Vintage, retro gifts popular this Christmas

Nostalgia might be the new black this holiday season as shoppers go retro seeking gifts that are blasts from their own youthful pasts.

Portable record players, the Nintendo DS and Legos topped the holiday gift list for 2016.

This year's holiday inventory has expanded with the reintroduction of classic Kodak film and personal printers, and items such as Tamagotchi electronic pet toys, Teddy Ruxpin bears, classic handheld video game consoles, and even vintage Christmas ornaments.

"There's this nostalgic trend with parents wanting to recapture their youth," said Kate Erickson, marketing consultant for Beat Street Toys in Arlington Heights. "Parents are being a little more nostalgic about their childhood. We do see a lot of older, classic toys that we all had or even those kind of items that have a modern twist on them. We really did see a lot of excitement around it ... just kind of a modern spin on some of the nostalgic toys from the 70s, early 80s."

Some examples are scratch-and-sniff stickers with pizza, pickles, and grandma smells; a new of version of 1970s-era Lite-Brite, a light box with small colored plastic pegs that fit into a panel and illuminate to create a lit picture; macramé pot holders; Fashion Plates designing kits and latch hook rugs.

"It makes for a fun Christmas gift," Erickson said. "They are just coming back into circulation. (Manufacturers) still try to capture that vintage feel. I really think it comes down to kids are just starting with technology so much earlier. Parents are wanting to get things that gets kids away from the screen time and the technology (and) it has still that nostalgic look."

Even Amazon is cashing in on the retro action selling nostalgic candy, vinyl record coasters, bamboo wooden watches, vintage salt and pepper shakers, leather covered journals, mini retro arcade games, retro perpetual flip calendars, and vintage envelope wax seal kits.

Vintage Christmas tchotchkes are gaining favor with customers seeking alternatives to mass produced trinkets, said Lindsay Jirasek, owner of Frocks and Frills Vintage in Wheaton.

"On the whole I think people are rejecting the mass produced goods that you find in stores and they are looking for stuff with more personality," Jirasek said. "The quality of the older pieces has more appeal. It doesn't have that cheap, disposable feel to it. It has a long lasting, endearing quality. It affords you the ability to give somebody a gift that has a little bit of meaning in it."

Jirasek said one customer was in tears when purchasing a plastic angel from the 1960s that reminded her of one her mother put up on their Christmas tree every year.

"The items kind of tell a story because of who had them and who wore them and they stand out," she said. "You are giving a gift that's got character."

The trend of buying vintage decor is catching on with millennials, said Ray Maxwell, owner of Elgin Antiques & Uniques, which sells linens, lighting, glass fixtures, records and record players, and beer and soda pop memorabilia.

"Under $50 is a lot of what we sell," Maxwell said. "We have a lot of cross-generational items from the 50s, 60s and 70s. For them, it's like a whole new ballgame. They are coming into our stores to get pieces to decorate their homes. The older crowd, like me, we are trying to get rid of things."