like essence. 

These lights are best served with your favorite, homemade meatloaf.

5. SUNBEAUTY Tissue Paper Honeycomb Christmas Ornaments

SUNBEAUTY’s 6-pack offers two ornaments each of red, white, and green tissue bells and trees. Their cardboard core facilitates easy folding for storage.

These ornaments scream elementary-school décor and are obnoxious enough to deem cool. 

Put them on the tree or make a garish tissue bouquet for the kitchen table. After letting your mom showcase this school art on the fridge, go ahead and hang these up on your tree.

6. Retro Pixie Elves Christmas Tree Ornaments by PentaBeauty

This whimsical pair of Christmas Elves have long bendy arms and legs so you can manipulate their pose. One red elf and one green elf hang by their long, pointed Christmas hats to the Christmas tree. 

Who knows, maybe you will entwine their arms and bend their legs as if they are jumping into a warm Christmas embrace.

We can think of a ton of different prank-like games you could play with these fellows at your Christmas party. 

Use your imagination! Add these to your nice list.

7. WorldMarket Glass Vintage Santa Moon

WorldMarket keeps it classy and budget-friendly with this set of two different handmade glass Santa ornaments. It says a lot that we only have one Santa Claus ornament on our list. 

Believe us, there are a lot of Santa ornaments out there to choose from, so this particular Santa ornament is especially unique.

These glossy, glittery Santa’s come in “full” and “sliver” moon-shaped faces, beards, and hats giving them each distinct facial characteristics. A skinny Santa; who knew? 

Let’s get these guys some cookies.

8. Tree Buddees Retro Wind-up Toy Cymbals Monkey Funny Christmas Ornaments

Tree Buddees’s retro monkey ornament made with resin and hand-painted with meticulous attention to detail comes with an equally retro wrapping box.

Talk about a blast from the past; this old-school cymbal Monkey toy turned ornament awakens the child in all of us, even if it comes from our grandparents’ generation. You won’t know whether to hang it or play with it! 

9. Tree Buddees Retro Tape ornament

Tree Buddees outdid themselves with this retro ornament in the shape and style of an old cassette tape.

Millennials rejoice! This ornament will give you the ultimate hipster cred, as there is no denying the utter awesomeness of a cherry-picked mixed tape. You could even write the name of your mix on the ornament for authenticity.

Buy it for yourself, or your biggest crush this holiday season. 

10. Tree Buddees Retro Video Game Controller Christmas Ornament

Third Tree Budees’ a charm with this hand-painted retro controller that harkens back to the first days of Nintendo. Tree Budees claims this pays homage to the ’80s, which is also a favorite decade for hipsters.

An added hipster bonus is the irony of paying around 14$ for an ornament so rudimentary in appearance that you could just as easily make it yourself with cardboard, a sharpie, and a red pen. 

Buy it here, but be warned; Nintendo not included!

11. MoMA LED Glass Prism Christmas Ornament

This beautifully asymmetrical prism ornament with iridescent pastel colored sides catches light effectively, casting that same light like an artsy daytime disco ball. Not only does it catch outside light, it has an LED light inside to really make it pop at night.

With its neon pinks, blues, and mercurial greys, this ornament assumes an 80’s color palette. So there’s another one for you 80’s -loving hipsters. 

12. World Market Retro Deer with Bow and Bell Ornaments

World Market’s cheerful, glossy set of frolicking retro reindeer ornaments come in a set of four. With big, baby blue eyes and ears, and body colors reminiscent of a 1950’s Tupperware set, these deer could hang from a Christmas tree just as easily as they could adorn your fridge or hang on your kitchen wall.

These are certainly the most unique looking-even secular- Christmas reindeer ornaments we’ve seen. Add them to your sleigh, or your tree!

13. Lava Lamp Christmas Ornament

This glass lava lamp Christmas ornament in psychedelic colors is a fun piece of 60’s flashback memorabilia. Either you had one as a kid, or it’ll be a good conversation starter with your nostalgic boomer parents. 

Feeling groovy? Buy this lava lamp ornament for a psychedelic Christmas.

14. Retro Vintage Style Wood Christmas Ornament by Largemouth