Sunday, October 9th, 2011 in Advertising, Vintage

So you’re a kid and you’re out with your friends, having the time of your lives running from house to house frantically while clinging for dear life onto that pillow sack or pumpkin pail. Awesome, isn’t it?

Then… raisins. And brief confusion.

Maybe I’m in the minority because while I do like raisins, I never thought they were a good Halloween score. I mean… they are dried fruit after all.

And good luck trading them for anything. Even pennies seemed to have a lot more bargaining power than a box of raisins.

What about you? Raisins for Halloween faze ya or not so much?

Twick or Tweet: raisins. Great for little goblins sacks but not little mes. And she’s gonna tweet all right, tweet your address so the other kids know which house to egg. Think this California Raisin Advisory Board (THE PRESTIGE OF BELONGING TO SUCH A GROUP) was the same one that like, 20 years later, would blow our dehydrated foodstuff-loving minds with the singing, dancing California Raisins?

This is pulled from a Family Circle magazine circa 196Ihavenoidea.

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Tags: advertisement, rainsins, vintage, witch

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 in Advertising, Vintage

Nestled in this cute little booklet measuring about 6 by 3 and a half inches is all sorts of reasons why you just gotta have the gel.

Dresco Agar Piping Gel.

Their suggestion for a festive Halloween cake! Aren’t you kind of surprised it isn’t Hallowe’en? I am. A flying witch and freaked out kitties. Cute enough I suppose!

This booklet is a whole lot like a certain Alumode advertisement in that they made a cake for a few occasions and have suggestions for many others. Like Washington’s birthday. Happy birthday, buddy! Here’s a cakey cake with gel icing!

Booklet from the late 1930′s. I wonder if this gel never truly spoils…

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Tags: advertisement, black cat, cake, vintage, witch

Saturday, October 1st, 2011 in Die Cuts

If you’re a fan of vintage die cuts, you’ll probably go gaga over these guys: reissues of old Beistle die cuts.

I found these by accident and ordered them back in 2008. They’re being sold on a couple of sites but I can’t find anyone cheaper than Partycheap.com.

The first set is a reproduction of the Beistle embossed Halloween plaques. These 8 pieces were originally released in 1941 and the original stock number is No. 1109. They’re stunning.

Included is:

• A witch riding her broom across a crescent moon
• An owl perched on a branch in front of a full moon
• The famous cat with top hat and monocle
• An old witch in front of her rickety haunted house
• The profile of a witch with sharp teeth and a wart on her nose in front of a full moon
• A farmer looking pumpkin jack o lantern
• A silhouetted black cat hissing at an evil-grinned jack o lantern atop a post while a jolly quarter moon looks on in the background
• A jack o lantern smoking a corn cob pipe and wearing a derby

Simply put, these are absolute classic Halloween designs. These new are not embossed, of course, but they are double sided and about the same size, if not exactly the same size, as the original plaques.

The second set of Beistle cut outs come in a 4 pack.

This set includes:

• A black cat yowling
• A witch and moon looking in opposite directions
• A toothy jack o lantern with round eyes
• A little black cat sitting on a smiling crescent moon.

I don’t know the year or original number of these Beistle die cuts.

Enjoy them and let me know if you have any information on the second set of decorations, I couldn’t hit on anything about the original series.

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Tags: black cat, die cuts, haunted house, jack o lantern, owl, retro, vintage, witch

Thursday, March 4th, 2010 in Die Cuts

I’ve come across some awesome retro Halloween decorations, most paper, which excites me to no end. They couldn’t have come to someone who would love them more than me, guaranteed.

Here’s the first set, a group of Halloween die cuts that came packed together, made by Hallmark, I’d have to guess late 1960′s. Included are 3 witches, a couple Jack o lanterns and of course ghosts and bats!

Printed on the bottom of the insert content sheet is: 100HHD6-4, Hallmark Cards, Inc. Made in USA.

Enjoy!

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Tags: bats, cats, die cuts, hallmark, halloween, retro, skeleton, vintage, witch