A Bounty of Vintage Thanksgiving Fare
As the US gets ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, it gives us a time to put aside our petty differences and be thankful for what we have. For me, this day of thanks seems to be the one where my family clings closest to traditions: fancy linen napkins, the good china, cooking from scratch, and remembering which fork to use when. I always have a Norman Rockwell image in my head, even if reality doesn’t always pan out that way.
To keep the tradition of tradition alive this holiday, I’ve put together some vintage goodies to celebrate this wonderful day of thanks, family, friends, and forgiveness. Whether you create cards for the kiddos, want to adorn that fancy china with vintage namecards, or just want to chuckle at vintage ads and even playful Thanksgiving pin-ups, I hope you’ll find something that inspires and entertains you.
And don’t worry about me getting too sentimental about Thanksgiving, come Friday we’ll all be bickering over the issues du jour again—software and tech companies, I’m looking at you. But for now, this Thursday is for peace and thankfulness. Just don’t get uncle Charlie started on why your football team is better than his!
Vintage images in the public domain
More vintage images
Collection of vintage clipart
Vintage Thanksgiving Day menus
Flickr group of vintage Thanksgiving postcards
Very patriotic Thanksgiving card
I’m sensing a theme: patriotism and turkeys.
A well-dressed turkey
Now we know what to do with all that leftover cranberry sauce!
Shop for vintage cards in good old-fashioned hard copy format.
Turkey Day paper dolls
Apparently beans are on the menu.
Saturday Evening Post print showing a thankful soldier
Looks like a showdown looming.
Vintage cookbook illustrations
Very vintage Harper’s Bazar cover
Vintage looking printables
More printables for the well-decorated table.
Dress your laptop up with this Deviantart wallpaper.
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Not one illustration thanking the Creator of the universe, the original intent of the first Thanksgiving.
Thanks for these. You and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
You’re welcome! I’m off to print up place cards now!!
You may need to brush up on history. The attendees of the first Thanksgiving did not all believe the same creation legends as others at their harvest celebration, nor do we have any record that they gathered to give thanks. 50 pilgrims. 90 natives. It may not be ideal to assume what their collective intent was. Save your fight for the war on Christmas. :)
I could also argue about the intent, location, and date of the actual First Thanksgiving, but that’s a discussion for another forum. My article deals with images created for the (mainly) US holiday, formalized as a holiday in the 1800s.