Is Vintage Hipster?

Is there a difference between vintage lovers and hipsters? When did dressing in vintage styles become popular again? What makes the difference between a true hipster and someone who simply loves vintage fashion? The subject is confusing and convoluted, but there was, and still is, a difference between a hipster and a simple vintage clothing lover.

Step back in time a few years to discover the origins of the hipster look, and when vintage styles became mainstream and cool again.

The start of hipsters
Although some people have worn vintage styles for years, the hipster movement only took off a few years ago. Original hipsters were originally dressed somewhat in Gothic styles, and other forms dark clothing that was against the mainstream. Much of the original hipster styles were more similar to emo clothing than the vintage and nerdy styles that many hipsters wear today. It was only after emo and Gothic styles started to become mainstream that hipsters had to look elsewhere to look different than the rest of society.

The melding of vintage and hipster
When everyone started wearing the emo clothing styles for everyday, hipsters had to move on to other styles to stand out. This is when many online bloggers and independent-loving individuals turned to vintage clothing styles for inspiration. People who previously only wore vintage styles because they loved them, now had to compete with the hipsters who wore the styles ironically and in ways that looked more nerdy than classic. Big glasses, skinny jeans, and oxford shoes became the hallmark of hipster and vintage style alike. The main difference between true vintage lovers and hipsters was whether the girls wore pants or dresses.

Vintage becomes mainstream
Like any other fringe trend, people get used to seeing certain styles and want to wear them for their own. The start of TV shows set in past decades also helped stir the desire for mainstream vintage-inspired fashion. Now it is not unusual to see vintage styles on celebrities, hipsters, schoolgirls, and your grandmother in the same place. This melding of decades brings new variety and interest to trendy fashions of the day.

Vintage lovers embrace the new trends
People who have always loved vintage styles are embracing the current vintage trend as well as hipsters. The problem with real vintage clothing is that it is often delicate and made in sizes that are different than today’s body types. When clothing makers create modern sized clothing in vintage styles, more people can embrace the trend and wear the fashions of the past without worrying about fit or the condition of the fabric itself.

Hipsters wear vintage differently
The current mainstream vintage look incorporates one or two vintage trends into modern outfits, such as by placing a Peter Pan collar on a work blouse, or by giving a peplum shape to a casual top. Most people do not wear complete vintage from head to toe to avoid looking like they come from a costume party. A hipster will take several vintage trends and wear them with other hallmark hipster styles, including large glasses, funky hats, clunky shoes, and socks with dress shoes that looks more like an exaggerated version of someone from a past decade than any modern styles. Someone who really loves vintage fashion may take inspiration from vintage clothing and vintage hairstyles. They will look less nerdy than the typical hipster, but more like they belong in a past decade.

Although hipsters and vintage lovers do look similar, and some of the things that they like collide, they are two distinct entities. While hipsters explore the fashions of the past along with unusual movies, music, and old-fashioned technology, vintage lovers simply wear vintage because they love it. Hipsters can be vintage-lovers, but not all hipsters are the same as vintage-lovers. The difference is subtle, and often confusing, but with a little practice it is easy to tell the difference.

Citations:

• photo from shutterstock

Liz Conaty is a part time fashion writer and full time enthusiast.  Lover of all things vintage, and vintage retro, Liz wonders if she is beginning to cross the line into Hipsterville. 

School Days of the 1970's

I was having a little misty eyed trip down memory lane the other day, about my old school days in the 70’s. Oh yes, the days of ladybird infestation, yellow Cortinas and the longest, hottest summer ever...the summer of 1976.

Image by Velo Steve

It really did seem as though everything was sunny and hot all the time in my memory – I can barely remember rain or snow featuring anywhere for about 10 years – though of course it must have been there!

Schools are so different these days, what with their school merit stickers and barbed wire fences. We had nothing of the sort!

You were unlikely to get prizes for being a model student in those days – you were expected to be a model student and you would get the back of someone’s hand or the dreaded ruler if you stepped out of line!

What on earth happened?!

Marvellous free milk

My first school memory is of the infants school, and being given a little bottle of milk every day. We could never have the milk first thing in the morning, the teachers always made us wait until first break.

The milk was left in old style red crates near the window, so by the time it came to sink your straw into that lovely foil lid, the milk was always really hot and creamy!


