All I Want For Christmas Is.....

I know that I'm either really late or really early with getting my Christmas list ready, but after taking a look at the vintage Christmas catalogs at WishbookWeb.com, you'll have to forgive me for feeling like I'm a kid getting ready for Christmas. If you are ever in the mood to relive Christmas Past, you need to check out

http://www.wishbookweb.com/

This site has scanned a number of Christmas catalogs (or Wish Books as Sears called them) from the 1940's through the 1980's. If you were a kid in the 60's, 70's, or 80's you'll find lots of things in the toy sections of these catalogs that you remember from your childhood. Fisher Price, Legos, GI Joe, Mego Super Heroes, Evil Knievel, Star Wars, Hot Wheels, etc. Taking a look through the catalogs, I came across a number of toys I had forgotten about which instantly came back to me when I saw the pictures.

One thing that a number of these catalogs have are team logo items. Most of the items were NFL items, which to some degree would make sense given that the NFL is in season leading up to Christmas, but it is a striking difference between how many NFL items were in the catalogs (often a number of pages worth), while in many catalogs there was no MLB merchandise at all.

One thing that the NFL has done very well over the years is utilize NFL Properties to promote the league. And who better to promote it to then kids - your future customers. As these catalogs show, the NFL was very aggressive in getting kids at an early age to identify with their teams. MLB on the other hand, seems to have done very little with its licensing and promotion to kids - at least in terms of team merchandise available though department stores like Sears and JC Penneys.

I wanted to share some of the more interesting catalog pages I came across while perusing the catalogs.

The first appearance of any logo related items shows up in the 1970 JC Pennys catalog.

Check out these NFL uniforms:


Is it just me, or do these uniforms look a little creepy?

In 1971 the Sears Wishbook had some great NFL items like pajamas:

Jackets (check out the great patches):

Sweatshirts (has anyone ever seen the Browns logo on the shirt before?)

Hooded sweatshirts:
And Watches & Jewelery:


Moving on to 1975, the Sears Wish Book had even more NFL items, like Cardigan Sweaters & Bobble Heads:
NFL Helmet Buggies (similar to the MLB Bullpen Buggies):

Jackets & Knit Caps:
Belt Buckles:
Sweatshirts & Mini-Helmets:
Robes & PJs:
Watches & Clocks:
Pennants & Trash Cans:
Bedding & Curtains:
And finally Sport Bags:

No trip back to 1975 would be complete without taking a look at the latest in home entertainment - 8-Tracks & Pong Rule!



The 1976 JC Penney catalog had much of the same type of NFL Logo apparel as the 1975 Sears catalog, along with a few more items like Raincoats:

Football Helmet Radios:
And NFL and MLB (!) Watches:


The 1979 Sears Wish Book had even more NFL items:

Beanbag Chairs & NFL Logo Bedspread:
Mugs:
NFL Action Team Mates (which appear to be similar to Kenner Starting Line-ups):
Jeans & Shoes:
Helmet Lamps:
And all 28 Helmets & Uniforms (which don't look as strange as the 1970 pictures):


Moving into the 1980's, we finally see cards show up in the catalogs:


MLB finally gets 1 page of items (1983 Sears):


And we get some more football uniforms (1986 Sears):

For my money, the 1979 NFL Helmet & Jerseys are by far the best of the 3 that I found.

My thanks to the folks behind WishbookWeb.com for all the work they have done in tracking down these catalogs and scanning in all of the pages. Its a really fun site to visit and travel back in time. Check it out - you won't be disappointed!

UPDATE: If you enjoyed this look back at vintage Sears & JC Pennys catalogs, please see my 2nd posting with more great NFL items from the 1970s & 1980s:

http://fleersticker.blogspot.com/2008/11/christmas-time-is-here-again-vintage.html