When decorating for the holidays in an original retro style you need to first think about what colors are going to give you that feel as if your living room is from the forties, fifties or sixties. Stick to a palette of bright red, sky blue, avocado, muted gold and mocha. If you choose Christmas balls in these colors you have won half the battle in making your tree look authentic.
Traditional Christmas décor was also known for it’s themes. A Hawaiian or Tropical theme complete with shell garlands and hanging star fish was a big design hit in the seventies. In the fifties and sixties it was not uncommon to see cute elves decorating the tree, stockings and Christmas cards.
Plastic wreathes are very retro and if you hang one above your mantel you are immediately telling visitors that you are into the vintage Christmas look. Another lovely retro motif are nativity scenes made completely out of plastic or train sets running around the base of the tree made out of plastic as well.
The artificial bottlebrush tree is also very much from the sixties and seventies. These were metal spikes with evenly spaced arms with spines on them. The entire point of them is to not look too natural. The trendiest original retro colors are artificial white or pink. To decorate them drape them in thick hanks of metallic gold tinsel and opaque multicolor lights. It is also very sixties and seventies to have an angel at the top of your tree.
Gifts are wrapped in polka-dot and atomic pattern papers and plaid ribbons and bows. Tissue paper wrapped gifts with pink or powder blue ribbons that have been hand “curled” with scissors are also very sixties. Placing gifts in a basket with no wrapping and just a ribbon s also a very seventies thing to do.
When it comes to food the classic things to have on hand are canned cranberry jelly, a rock hard Christmas cake that reeks of booze, ham with pineapple slices and gingerbread cookies. Be sure to also have a bowl of walnuts and an old fashioned Nutcracker that looks like a soldier from the Nutcracker Suite on hand. It is also classic to serve eggnog and have a centerpiece made of poinsettia and holly in the center of your Christmas table.