Image by grongar

I don’t think semi-skimmed had been invented then, in 1975, and health and safety was something for higher up in Government, not places like schools.

The most amazing thing was, this was a Government initiative, and the milk was given to all infant school pupils over the whole country – for free!  Wasn’t that nice of them?!

However, my nostalgia tended to gloss over the fact that we were getting the milk as it was a commodity that not many families could afford in those days – watch this old clip and find out about it: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/woolwich-beats-school-milk-ban

Pie and potatoes
School dinners were also a feature in my school days. These were free when I first started school, but were very cheap all the way through to the junior years.

Delicacies that I recall include: mince and onion pie, with a golden crust top; industrial mash potato with a really distinct taste; over cooked cabbage that stank out the whole school dining room; liver and bacon (which I hated) in thick gravy, mushy peas and baby carrots.

We certainly didn’t have exotic things such as pasta, rice, curry or salad! They hadn’t been thought of at this point in time!

This was followed by some very stodgy pudding in various flavours – sticky toffee, spotted dick - and thick lumpy custard – it had to be thick and lumpy, that is how we had it. The other staple was the dreaded semolina – I don’t know what happened to that stuff, but I really don’t ever want to see it again!

How we got nutrition out of this stuff I’m not sure, but it seems to have done us alright as a generation.

Discipline, 1975 style

As for discipline, well, we wouldn’t dare upset the teacher! We were little angels, always standing in queues in pairs, holding hands, and only speaking when we were spoken to...
Well, maybe I am looking back with rose tinted glasses on with that one, but I do know that the head teacher wouldn’t think twice about getting the ruler out and whacking you across the palm with it if necessary.

In fact, I think I did get on the receiving end of a ruler once, in the huts, I was chatting too much, apparently! It was more mortifying having to march to the front of the room and have the teacher chastise you in front of everyone else, rather than the actual punishment!

Ah yes, those were the days! Anyone else have any memories of the school days of the 70’s – please share them here!

Estelle Page is an interior designer by trade and a mother by nature. She enjoys all things related to home decor, gardening and DIY, but enjoys parenting the most. She blogs regularly for School Stickers.co.uk too.

The Vintage Festival is the return of Groovy

This year’s Vintage Festival looks set to blow all the others out of the water. 60’s Icon Twiggy will be hosting the festival and there is no-one who could embody vintage as well as Twiggy did. Twiggy was the androgynous model who took the fashion world by storm. She graced many fashion magazine covers, ran in jet set circles with Andy Warhol and was the face of several fashion houses that were at the top of their games in the swinging sixties.

The Vintage Festival
Started by fashion designer Wayne Hemingway, the Vintage Festival is the perfect vehicle to take all attendees back in time to an era that was all about fun, creativity and innovation on so many fronts. The sheer artistry of painting and creation of music will be brought back to life when musical legends such as Sergio Mendes, Soul Casino DJ’s and Aloe Blacc make an appearance.

The Vintage Festival in Northamptonshire held on the Boughton Estate, which will be transformed into a wonderland of venerable music and clothes for the ephemeral event which runs from Friday 13th July and through to Sunday 15th July. The festival features music, clothes, food, design, art and shows that were popular during the British 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s eras.

Twiggy in all her glorious 60 years of age will be the major draw card considering her background and her look which she pioneered in the sixties will be present in much of the vintage festivals art and fashion. The fashion not only includes awesome vintage clothes but also hair and beauty salons to bring out that original Twiggy style and catwalk styles. Art & Design will show off some seriously amazing vintage and classic cars that still take your breath away on public roads.

If you’re not in the mood for art movies featuring Ealing classics and some serious sixties horrors then enjoy some of the fun activities. Take a step back in time at the Vintage Festival’s groovy roller rink. Enjoy the wicked sixties music that will take you back to flyaway hair parted down the middle, stripped knee-high socks, hot pants, North Star shoes and bright red lipstick.

Now that the middle of the 20th century is making an appearance in London’s Northamptonshire, it is time to put away the stress of the early 21st century, relax and go camping the sixties and seventies way. Get down to the Vintage Festival for an education on the cool and retro side of life.

Vida Denning is a keen writer who loves the sixties and is a big fan of designer jersey dresses from the seventies.

