Growing up, my mom and dad had an obsession with antique furniture and clothing. I remember they never bought anything that looked “current” to the times we were in. As a child, I always thought it was strange that my parents’ home décor was more of the roaring 20s, rather than being at the time of my life — the 90s.
As I grew older, I began to appreciate the little things they took an interest in. It wasn’t until I watched the movie “Gidget” — filmed in the late 1950s — that my life turned completely around. I gained this obsession with the decade of the 1950s and I decided to change my wardrobe to emulate the period. I remember spending hours and hours hunting for things that were in that era.
Eventually, my parents decided to stop collecting Art Deco décor and switched to the mid-century 1960s décor. As I grew older, I appreciated why my parents liked things that were from a different era; it’s owning a little piece of history or treasure!
Switching Gears as a New Mom
Fast forward now that I am a mom of two . . . at the beginning of my life as a new mom, I thought I could keep my vintage finds on display. However, the terrible twos and threes hit. Those pretty finds that I loved eventually got accidentally destroyed by a toddler getting handsy with my finds. I never forgot the lamp that was destroyed, nor my little figurines that got destroyed.
So I had to switch gears for a while and store away my favorite vintage finds. I even had to change my style. I felt like, as a mom running around with kids, I could no longer wear my fun vintage hats. To me, those parts of my life just weren’t practical. So I paused my little hobby for quite a while.
Introducing My Kids to Antiques
It wasn’t until recently that my daughter and son became extremely fascinated with “way back in the olden days” telephones. This opened up more conversations about things that were used in my era, having grown up in the 90s and early 2000s. We talked about using a VHS, cassette tapes, boom boxes to play music, or when we signed on to the internet, we had to make sure that no one was using the phone. Their minds were blown when thinking about how I used to listen to music. My kids asked, “You mean you couldn’t ask for Alexa to play you music?!” – HA!
A couple of weeks later I introduced my daughter to an Audrey Hepburn film, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” She was in total awe of the fashion back in the 1960s. After watching, she excitedly asked if I could take her to go antique shopping!
My heart leaped — this was a full-circle moment.
My favorite memories growing up were finding treasures from the past, looking them up, and gathering more information about my little piece of history with my family. So without hesitation, I finally took my kids antique shopping! We had a BLAST!
My children were in awe at how the furniture looked, how the clothes looked, and how the toys looked. They were so fascinated by even the dishes they saw. My daughter took note of how the dishes were more thoughtfully made. She describes them as “fancy dishware.”
While we were meandering the aisles, some vintage teacups caught my daughter’s eye; we had to make the purchase! Immediately, I wanted to show my daughter what I used to do after I finished shopping for antiques. I showed her how to look up the brand name and find the piece that closely matches it. We found out that our little teacup set was from England in the 1950s. My daughter was so fascinated by the little facts she found out about her teacup set.
This trip became the start of our little family hobby of collecting antiques! What makes it fun is gaining more information and appreciation of the era that the items are from. By researching the treasures, we broaden our knowledge of what it was like to be in that era. I am so thrilled to now share with my son and daughter a hobby that I had when growing up: hunting for “antique treasures”!
