In Part 1 of How to Style and Find Vintage Christmas Decorations (read Part 1 here), I shared my three favorite types of vintage Christmas decorations to collect and use during the holidays.
Today I’m sharing where I found my vintage Christmas decorations, plus other ideas on where to find vintage Christmas decorations.
I’m also chatting a bit about how much I paid for items in my collection, as well as the typical prices I observed for vintage Christmas items in 2024.
Posts on pennypennington.com may contain affiliate links. Click HERE for full disclosure.
How Much I Paid for my Vintage Christmas Decorations
Before I share where I tend to find vintage Christmas decorations, I thought I would share how much I typically paid for pieces in my collection.
Keep in mind that I find most of my pieces in Oklahoma and prices vary state to state. There also isn’t a month (are rarely a week) that goes by without me doing a little treasure hunting.
Just last weekend, Bill and I spent Saturday morning at the Tulsa Flea Market, and I came home with my most recent find: 4 dozen vintage Christmas ornaments to add to my 2025 Christmas tree.
1. Vintage Christmas Ornaments
To be honest, prices for vintage Christmas ornaments range a lot!
The key is deciding how much you are willing to pay and how quickly (or slowly) you plan on building your collection.
I tend to take a slow approach and not until last year was I able to decorate an entire tree with vintage ornaments.
To give you a general idea of what I typically pay for vintage Christmas ornaments, let’s start with how much I spent this past weekend.
I bought a total of four dozen vintage ornaments from four different vendors. I purchased some as boxed sets and some ornaments individually. Vendors were asking as little as $1 for each ornament and up to $8 per ornament.
I did a bit of negotiating and came home with 48 ornaments for $77. That’s an average of $1.60 per ornament.
Buying Solid Colored Vintage Ornaments
Solid colored vintage ornaments can be typically found for $6-18 a box. Of course, you can always find them priced higher, as well.
I tend to pay more for solid color ornaments in colors that I need. Right now, I have plenty of red, gold and silver ornaments and I’m on the hunt for green, pink, burgundy and navy ornaments.
When buying Christmas ornaments, keep in mind that some Shiny Brite ornaments are much older than others, and not all vintage Christmas ornaments are Shiny Brites. There are lots of good choices.
Also, if you want vintage ornaments, I recommend skipping over anything that is plastic and look for mercury glass.
More often than not, plastic is your first clue that an ornament is newer (including Shiny Brites, which are currently being manufactured by Christopher Radko).
Buying Hand Painted Vintage Christmas Ornaments
Hand painted vintage ornaments are often sold individually and typically are priced between $3-12 each. I rarely pay more than $5-6 for an individual ornament.
You can also find entire boxes of hand painted and glittered ornaments for sale. Most include a dozen ornaments, and some can be quite pricey.
I did purchase the box of ornaments pictured above as a set. The vendor was asking $25, and I paid $20. I was most interested in the bell and other shaped ornaments in the box. I also love the half navy, half white ornament.
When examining the ornaments, it’s apparent that they were not an original set and although all appear to be vintage, some are much older than others. Either way, it was a good find.
More often than not, I typically stick with individual ornaments when buying hand painted ornaments. I like to pick out designs and colors that I find interesting. And I rarely run across a box of ornaments in which I love all of the individual ornaments.
2. Vintage Santa Mugs
I find knowing how much to pay for a vintage Santa mug is much easier to determine than vintage Christmas ornaments.
It is rare for me to pay more than $10-12 for a Santa mug.
I have seen vintage Santa mugs for as much as $25-30 each. And I have seen Howard Holt sets for $500+.
I have also been lucky enough to find a handful of Santa mugs at garage sales, paying as little as 25 cents for some.
Earlier this year, my sister-in-law found 2 Santa mugs on the Free Table at a garage sale. She texted me to see if I wanted them…Yes, please!
The most I’ve paid for a single Santa mug is $20. It has a peppermint striped handle and an adorable face. I found it at our local antique mall.
I had to have it!
Why I Pass on Highly Collectible Santa Mugs
I should note that I don’t buy highly collectible Santa mugs. Don’t get me wrong, if I ran across a wonderful Holt Howard piece or set at an incredible price then I would certainly add it to my collection.
But I’d much rather own a collection of 50 run-of-the-mill vintage Santa mugs that I found for $10 each than one set of highly collectible Holt Howard Santa mugs that I found for $500.
It’s a tradeoff and I prefer a collected look with lots of affordable vintage Santa mugs. I also don’t have to worry about a piece being broken when all of my pieces can be replaced without a huge expense.
Vintage Christmas Baubles and Blue & White Vessels
In addition to my vintage Christmas ornaments and Santa mugs, I have a few other Christmas baubles that I like to add to my holiday decor each year plus my collection of blue and white vessels.
I love how my blue and white pieces look paired with winter bulbs (paperwhites and amaryllis) or vintage Christmas trees.
Buying Vintage Christmas Baubles
I found the vintage Napco spaghetti Santa (pictured below) at an antique store in Kansas. I quickly fell for him and knew he would look perfect paired with a handful of candy canes, but I had no idea how much he was worth.
He was priced $35 which I thought was a fair price. And after a quick online search I was sold. I was very excited to bring him home.
I also found three vintage Knee Huggers shoved in a bag of other less interesting holiday baubles at a flea market.