DIY ~ How to Make Your Own No~Heat Lava Lamp

Want something groovy to do with the kids??  How about making your very own lava lamps??  Very simple and easy to make and your kids will be amazed at their trippy creations~!!

Your going to need a few things, most you will already have lying around your house...and typically it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to make a lava lamp~!!

Materials Needed:

Container for your lava lamp ~ pop or water bottles work great
Vegetable Oil
Water
Food Colouring
Alka~Seltzer
Funnel ~ In case your opening is small, this makes it easier to add the oil to the bottle
Paper Towel ~ just in case you make a mess...;)

Instructions:

1.  Fill 1/4 of your container with water.  Add your food colouring and mix.  Usually 4 ~ 8 drops is enough.
2.  Fill the remaining bottle to nearly full with vegetable oil.
3.  Add a Alka~Seltzer ~ watch what happens.  (The alka~seltzer will not begin to break down until it has reached the water level.)
4. That's it...enjoy your results~!!

Added Note:  Do NOT put the lid on your bottle until the reaction is complete or you may be making yourselves a lava lamp bomb as the pressure inside the bottle begins to build...that wouldn't be groovy at all...lol

You can add sparkles to your lava lamp if you wish to spice it up some and try putting it under a lamp for another trippy groovy effect...but do NOT leave it there...you wouldn't want it to melt all over the place~!!

Are The Sixties Making It Back To The Cat Walk?

Yeah Baby! Will men’s fashion in 2012 turn us all into Austin Powers?

cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by jenniesue1

Oh Behave

Younger generations tend to make a living out of mocking previous eras, and have a great deal of fun doing it. One arena where that is not always wise is, of course, fashion. The fashion world, as seen distinctly throughout men’s fashion in 2012, is a constant cycle of in fashion to out of fashion, with garments and distinct looks often fluctuating from month to month. Whether it be shorter term fashion fixes or longer term looks which came to define a generation, decrying a certain era when you could be wearing it next year has always been a practice fraught with danger.

And so it is then, that men’s fashion in 2012 has seen the sixties return to the catwalk. To be fair, the sixties is a decade which doesn’t inspire a great deal of laughs, more envy at not having been there. Whether it be The Beatles, Mods and Rockers, or England winning the World Cup, the sixties often tops polls as the decade most people would love to return to.

Such trends have seen the swinging sixties a firm staple of catwalks around the world this year, and many people are getting on board with this exciting throwback. After all, until time travel is invented it is the closest many of us are ever going to get to such an iconic period.

Sixties Style

Men’s fashion in 2012 has fully embraced sixties style, so we can all take this amazing, aspirational look straight from the catwalk and place it into our wardrobes. How ironic that not looking like you are from many years ago will lead to your fashion being out of date?! Whatever the aspect of the look, be it skinny jeans, flamboyant shirts or parka jackets, you can get an authentic sixties look with minimal effort this year.

Where To Get It

Sixties style is available in all of the top high street stores this year. Men’s fashion 2012 has brought an iconic look into a modern era, while remaining authentic and truly retaining the soul and feel of such an important decade to popular culture and society. Check out online outfit builders to get a feel for the important looks in this style, as well as how to get hold of the very best garments and remain looking great at all times.

England might not win the World Cup again, and there will never be another band like The Beatles, but you can add a touch of Austin Powers to your life with stunning sixties style.

Stylepilot contains a huge directory of mens clothing, has a unique and easy to use outfit building too. The site is always up to date with all the latest mens fashion 2012.

BOOK REVIEW: Whatever Happened To Pudding Pops? by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont

Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?  The Lost Toys, Tastes & Trends of the '70s & '80s

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade; First Edition edition (June 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• 
  

If you owe a couple cavities to Marathon candy bars, learned your adverbs from Schoolhouse Rock!, and can still imitate the slo-mo bionic running sound of The Six Million Dollar Man,Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes & Trends of the '70s & '80s is for you.

The book, by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont, takes you back in time to the tastes, the smells, and the sounds of childhood, when the Mystery Date board game didn’t seem sexist, and exploding Pop Rocks were the epitome of candy science.

But what happened to the toys, tastes and trends of our youth? Some vanished totally, like Freakies cereal. Some stayed around, but faded from the spotlight, like Sea-Monkeys or Shrinky Dinks. Some were yanked from the market, revised and reintroduced...but you'll have to read the book to find out which ones.

