THE CAVENDER DIARY

Found this guy recently at a junk shop and knew immediately that he needed to come home with me.

He’s kinda the perfect Halloween-y compliment to the vintage match strikes and child’s chest x-ray on our mantle.

Most Americans will recognize these types of mid-century decor from the holidays of our childhood. Every December, my grandparents had 3 foot soldiers guarding their front porch. And our neighbors had Santa in a sleigh and a half-dozen reindeer running across their roof line. At Halloween, it was those candy buckets shaped like Jack-o-lanterns that we just had to have for trick-or-treating – because a standard pillow case was the only other option.

In case y’all didn’t know, plastic blow mold decor (made from the same plastic as Elmer’s glue bottles) like my ghost, has been around since the 1940s. There were ducks, Disney characters, nativity scenes and carolers, penguins, and even Snoopy available at most five and dime stores across the country. Some even included a build-in lamp to enhance the festive-ness.

It was the creation of Don Featherstone’s plastic lawn flamingo for Union Products in 1957 that set the trend on fire. Other companies, like Empire Plastic Corporation, had been making blow mold flamingos for over a decade, but it’s Featherstone’s flamingo design that is still the most sought after.

Sure, blow mold decor pieces are easy to find at junk shops and yard sales, but you can still buy new ones at stores like Wal-Mart and Amazon because the trend has never really faded.

And why should it?

These things are charming for days…..

So proudly display your kitsch.

I said that you could.