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Christmas preparations past and present

Vivienne14 said:
And of course the catalogues were in two editions per year: Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter, so there were loads of pages of toys in the Autumn/Winter edition.
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Yes
Vivienne14 said:
And of course the catalogues were in two editions per year: Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter, so there were loads of pages of toys in the Autumn/Winter edition.
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Yes loved looking at the toys at Christmas. You could buy fishing rods air rifles you name it you could buy most things. There were probably rules and age laws but would like a look back through one . Sort of an equivalent to todays online shopping .
 
Here’s a link to view a collection of Argos catalogues from previous years, the earliest being 73/74. Simply click on a catalogue and you can view it page by page https://issuu.com/retromash

To get a rough idea of prices compared to today you can use the Bank of England’s Historic Inflation Calculator, here https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

If anyone’s stuck for what to buy me this Christmas, there’s a nice orange rug I like the look of on page 53. It’s only £5.75.
 
Godber said:
Here’s a link to view a collection of Argos catalogues from previous years, the earliest being 73/74. Simply click on a catalogue and you can view it page by page https://issuu.com/retromash

To get a rough idea of prices compared to today you can use the Bank of England’s Historic Inflation Calculator, here https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

If anyone’s stuck for what to buy me this Christmas, there’s a nice orange rug I like the look of on page 53. It’s only £5.75.
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Oh yes - a catalogue with REAL things in it!!! Joy!!!
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I've even found one of my old Praktica cameras!

1701935642409.png
And Airfix kits!!! Look at the 1:12 Bentley Blower kit in item #5 - £3.95!!! Just re-issued by Airfix as a Vintage Classic kit for around £100. And the 1:24 Spitfire Superkit in item #11 - £1.99!!!! Again re-issued for many more pounds recently. GGGGGRRRR! Has anyone got a Tardis I can borrow for an hour of so please? I need to do a bit of Christmas shopping.....
 
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I also remember the shopping catalogues, each time mom had a new season one I was allowed to have the old one. I used to cut out the furniture and people. Mount some on to card and pretend it was a family in a house, which was an old shoe box. I would spend hours doing this. Later in life I built from scratch a dolls house/bungalow for my daughter for Christmas. I was still finishing the roof and chimney on Christmas Eve, I accidentally cut the gap for the chimney wrong and ended up having to stick a small Santa off the tree in the gap. Memories eh!?
 
Janet Hunt said:
I also remember the shopping catalogues, each time mom had a new season one I was allowed to have the old one. I used to cut out the furniture and people. Mount some on to card and pretend it was a family in a house, which was an old shoe box. I would spend hours doing this. Later in life I built from scratch a dolls house/bungalow for my daughter for Christmas. I was still finishing the roof and chimney on Christmas Eve, I accidentally cut the gap for the chimney wrong and ended up having to stick a small Santa off the tree in the gap. Memories eh!?
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Happy memories and fond memories especially at Christmas. Your imagination gave not just you but your daughter happy times which money cannot buy. Like you say memories eh.
 
Mark Tooze said:
Oh yes - a catalogue with REAL things in it!!! Joy!!!
View attachment 186699
View attachment 186700
I've even found one of my old Praktica cameras!

View attachment 186701
And Airfix kits!!! Look at the 1:12 Bentley Blower kit in item #5 - £3.95!!! Just re-issued by Airfix as a Vintage Classic kit for around £100. And the 1:24 Spitfire Superkit in item #11 - £1.99!!!! Again re-issued for many more pounds recently. GGGGGRRRR! Has anyone got a Tardis I can borrow for an hour of so please? I need to do a bit of Christmas shopping.....
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Great post love the items and prices . Had a Phillips portable cassette recorder thought i could sing boy was i wrong. I would let you use my time machine but the Flux Capacitors playing up sorry.
 
Godber said:
Here’s a link to view a collection of Argos catalogues from previous years, the earliest being 73/74. Simply click on a catalogue and you can view it page by page https://issuu.com/retromash

To get a rough idea of prices compared to today you can use the Bank of England’s Historic Inflation Calculator, here https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

If anyone’s stuck for what to buy me this Christmas, there’s a nice orange rug I like the look of on page 53. It’s only £5.75.
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Worth looking at thanks for the link.
 
Mark Tooze said:
Oh yes - a catalogue with REAL things in it!!! Joy!!!
View attachment 186699
View attachment 186700
I've even found one of my old Praktica cameras!

View attachment 186701
And Airfix kits!!! Look at the 1:12 Bentley Blower kit in item #5 - £3.95!!! Just re-issued by Airfix as a Vintage Classic kit for around £100. And the 1:24 Spitfire Superkit in item #11 - £1.99!!!! Again re-issued for many more pounds recently. GGGGGRRRR! Has anyone got a Tardis I can borrow for an hour of so please? I need to do a bit of Christmas shopping.....
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Just thinking all the stuff you intend to bring back the Time Machine would probably struggle to take off.
 
Vivienne14 said:
And that's one thing that's still around today Timetraveller. Must have been hard work, especially uphill and on snowy or very cold days (even worse - mornings!)

The mention of magazines reminded me of catalogues. An essential part of our prep for Christmas. Browsing for ideas - loved it. Can't remember when I last saw one of those thick catalogues like Littlewoods, Grattan, John Moores (was that Littlewoods ?). Turning down the edges of pages of 'likes' or circling items with a biro.
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Ah, back in the day every “ball point pen” was a biro! And they all seem to leak quite well :) .
 
Mom ran a George Day catalogue for many years.
She would go through each new edition itemising everything she would buy when Dad won the pools.
Very boring until the toy section in the autumn/winter catalogue.

;)
NoddKD
 
NoddKD said:
Mom ran a George Day catalogue for many years.
She would go through each new edition itemising everything she would buy when Dad won the pools.
Very boring until the toy section in the autumn/winter catalogue.

;)
NoddKD
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Toy section was the tops. Yes autumn/winter was the best had more toys in.
 
A lot of us moan about the price of things now but if you use the historic inflation calculator (Bank of England) you'll find many things are much cheaper these days, especially consumer electronics which have got cheaper and cheaper while becoming better and better

This 1956 picture is a 5 megabyte IBM hard drive, my main PC has 13TB which is 13,000,000 megabytes

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richardinwales said:
A lot of us moan about the price of things now but if you use the historic inflation calculator (Bank of England) you'll find many things are much cheaper these days, especially consumer electronics which have got cheaper and cheaper while becoming better and better

This 1956 picture is a 5 megabyte IBM hard drive, my main PC has 13TB which is 13,000,000 megabytes

View attachment 186731
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I would put cars in the same category although with not quit as much upside but also very good! Looking at your 13TB drive versus earning capacity, ability to buy. Your drive is a phenomenal deal!
 
Santa would NEVER EVER go on strike !!

Remember when a valued Christmas gift would be a calendar ? You could order them well before Christmas.

Also we made them at school. You'd choose a nice picture in a magazine or book. Then take it in to school in thenweeks before Christmas. Your teacher would give you a piece of card, a mini booklet of months/dates with tear-off pages. In class we'd glue the picture to the card, stick the mini booklet at the bottom and add a ribbon and to hang it by. And hey presto, a treasured artwork for Mum's throughout the land to treasure throughout the year.

For those no longer in school ..........

Screenshot_20231209_205637_Chrome.jpg
 
i remember the litle calender that you bought at school to stick on your design but can not remember the price of them when i took the finished cal home after completion mom thought it was brilliant.:grinning:
 
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