So flip up the collar of that polo shirt and revisit with us the glory and the shame of those goofy decades only a native could love.

This was a great book to peruse and if your the kind of person who enjoys reading in the bathroom, then this book is definitely right up your alley.  Filled with many interesting tidbits about the things we have come to know and love.  It's an easy read, which doesn't have to be read in order or in one sitting, its one of those books that you can read whenever you wish to & always find something to enjoy.

There were many icons from the era that I had forgotten about and it was really interesting to be reminded about these blasts from the past.  The book reads in alphabetical order which makes it easier to find what your looking for, such iconic pleasures like, metal pudding containers, K-Tel, Hugo (Man of a 1000 Faces), Big Wheel, Fantasy Island, Bazooka Joe and so much more.  

If you have lived thru the times, then there is something in this book that you will enjoy reading and remembering about.  Its written with clarity and an easy-to-read format and though the reading levels states 18 and older, I feel that anyone with a reading capacity could easily understand the prose found within.

I would give this a 4.5 out of five stars.  I thought the authors did a remarkable job in their research, but I would've loved to have seen more information with each of the icons as well as a few coloured photos would've been nice.  However, it's a fun and entertaining read and I am sure everyone will get a kick out of remembering those "good ole days".

Whatever Happened To Pudding Pops?

**  Reviewed by me...as I see it~!!  **

Van Halen at ScotiaBank Place ~ March 21st

Van Halen is coming to ScotiaBank Place on Wednesday, March 21st at 7:30 pm~!!

Van Halen, Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees and one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time, announce their return to the live stage with an extraordinary 2012 North American tour. Known around the world for some of the most iconic live performances in music history, the legendary rock band will begin their tour on Feb. 18.  Kool & The Gang will join Van Halen for select tour dates including March 21 in Ottawa.

Fans can expect Van Halen to perform selections from  A Different Kind Of Truth alongside songs from their arsenal of epic hits that include: "Eruption," "Running with the Devil," "Jamie's Cryin'," "You Really Got Me,"  "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," "Everybody Wants Some," "Unchained," "And The Cradle Will Rock," "Beautiful Girls," "Mean Street," "Somebody Get Me A Doctor," "Jump," “Panama," "Hot For Teacher," "I'll Wait," and more from their classic albums Van Halen, Van Halen II, Women and Children First, Fair Warning, Diver Down and 1984. 

Tickets go on sale Saturday, January 14th at 10:00 a.m.

Ticket prices:  $49.50, $79.50 & $149.50

Blockbuster Movie Posters

Blockbuster movie posters never get old. They only grow in value as time goes on. That is why collectors seek out these collectibles.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince are all blockbuster films that were released about the same time. These films heralded in the summer movie season with a bang and now they are available to own on DVD. If you have kids then you probably took them to at least one of these great films, and now your kids have new favorite characters that they want to devote their attention to. As a parent you can cater to these new interests by exploring the world of the blockbuster movie poster.

The first film to be released is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This film was released June 24, 2010 by Dreamworks. It starred Shia Labeouf, Megan Fox, Ramon Rodriguez, John Turturro and Tyrese Gibson. It was rated PG-13 so it was designed more for teens and adults than young children, but a lot of kids under 13 also enjoyed this film with parental supervision. Parents that are concerned about the appropriateness of this film for their younger kids can preview it first before bringing it home to view.

Next up was Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It was released in theaters on July 1 by 20th Century Fox. This film picked up the character story line from the last film. In this film Ellie and Mannie were expecting the birth of their first baby mammoth. While not chronologically accurate, this film was a cute animated flick that was a good fit for families with young kids.
On July 15 the long awaited release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released by Warner Bros Pictures. It starred the famous threesome from the other films: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. This film was rate PG and covered the ongoing saga of Harry Potter at the infamous English boarding school, Hogswarth. If you have Harry Potter lovers in your home you won't want to miss this epic film.

While you can pick up any of these films in DVD format, there are multiple other movie themed gifts you can also select. Movie posters from these films are highly collectable and make great gifts for movie lovers of all ages. Frame them, roll them or laminate them, movie posters always are a crowd pleaser. They also come in a variety of sizes that give you the option of selecting the perfect size poster for a stocking stuffer, a decoy gift or a main gift.

