A Vintage Gift Guide (For The Most Unique & Unexpected Gifts)

By
Jess Ross
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One thing you may or may not know about me: I am a huge vintage fan! I’ve been a collector of vintage items for years now: jewelry, jeans, art, home decor, sweaters, rugs, bags, etc.,

I love the treasure hunt aspect and finding really special pieces with a little bit of history. So I put together a gift guide featuring some vintage pieces that are at the top of my list this year! Because I can’t think of anything more special than a gift that’s completely unique and one-of-a-kind.

Give Vintage: A Guide To Unique & Unexpected Gifts

Some easy wins, when it comes to vintage gift ideas, are small, decorative home goods (a pretty vase, an enameled jewelry box) and cool jewelry (art deco pieces are my current favs). If you know the recipient a little better, vintage band tees, vintage fisherman sweaters, or even a seriously cool pair of vintage jeans are some of my personal favorites! My favorite places to shop for vintage pieces (at least online) are Etsy and eBay.

And hey — we have more gift ideas for your 2022 holiday celebrations on our gift guide hub. We’ll be rolling out more unique gift ideas as the season continues, so keep an eye out!

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

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1. Vintage Art Posters

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

1. Vintage Art Posters – One of my favorite categories to vintage shop is always and forever, vintage art. And I am especially obsessed with vintage art posters at the moment. I’m looking for the perfect one to frame for my living room. Whether it’s vintage travel posters or collector’s artist exhibition museum posters, there is so much gorgeous and inspirational vintage art available to choose from to gift that special artist or collector in your life.

More Vintage Art Posters to Love

2. Vintage Cable Knit Sweater

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

2. Vintage Fisherman Sweaters – My wool fishermen cable knit sweater is from a vintage store on Etsy. It was only 30 bucks, and it’s my absolute favorite and most-worn sweater of all time. There are TONS of super-affordable, unique, high-quality options on eBay and Etsy. The thing I love about vintage shopping is that there is an endless amount of options and each one is so completely unique and one-of-a-kind….It’s a treasure hunt, so every purchase feels like a prize!

3. Vintage Enamel Floral Trinket Tray

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.
https://shopstyle.it/l/bzADR

3. Vintage Enamel Floral Tray – I love vintage trays so much! They make great jewelry and trinket trays and are so fun to decorate with too. This year I thought it would be fun to use vintage trays to create individualized holiday gift ‘boxes'(or trays) for a few loved ones: put a few of their favorite things on the tray and wrap it up in cellophane … or something, I haven’t gotten that far yet.

More Vintage Tin Trinket & Serving Trays

4. Vintage ’90s High-Waisted Straight Leg Jeans

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

4. Vintage ’90s High-Rise Straight Leg Jeans – We all dream of the perfect pair of vintage jeans, and I am ALWAYS searching for more to add to my vintage denim collection. Between Etsy and eBay, there are so many to choose from in all sizes and styles.

More Vintage High-Waist Jeans

5. Vintage Rock Band Tees

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

5. Vintage Collectible Graphic T-shirts – Another fun vintage item to shop for is rare or collectible vintage graphic tees. You can find some super-cool, vintage graphic tees for under $30 on eBay and Etsy. I love browsing all the vintage rock band tees, but those get super-expensive, super fast (I’d love to buy my dad a Jimi Hendrix tee but I need both my kidneys). Check out this ’93 Nirvana in Utero Tour T-shirt that can be yours for only $5,181.21. Gulp.

Shop More Rare and Collectible Vintage Graphic T-shirts

6. Vintage Cobalt Graniteware

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

6. Vintage Graniteware – I don’t know if it’s because camping was never a thing in my family, but I didn’t know that graniteware even existed until like a year ago, when I spotted a piece at an antique store and fell in love. I’m an abstract artist, and I fell in love with learning the marbling process several years ago. I love the colors and even tried my hand at marbling ceramics (with nail polish, ha). So when I saw splatterware for the first time a few years later, I immediately started collecting! I just think it’s so pretty. I have a tall, bright blue enamelware teapot; it’s one of my favorite decor pieces. I filled it with tangerine branches and placed it on my kitchen table, the place I look the most.

p.s. I just saw that Nordstrom has some retro-inspired enamelware this year: a blue swirl enamelware baking pan, and a red swirl enamelware serving bowl!

