Vintage Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List
We love vintage decor. Because it’s sustainable. And quirky. But also unique. And well-made. Also flawed, but beautiful. And affordable, or very upscale and valuable. Yeah. We have vintage gift ideas for every style, every human.
This is an article about vintage gift ideas.
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We used to be a lot more reluctant, however, to give vintage items as gifts to other people. After all, vintage is just uptown for secondhand. Or, used. And there was a time when it was downright rude to give someone a gift that wasn’t new. But now, we think that old is the new, new.
So here are our ideas for vintage gifts that you can offer anyone on your list. Don’t forget to check out our Etsy store too once you pick your favorites!
Vintage Teapots and teacups
Either as is or make the tea cups into tea cup candles. And tea cups can also be a retro sports mug or a funny coffee cup from an 80s tv show. Teapots are the other extreme — you can go very proper and traditional English garden or the other way to a 90s Kate Spade modern look. Great for first apartment gift.
You don’t have to leave tea cups as just cups. First, we chose these black cups with hexagonal saucers as a great example of a not-your-grandmother’s-tea-cup choice. Then we filled one with wax and left one as is. You could gift the set, and add a note — when the candle is spent, put it on a candle warmer for 15 minutes, wipe out spent wick and remaining wax. Learn how to make the candle in our article here.
Read next: how to make an upcycled tea cup (or coffee cup, or vintage mug) into a candle.
Upcycled Bookends
This isn’t quite what you think: get new (or used) plain metal bookends, glue onto them unique vintage item. For example get two vintage steins and glue to the bookends, for barware decor. Or two 45s and glue to bookends for a music room. The point is to pick something they like: vintage alarm clocks, baseballs, whatever and now it’s bookends.
Read next
- DIY Gifts: 20+ Vintage and Upcycled Ideas Worth Making
- 17 Beautiful Vintage Mother’s Day Gifts (That She’ll Use & Love)
- Unique Vintage Christmas Gift Ideas for Friends
- Great Vintage Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Everyone
- How to Decorate with Vintage Pegged Votive Candleholders
Vintage Barware
Personally, we’re obsessed with vintage barware. There’s something so wonderfully old-fashioned about maintaining nine types of glasses for 30 types of 1950s cocktails people drank. Cordials are just delightfully mini wine glasses you want to use as a holder for something small and delicate… and as, um, a wine glass. Champagne coupes are so cool and retro alternatives, though we do love more modern flutes as well.
Vintage steins are just really fun and a statement piece you can set out as decor. Plus, all the accessories. Give a friend a set of two martini glasses and a cocktail shaker . Or a retro decanter and cocktail sticks.
Upcycled Clocks: Vintage Decor Gift Idea
Repurposing old records into clocks is the most common upcycled clock we know of. We also have an article on how to convert a movie reel into a clock.
But you could use a license plate, a street sign, a piece of wood. There’s so many ways to make it personal to them.
Vintage decor: gifting as-is or upcycling
One of the wonderful things about vintage items is you can pick up old things and use a retro version of the modern one. Meaning, you can get an old kettle and use it as your main kettle. Or, you can repurpose it into something equally or even more cool.
Example: We think MCM atomic era dishes are super cool. That’s something we’d gift someone in a minute as is, no explanation. Use it and be cool. Done.
But like, I don’t think I would gift someone a 1980s lunch box. Maybe that’s just not my crowd but that’s ummm…no. BUT, I would TOTALLY get an old 1980s lunch box and decoupage silly things on it and fill it with a mini candle and comfy socks and tea bags and a demitasse cup.
These vintage lunch boxes are silly and fun and will make someone laugh. My suggestion: put something cool inside, retro or not, to make it more special. From an actual restaurant gift card (cafeteria lunch joke) or a retro toy. Or go the other way and put something really upscale and cool: vintage barware or a teacups.
It’s just unexpected and quirky and the lunch box becomes this cool thing that’s an after thought not something trying too hard. The gift is the inside but the container made it personal.
Vintage wall art as a gift
Vintage wall art as a gift is actually a pretty safe bet. It’s the kind of thing they can hang prominently or put in a secondary space like a home office or man cave. And as long as you don’t go too specific, it’s really about choosing something personal that will mean something.