Madeline Binder highly recommends that you pick up your favorite discount movie posters featuring these movies before they are all sold out!

Best Toys of the 90s

As another year has passed, I have paused to reflect on the things that have gone on during this year. The many fashion trends that have come and gone. After this reflection, I started to remember the crazy fads of the 90s. I was a 90s kid, and I loved every minute of it. If you want to take a trip down memory lane, here are 8 things of the 90s that were huge. 

1. Goosebumps books. These were the books that everybody wanted. R.L. Stine did a great job of creeping out tons of little kids. They even made the books into a tv series. I can still remember that eerie music, and that huge, creepy worm at the beginning of the episodes. The books still scare me, and I'm afraid to read them.

2. Super nintendo. This trumps all gaming systems. It is better than the Xbox, the Playstation, and even the Wii. The Super Nintendo was the game to play during the 90s. The simple graphics and the fun games were what entertained millions of kids during the 90s. The best part was that when the console didn't work, all you had to do was blow into the cartridge and the console, and it worked.

3. VHS. Before even DVDS and BluRay, people had VHS. Shelves were lined with these clunky boxes. And you even had to rewind the tapes before you took them back to the video store. Trippy huh ?

4. Tamagochi. These were one of the most popular toys of the 90s. Pretty much every one had one of these. It was almost like Farmville, but you actually carried around your little Tamagochi. This toy taught kids how to care for little creatures.

5. Lisa Frank. These stickers and binders decorated almost everybody's lockers and backpacks. Everyone seemed to love the cute little animals.

6. Furby. These things were smart. And they scared me a little bit. These things were just as cool (maybe even cooler) than Tamagochi's!

7. Beanie Babies. Remember the crazy to find the rare beanie babies? Every kid had these, and they were fun to trade with other kids. People also collected them and made money by selling the valuable beanie babies.

8. Gameboy Color. Oh, when these things came out. They were the bees knees. Everybody had to have one. The best part was that it was portable. You could take it anywhere that you wanted.

About the Author
Tammi Jenkins is a writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers will help you get to the top jobs that you have always wanted. 

Reasons Why The 50s Were Hip

The 50s were hip; here are four reasons why...

Diners

Photo Credit: Paul Lowry
If you wanted a coffee and piece of cherry pie, you went to a diner. A symbol of optimism in popular culture the prefabricated American diner is an independent alternative to the fast food restaurant. The classic diner shape was that of narrow and stretched, in-keeping with their historical roots of having been dining cars on trains. Redundant wagons were often employed as a cheap and stationary restaurant after service. In the 50s diners were all stainless steel, terrazzo floors and neon signs. Stocked with a juke box and frequented by the likes of Sandra D. and the Fonz, why wouldn't you slurp a milkshake at a diner?

Drive-In Theatres

Photo Credit:Rusty Boxcars
After a coke and a burger at the diner where next for you and your sugar-pie honey-bun? The Drive-In of course. Hugely popular in the late 50s the drive-in movie theatre was actually created in the early 30s in New Jersey. It quickly caught on though and proved to be particularly popular in more rural areas. Loved by the 'delinquent' teenager due to the privacy afforded they quickly garnered a less than appetising reputation, something which was exasperated by their decline in the 70s as they proffered ever more explicit and exploitative content. Nevertheless even this unsavoury demise can't detract from the drive-in's 50s heyday.

Muscle Cars

Photo Credit: Cauldron Graphix
If you were going to a diner or drive-in theatre you needed wheels. The classic and well known muscle cars of yester year America tend to come from the late 60s, however their genesis was firmly set in the 50s. Automobiles of the time were all tail fins and chrome, the muscle car refined this and added some real guts beneath the hood. Arguably the first true muscle car was the '55 Chevy Classic V8. It was a beast with killer looks.

James Dean

Photo Credit: 200MoreMontrealStencils
If youth in rebellion could only have one poster boy, James Dean would be it. An icon of the discontented young, the wild and the restless, in a post WWII culture of consumerism and plenty Dean exploded to screens and held the gaze of a nation. As if by destiny James Dean sadly remained forever young, dying in a high-impact collision whilst driving his racing Porsche 550 Spyder. It is for his role in the film Rebel Without A Cause that he is most remembered. Released only a month after his death in '55 the film frames Dean as Jim Stark a frustrated, angry and directionless force, "You're tearing me apart!" He was, and still is, the epitome of cool...