Vintage Graniteware

7. Vintage Moroccan Rugs

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

7. Vintage Boho Moroccan Rug – Browsing vintage Moroccan rugs on Etsy is one of my FAVORITE pastimes. I’ve favorited thousands of rugs on Etsy throughout the years. I just love allllll the colors. My favorites are the pink Boujaad and Berber rugs especially; they’re the perfect eye candy. I’ve wanted one for years now, and although I’ve bought several small rugs over the years, I’ve never been able to pull the trigger on a big area rug. I think it’s mostly because my heart wants the most obnoxiously colorful azilal beber rug there is, while my brain is trying to reason with me for one more muted and neutral, reminding me I’ll hate the former option in about three months. So, I end up putting about 30 in my cart and give up.

P.S. For more rug love, here’s a link to a list of just a few of my favorite Vintage Moroccan and Turkish rugs on Etsy.

Shop More Vintage Moroccan Rugs

8. Vintage Malachite Trinket Jewelry Box

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

8. Vintage Malachite Jewelry Trinket Box – An antique jewelry box is another unique gift idea this Holiday season. I love all the kitschy ones the best. They’re also a fun way to hide some Harry Styles concert tickets (I *think* that’s who the kids are into these days).

Shop Vintage Trinket Boxes

9. Vintage Art Deco Style Necklace

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

9. Vintage Art Deco Style Necklace – I am obsessed with all things Art Deco and Art Nouveau, especially when it comes to jewelry! This vintage art deco style necklace is affordable, as well as super chic! eBay has a ton of great options right now!

For more vintage jewelry options, here’s a link to a list of a few of my Favorite Vintage Jewelry currently for sale on Etsy.

More Vintage Art Deco Jewelry Gift Ideas

10. Vintage Leather Handbags

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

10. Vintage Leather Backpack – Some of my all-time favorite leather bag purchases have been vintage and that’s because there are SO MANY cool and high-quality vintage bags out there to choose from. Whether it’s designer brand name bags or retro leather school bags, like this one, there is one out there for everyone!

You can see my list of my favorite vintage bags on sale now at Etsy right here.

More Vintage Leather Bags

11. Vintage Floral Rings

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

11. Vintage Floral Ring – Vintage rings are always fun to shop for because there’s an unending supply of super-cool vintage rings out there! Right now, I must be loving the color blue and floral designs because….that’s all I keep putting in my online shopping cart.

Vintage Floral Enamel & Ceramic Rings

12. Colorful Vintage-Inspired, Retro Glass Candlestick Holders

So I put together a gift guide featuring vintage pieces at the top of my wishlist! I can't think of a more special gift than 1 that's completely unique + 1-of-a-kind.

12. Vintage-Inspired Colorful Glass Candlestick Holders – Okay, so I cheated. These are ‘retro, vintage-inspired’ candlesticks, but I couldn’t pass them up, and I found so many similar actual vintage ones that I’m including below:

Retro Inspired Vases and Candlestick Holders

Hope you enjoyed this gift guide, I SO loved making it!!

xo,

Jess

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2 COMMENTS

  1. I love these! And I might buy some for myself. I’ve given vintage cocktail glasses and punch bowls as gifts to a bunch of people the last few years, and I might gift some swirl mugs thanks to this.

  2. This vintage gift guide is refreshing, unique & very timely. In a day & age when there is So Much stuff (that ends up in landfill), sustainability & accountability have made me more ‘shop conscious’ than ever. Thank you for these wonderful alternatives to ‘gifting’

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