Think about the town they live in, or where they’re from. But don’t just get like a Houston sign, get a vintage sign from the Astrodome. Or an old tourist shop version. Something unique. And of course you can do something for their college or sports team or favorite tv show. You can also just get cool period wall art like something MidCentury Modern like a brass wall sculpture Curtis Jeré (or Jeré inspired), or a needlepoint piece from the 80s.
You can also turn things into wall art: for example an old letterpress tray that held all those printer’s letters? Mount that on a wall and use it to hold miniatures, vintage dice or game pieces. You can also take an old black and white marble checkers board and mount on the wall. Anything that doesn’t project too far from the wall, or is too heavy to mount safely, is game.
Vintage Appliances and Tools as Gifts
Ok, a vintage appliance sounds like an old vacuum cleaner. I mean much broader than that. It could be an antique butter churn just to have on display. An old sewing machine to put in their craft room. Or an antique spinning wheel.
For cooks, an old mixer or blender to put in a corner. Any of these items are cool to people who love doing that specific thing today.
This antique egg mold is a cool gift for any baker or candy maker.
Vintage planters and upcycled plant stands
If your people are plant people, then vintage pots and plant stands are one of the easiest things to buy for them. The number of pots available is mindboggling. You can go Asian koi fish style or 70s hanging basket boho. You could do an 80s brass planter or a 1990s IKEA plant stand. And don’t forget that you can upcycle a number of things into planters, from old rusted kettles (those holes in the bottom are now for drainage!) to old colanders to retro trash cans.
I see an antique dog bed. The customer who bought it saw a plant stand. Drove an hour each way to get it. #PlantPeopleAreSerious
You can also put small plants inside of cool containers, or even create little propagation stations out of small bottles. And any small end table can be a plant stand — consider something quirky and retro, or paint it for them.
Vintage Lamps and Upcycled Lighting
This is a little more specific. But a vintage lamp can be a super cool gift for a home office, or man cave or a den. You can choose something really quirky as a statement piece or more classic for mass appeal. Think brass piano lamps for a desk or a floor lamp for a den.
A single cool lamp that is versatile works if someone can use it easily in a bedroom or as a living room side table lamp. Stay away from anything with very specific colors unless you really know them well. And don’t gift anything unless wiring is in very good condition.
You can also upcycle items into lamps. For example old vintage glass insulators are fun to turn into lamps (decorative lighting, not to read by). You can also use fairy lights inside and oil lamp to create lighting. Or, an actual oil lamp, complete with kerosene (you can use colored kerosene oil to mix it up).
This vintage insulator is available in our Etsy store. Get the base (to turn it into a lamp) here.
Vintage and Upcycled Games and Toys
We love to give vintage games. It can be just an old video game someone hasn’t played in ages. But what about a 1980s Atari console with Frogger and PacMan (is that just us?). Or a tabletop Q*bert (look it up). Also, we’re a big fan of old dominos, old chess and checkers boards, and specialty playing cards.
This retro Coca-Cola game pulls together a vintage look with this throwback style using bottle cap game pieces. Grab it in our Etsy shop!
Consider also really nice, but vintage pieces, that are just for show, like brass or glass sets. We’ve seen beautiful checker boards and brass and wood sets of even tic-tac-toe that would look great in an office or she shed.
Vintage domino pieces for an upcycled clock
One upcycling idea: you can use domino pieces on a flat large circle (an old pizza pan, the top of a lazy susan, wood round, whatever) and create a clock. Use the 1 and 2 for 12, and move around the clock with the game pieces.
Here’s More to Read
- Great Vintage Christmas Gift Ideas for Him
- Unique Vintage Christmas Gift Ideas for Friends
- Great Vintage Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Everyone
- DIY Gifts
- Easy DIY Decor: How to Make an Upcycled Film Reel Clock
- Tea Cup Candle Ideas
And be sure to check out our Etsy store for vintage gifts ready to wrap!
FAQs
Q: Is it okay to give a vintage item as a gift?
A: Yes. Pick something they will use or display, check the condition (chips, cracks, wiring), and tell them where it came from.
Q: How do I make a vintage gift feel new?
A: Clean it and pair it with something new: a candle, tea, a bottle of wine. Or use the vintage piece as the container, like the lunch box idea above.
Q: What vintage gift works for someone who is hard to shop for?
A: Barware, a lamp, or wall art tied to their town, school, or team. Those fit most homes without needing to match a style.