Janet Stevens runs the blog Valentines Gifts 2012 which aims to be an independent gift guide and the new home of romantic ideas for Valentines Day.

Top Health Benefits of 70s Fancy Dress

We all feel better after a loud belly laugh or even a quiet chuckle. Laughter increases the oxygen in our blood system and encourages the brain to release more endorphins. It relaxes our muscles, boosts our immune system and relieves pain and stress. Therefore it isn’t a huge stretch of the imagination when we say a 70s fancy dress party is good for both the physical and emotional body.  

Laughter is contagious, that’s why toy laughing bags are such a huge hit. Try as you might it’s difficult to listen to even a machine laughing and stay serious, so no wonder we can’t help joining in when friends are involved. Have you ever tried to feel grumpy when you are smiling? Put a smile on your face and try to feel down hearted. It’s not easy. You can improve your mood by smiling more. A happy face looks younger too.

Burn Calories
Seventies disco dancing can help you lose excess weight. It suits people of all ages and will help tone up your muscles, get your blood pumping and raise your heart rate. The calories you burn can be comparable with cycling and swimming, and you don’t have to be a whiz on the dance floor to reap the benefits, even gentle exercise can release tension and help you relax.

Exercise also helps to increase vitality, improve stress levels, quality of sleep and a host of other things that are crucial to your body’s well being. So you could say a bit of disco dancing is just what the doctor ordered. John Travolta certainly looked in tip top shape in Saturday Night Fever.

Friendships

It has been said that loving friendships and a good social life can help you live a longer active life. It doesn’t matter whether you have a large circle of acquaintances or just one or two close friends as long as you can share the highs and lows of your life with someone special. Talking is a great healer and there is a lot of truth in the old adage ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’

A 70s fancy dress party is the perfect opportunity to make new friends. People are in the mood to be sociable, so it’s a good environment to find someone friendly to talk to. If you are shy and don’t mix easily, you could break the ice by talking about your costumes.

If you are hosting a party, there are lots of ways to encourage people to participate. Introduce them to new people and arrange a few sociable games to break up the small groups that tend to form. Quizzes done in teams are ideal.

How does it make us feel when we dress up? Fabulous, light hearted and sexy are some of the adjectives that come to mind; and anything that encourages exercise, laughter and social activity has a positive effect on your body. Fun and laughter are key ingredients in our daily lives, so enjoy the party and boost those endorphins.

Laugh long and prosper!

Top Health Benefits of 70s Fancy Dress was written by Lucy Bond for adshires fancy dress. Lucy loves to promote fun and laughter wherever she can and enjoys themed parties.

Blast From The Past Board Games

Board games have been a source of fun for families for many generations~!!

Some of them have stood the test of time, like Monopoly, Life, Operation, Twister etc. have remained since they were introduced to consumers.  Others, like The Perry Mason Game, Aggravation, Blockbusters etc. have ran a short course before gathering dust under beds and in closets, forgotton, their quality and concepts lacking to make it a HIT~!!

Some board games that have ran their time and have drifted off into obscurity, but they were FUN...

MAD Magazine:  the "What-Me Worry?" Board Game- Who remembers playing this zany board game??  Where player cards had you acting like a chicken, or trading the seat with the person next to you!!  The fun was sure to make even the hardest person giggle as the wild antics kept you guessing about who would be the winner~!!

The first person to lose ALL their money is the winner~!!

It was produced by Parker Brothers in 1979 and has a cult following to this day of diehard nutters who enjoyed the opposite rules based game.

PROBE - In this "Hangman" style game which had rules similar to "Scrabble"; players had to keep other players from guessing their hidden word.

It was geared for two to four players and players scored points for letters and words guessed. 

Probe was introduced in the 1960's by Parker Brothers and made a comeback in 1972 where it flooded consumer homes making it a game that remains in the recess of our storage compartments.

Ratrace - In this classic board game players had to start the game with $200, a credit card and a business in the Working Class section on the outer ring.  The goal was to rise through middle class to upper class and being the first player to attain $100,000.