The bag of goodies was priced $15, I offered $10. The vendor agreed. Sold!
Since then, I haven’t seen a Knee Hugger priced for less than $20.
Buying Vintage Blue and White Vessels
To be honest, determining the value of a vintage blue and white piece is something best determined by the experts, but I wanted to include a few thoughts here since I love using blue and white pieces in my Christmas decor.
There are so many makers, different markings and countries of origin that it’s difficult to give a value that can be generalized to such a variety of pieces.
When adding blue and white pieces to my collection, my general rule of thumb is to pay what the piece is worth to me as a piece of decor. If the piece is well-marked, I will do a bit of online research to help me determine the value.
Most of my pieces were found at estate sales and priced between $15-$30.
I also purchased several of my favorite pieces through Goodwill’s online auction including my antique Haynes Balt pottery for $85. It was a steal!
Where can I find vintage Christmas ornaments, Santa mugs, etc.?
You may be asking yourself, where can I find vintage Christmas Ornaments, Santa Mugs, and other Christmas baubles to build my own collection. Here’s a list of the different places that I have found pieces in my collection:
I’ve also created the list in order of how much items typically cost, starting with items at garage sales generally being the least expensive and items on Etsy (especially considering shipping costs) generally being the most expensive.
1. Searching Garage Sales for Vintage Christmas
By far, the best prices are at garage sales. But garage sales can really be hit or miss. In my experience, they are mostly miss.
I recommend looking for neighborhood garage sales. You can quickly go from sale to sale searching for treasures.
2. Weekly Stops to Local Thrift Stores
Our local thrift stores are frequented by regulars that make weekly if not almost daily stops. You have to be there at the right time to get lucky!
One of my best vintage Christmas scores at a thrift store was in Chicago. I found 6 boxes of Shiny Brites at The Brown Elephant for $6 a box including the original 1940s collectible green Shiny Brite box.
3. Go Early for Estate Sale Treasures
Estate Sales are my favorite place to hunt for vintage items. But if you want a chance at buying vintage Christmas items at an estate sale, you need to be one of the first customers in line.
I have a set of Thomas Pacconi Santas that I add to the tree each year. I was lucky enough to find a complete set at an estate sale a few years ago for $20. And since they are now 20+ years old, they are considered vintage.
Check out this post for tips on shopping estate sales.
4. Roaming the Aisles of Flea Markets
One of my favorite Flea Markets is the Tulsa Flea Market. I have found so many treasures there including the four-dozen vintage Christmas ornaments I bought last weekend and a pair of tabletop Christmas trees.
5. Bidding on Vintage Christmas at Auctions
If you’ve never been to an auction, I highly recommend them especially on a beautiful day. But be careful, you can get carried away trying to win a bid and pay way too much.
Believe me…I’ve been carried away a time or two.
Also, be sure to check out the pictures first to see if there will be items of interest.
6. Perusing Facebook Marketplace
I have seen some amazing ornament collections and other vintage Christmas baubles on FB Marketplace but have never been quick enough to grab them for myself.
I think it takes lots of patience and persistence to get sellers to respond to you and oftentimes someone else beats you to the punch.
7. Shopping Antique Stores and Christmas Open Houses
I love antique stores especially a good antique store, ones that are clean and well-organized. The vendors have done all of the work for you.
My favorite antique store at Christmas is Decades Revisited. Their Christmas Open House is amazing!
8. The Best of Vintage Christmas Decorations at Antique & Vintage Shows
You can find some amazing collections at antique and vintage shows. And some of the vendors are so knowledgeable, I love chatting with them about their collections.
The first time I saw a Santa mug for $25 was at a Vintage Show. At the same show I found Santa mugs for $12. So be sure to stop by every booth.
9. Using Ebay to Research Prices for Vintage Christmas
I rarely buy on Ebay; I love hunting for items IRL. Instead, I tend to use Ebay for price checking.
To help you determine the value of an item, you can do an advanced search for sold items on Ebay. It’s a great tool.
10. You can always Find Vintage Christmas Decorations on Etsy
Etsy is the perfect place to buy what you want when you want it. There is no waiting.
You can almost always find what you want with a quick Etsy search. You then have to decide if you want to pay the price to have it now (don’t forget about shipping, it’s not always free).
Final Notes: Collecting Vintage Christmas
Collecting Vintage Christmas ornaments, Santa mugs and other holiday baubles is one of my favorite hobbies. The more I collect, the more I learn about the different pieces and their value.
At the moment I’m on the hunt for more hand painted Christmas ornaments. I’d like to create displays on the two chandeliers in my keeping room plus I already have a few ideas for next year’s tree.
I’m also hoping to get lucky and find a few Holt Howard Santa mugs at a price I’m willing to pay and a few more knee huggers would be nice, as well. They’re both so cute!
Happy Treasure Hunting!
Cheers to retired life, and happy holidays!
x Penny Pennington Weeks
You May Also Like…
How I Style and Find Vintage Christmas Decorations (Part 1)
10 of My Best Tips for Vintage Estate Sale Shopping
7 Steps to Creating a Clutter Free Home while Saving your most Cherished Collections (Part 1)
7 Steps for Creating a Clutter Free Home while Saving your most Cherished Collections (Part 2)
Leave a Reply