Should you be inviting some auld acquaintances to your house for a little New Year's Eve soirée this year? If so, you might want to Ring In The New Year with some of Gay Head's suggestions in Party Perfect (1959), that pocket-sized party planning guide.
Madcap merrymakers
Curly Wurly wishes you a happy and healthy 2011!
No mantelpiece? Don't have enough room for a lineup of stockings? Here's the solution: Pocket Full Of Stockings. And fill each tiny pocket to the brim with Hostess Cupcakes!
If your father knows wurst, sew him up a nice hat and apron ensemble so he can pose in awkward family photos like this one!
Or make Kevin Nealon a typewriter cover. I'm sure he'll appreciate it!
Remember when Brigitte Bardot was on the Soupy Sales holiday show?
[All gift ideas from Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965)]
O Pickle Tree - This is officially my favorite gelatin salad ever! It's made using gelatin, mayonnaise, horseradish, pickles, apples, tongue, green peppers! It's gorgeous! You're welcome!
The Festive Pickle Glazed Yule Log (ham) covered in briny 'mushrooms'
What's your Christmas table without a nice Santapiece?
Or, perhaps, Scott Towels' Jack In The Box Choir Boy is more your style? (He's guardian of the Almond Brittle)
Make holiday cards using seasonal seals available at Woolworth's
Or use scraps of gift wrap to make these really nice paper candle cards. I love the Futurist Noel design!
[All crafts and food items from Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965)]
Santa's embarrassing summer job as gift walker
This poor reindeer has both snail-y hind legs and reindeer pox!
DAK Angel
Hors d'Oeuvre Memory Game! Can you spot Moon Face and Sardine Supreme?
Punting on the Yuletide at the annual Stollen Regatta
You, too, will be Mince Meat if you sneak a piece of one of these fruit bundt cakes before the guests arrive!
[All crafts and food items from Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965)]
They call this one Blue Plastic Angel, so I suppose it was influenced by Marlene Dietrich. Can't you see the resemblance?
A Trio of Eerie Faceless Angels
Dumbledore lives!
Cousin Itt meets a blonde bombshell yeti
The Snowman "Plaque" is just paper plates and black masking tape? Now, that's just lazy!
Tissue Box Pantomime
Bozo the Totem Pole Clown
George Nelson's Starburst wall hanging
[All crafts from Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965)]
A Very Cubist Christmas
Six Flags: North Pole
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas as you laugh in the face of danger with this burr and ivy Christmas tree in lieu of the traditional fire hazard.
Didn't I see these guys on an episode of Dr. Who? Don't look into their eyes!
We Three Kings of Orient are bearing gifts... bric-a-brac, sequins, and felt!
Con-Tact paper makes the best sort of gingerbread house: inedible!
Neuschcanstein Castle, one of the most popular destinations in Europe, is located in the German state of Bottlevaria close to Germany's border with Austria.
[All crafts from Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965)]
We have a lot of these downstairs, but I usually just squash them rather than fashion them into a wreath. 
Want a Christmas Cracker?
He's got Pac-Man Eyes. This Santa Party favor is The Scream reimagined by Scott Paper Towel company.
Top hat, white snow, and tails -- A Continental Snow Man
The Reflector Tree uses Christmas tree light reflectors (available at your local five and dime). One of the nicest hand-made trees I've seen!
[All crafts from Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965)]
'Tis the season for sacrilegious Christmas crafting, and does the ninth issue of Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965) have some doozies! For the remainder of 2010, I'll be counting down the worst of the season with advertising and crafting ideas from this and other publications, so check back daily for seasonal inspiration! Here's a little preview:
Up on the caketop reindeer pause and out jumps good old Santa Claus 
Your own personal cathedral courtesy of Con-Tact Brand Adhesive Con-Tact Paper
The Great Ham Creche? Jesus Christ Superstar Armour Ham?
Apparently I missed the part in the Bible where the reader was instructed to 'Apply blue wax to Virgin's robe, filling out hips,' and to 'Spray Virgin's robe and Joseph's shawl very lightly with glitter.' Err.. also.. 'To attach Virgin to Child, press 2 or 3 fine needles into Virgin and impale Child on them.' You'd think they could come up with a more innocuous description!
Chronicle Books, one of my favorite publishers of pop culture books (as well as beautiful children's books, cookbooks, and stationery products), announced recently that they would be doing a Happy Haul-idays contest. Here's the scoop right from the horse's mouth: 'Post a list of Chronicle Books valued at up to $500 that you'd like to haul in, and you'll be automatically entered into a drawing to WIN your list of books! And, one of your readers who comments on the post will win the list too!' May as well, am I right? (I am.) So, following is my Haul-idays entry (which will, if I've done the coding correctly, appear after the jump). If you would like to win this list, too, comment away (all comments will be approved, guaranteed)! [Note: Your winning is contingent upon my winning, just in case that's not clear.]
If you're a blogger, come join the fun. Post your Haul-idays list on your blog, and enter your post on the Haul-idays website. The deadline to enter is December 10th. (As a side-note, Chronicle has a weekend sale: 35% off + Free Shipping with code: FRIENDS)
Read on for my list plus two extra recommendations from their catalogue.
Finally, have a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers (and a great Thursday to my non-American readers)!
The bogs are alive with the sound of berries! Cranberries, to be exact. I'll bet you thought the cranberry was a Broadway flop with only one good song: 'All That Juice.' Not so! The cranberry is the holiday showstopper that steals the spotlight from dry turkeys and lumpy gravy. But when you think of these little starlets, are you reminded of the bright lights of Broadway? Probably not. You probably picture humble New England wetlands teeming with these tart hopefuls. You'll be surprised to learn that the cranberry has more Broadway connections that the caricature wall at Sardi's! Eatmor Cranberries (distributed by the American Cranberry Exchange) was headquartered at 90 West Broadway, New York City in the 1930s. In honor of the season, kick off the holiday chorus line with this tart little number: Fascinating Cranberries and How to Serve Them (copyright 1937, American Cranberry Exchange). I know they're ruby red and all, but don't get any of them confused with Ruby Keeler! [Click pictures for large images and full-page views]