Along the path to success you had to meet certain requirements in order to level up, whether it was monetary or status symbol, each player must do the tasks they have set before them in order to succeed, not unlike life.

The game was published by Canada Games in 1967 and has remained in the minds and hearts of those who have played it.

Caper - This game had you being a jewel thief and you had to acquire certain gems in order to win.  You needed to combine strategy with chance in order to acquire the prize.

The game was cool in that it was 3-D and not only were the gemstones used, but you also had metal wrenches, ladders and scissors.

It was created by Parker Brothers in 1970 and if you have ever had the chance to play it, then you will understand the unique charm it uses in its delivery.

Concentration - This game had the players playing a matching game in order to remove the numbered tiles above the rebus style puzzle beneath. 

The game inspired all kinds of intellectual stimulation in children in that you had a three part puzzle using different recognitions in order to figure it out.

The player with the most money at the end of three rebuses was declared the winner.

Endless Games and Milton Bradly published the game in 1958 and became a secret favourite of many!

No matter what game you played, I am sure the memories with friends and families are to be forever cherished, making board games a fantastic way to bond as a family~!!

Vintage and Retro Furniture

If you wish to enhance the appearance of your home then one of the best options is to decorate your home with unique furniture items. Vintage furniture items are the right choice for furnishing classical style homes and apartments. This type of furniture is sold in all the leading antique shops and second-hand shops. They have a unique appearance due to their age. Genuine vintage furniture will be very expensive, however reproduction vintage furniture that have the similar unique appearance as their parent designs are sold in the market at most affordable rates.

Retro designed furniture items are another good option for offering a unique appearance to your home. This furniture is mostly manufactured with popular materials such as acrylic, plastic, metal in the most embracing shades such as lime green, yellow, blue, pink etc., These furniture pieces are highly suitable for modern living areas and contemporary living areas.
These furniture pieces are not sold commonly in all the furniture shops like other types of furniture. When these furniture items were manufactured for the first time, they were not widely accepted by the furniture purchasers. Hence, authentic retro furniture items are always considered unique furniture due to their scarcity. They can be seen in second hand shops or the vintage furniture shops.

Night clubs are places that must be decorated with unique furniture pieces. Some of the most suitable unique furniture pieces for night clubs include heart sofas, lip sofas, space egg chairs, egg chairs etc. These furniture pieces will be great fun as they are designed in the most attractive shapes and sizes with the utmost comfortable features. They can easily make the nightclub to stand out from other normal bars and pubs.

A heart sofa will be red in color and its back portion will be made in the shape of a scallop. This type of sofa can comfortably seat two to three people at a time, or if it is just a single person, then he/she could sleep on it comfortably. Lip sofas are designed in the shape of lips. They will be red in color and can comfortably seat a minimum of about two persons. Finally a space egg chair will be egg shaped and about fifty percentage of it will be allocated as sitting area. The back portion of the egg chair will be similar to the back side of an egg, and is an iconic design that makes a strong statement.

Mark Gregory for Design Spree, a stylish furniture outlet in New Jersey near Philadelphia and who offer a range of services including Furniture Stores Philadelphia and Furniture Stores New Jersey

Top 10 Authentic Retro Reboots

We all love a bit of Retro, and good news - those gadgets and games that warmed our hearts in our childhood have returned, some are even better than they were before. These are the toys you yearned for when you were young. Remember that kid who had all the best toys? Now, you can recapture that little spark of youthful competitiveness.

It doesn’t matter that we’re not kids any more, or that we possibly should be old enough to know better. It’s impossible to resist the call of childhood nostalgia
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We’ve selected our top 10 authentic retro toys & tech to capture your childish imagination. So pull up a chair and read on as we take you back...

Bigtrak

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Big Trak was an absolute hit in the early 80s, You might remember the large 6-wheeled tank. It might have a totally 70s colour scheme, but the programmable vehicle came complete with a blue photon beam headlamp (whatever that means) and, the most important part, a chunky keyboard on the top. You could actually programme the Big Trak to carry out sequences of movements like ‘Go forward 5 paces, go left 2 lengths, turn 15 minutes right’ etc.

It might not seem like an amazing feat of technology to us now, but back then it was amazing!

But the Big Trak is back. Styled on the old model, the new version is an exact copy. It’s been just as big a hit now as it was back then. Strangely enough, you still get the same giddy sense of joy when the tank carried out your orders.

Risk

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This one first entered our lives in the 1950s, but has stayed a staple item in the games cupboard ever since. It’s a game of strategy, nerve and, well, risk.

The game has been around for years, but this Christmas, it’s come back in its true retro form. The Nostalgia Edition comes in a retro wooden box, straight out of the 50s.

It’s back to its retro glory, so now you can conquer the world in true retro style.

Newtons cradle

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It’s one of those science things that you can’t quite explain, but you simply can’t take your eyes off.

Remember being transfixed by these hypnotic little things in the doctor’s office? Remember when doctors or other important people had these types of gizmos on their desks – you would hve given anything to play with it, but you were always told ‘No!’

Now you’re big and important enough to have one of your own. Go on, give it a try...

Space hopper

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A real blast from the past here. Whether you call them Space Hoppers, Moon Hoppers, Skippyballs, Kangaroo Balls, Bouncers, Hippity-Hops, or Hop Balls, they all mean one thing – fun!

It looks a little wrong, and you know that you’ll look monumentally stupid on it, but those things just don’t seem like such a big deal when you remember just how fun the Space Hopper is.

You might want to avoid going out in public with it though, Space Hoppers aren’t recommended modes of transport.

Phones

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Ever since Mr Edmond’s latest box-related gameshow, retro phones have come back in force.

Moulded plastic handsets, chunky rotary diallers, every feature you know and love from the telephone of the past is back here. But best of all, they’re packed full of modern-day gubbins so you don’t have to sacrifice the functionality you need.

They even make that good old fashioned ‘rrrrring, rrrrring’ noise – superb!

Stylophone

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That Rolf Harris had a lot of explaining to do back in 1967 when Kids around the world started tormenting their parents with a series of electronic buzzes, The stylophone was invented as a musical instrument, and Rolf Harris made it sing.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many other people with the same talent. In fact, anyone else who picks up the infernal thing can only create a skull-drilling racket.

But we’ve grown to love that racket. Now the Stylophone has returned, to a buzzing fanfare, into our lives. Contrary to all laws of sense, we’ve welcomed its return with open arms and open hearts.

Rubiks cube

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It’s infamously frustrating and absolutely addictive; the Rubik’s cube used to send us all into a crazed delirium full of colourful squares and twisting cuboids.

There are people in the world who can solve them in a matter of seconds. People have written entire books on the secrets to cracking the cube. Most of us mere mortals can only hope to fumble around with it for a few hours before leaving it on a shelf as a piece of Geek Chic art.
But that’s still a great use for this iconic piece of pop culture.

Slinky

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‘Everyone loves the Slinky!’ Invented in the early 1940s, Slinky has been a hit with kids for generations! In fact when it first went on sale in the 40s, the entire stock of Slinkies were sold out in just 90 minutes – talk about a must have toy!

We’ve seen the Slinky take on many different forms over the years, from rainbow-coloured plastic to animal themed springs. But now, the original steel Slinky is back and delighting kids once more.

There’s so much to do with a Slinky. Obviously you can walk it down the stairs, but you can also roll it up your arm and pretend to be a robot, or lik it together to make a fetching springy necklace. Leave it to your childlike imagination and you’ll find something new and exciting to do with it.

Retro Roberts radios

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Retro radios, like the telephones are coming back in force. With Digital radio making the whole wireless concept ‘cool’ again, the beautiful retro styling has become popular once more.

Each radio is like a piece of pop culture art – they look like they belong in the 50s but the insides tell a very different story. These digital radios let you listen to the stations you love in crystal clear digital sound quality. You couldn’t say that about an authentic 50s radio now, could you?

Commodore 64

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Now, for the geek in all of us, the one and only Commodore 64 has made a comeback. The big grey box that stole our heart and our imaginations in the 80s has returned complete with retro games for those of us who miss those clunky cartridge-games.

According to the website, it’s ‘a modern functional PC as close to the original as humanly possible.’ They’ve crammed a mini motherboard, dual core atom processor and even a graphics card into the original casing. Now that’s a blast from the past!

All of these retro reboots are a delight to the child within all of us. But which one will be gracing your home? Stop by Prezzybox for some even more great retro and unique ideas to make the perfect Christmas present.