Christmas in July - (1957)

This is another bit of ephemera that has sifted to the top of one of the many piles of interesting things in my 'craft room'.

Similar to the Splenda drink recipe book in my kitchen cabinet, the Reynolds Aluminum Company produce this little book of "holiday know how" so that folks would have more reason to buy their product.

I don't know when aluminum foil became a staple of kitchens, but I know the only foil that my mother would have let us 'craft' with would have been saved from a stick of margarine! Reynolds Wrap was considered very expensive in our house and never used only once!

Come to think of it, using foil for decor might have been seen as an economical use, since it could be used year after year! (We saved the tinsel from the tree to re-use. My mother was a adherent of the "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" school)

I thought this page was interesting - it is instructions for how to crush foil. I think instructions on how to use it without crushing would be more useful...

The top project is pretty straightforward - a wreath form made from wire hangars covered with layers of foil with holiday beads wired in for accent. I am sure it would be lovely with an aluminum tree with a colored light rotating between red, blue and green!

The second project is for a foil 'cave creche' for your nativity scene. It suggests spraying with snow spray for the 'hillside cave effect'. Not sure it would be a very soothing environment for baby Jesus, but maybe so....

This page has instructions for making that timeless motif, the holiday foil fish. It is referred to as a mobile, so I suppose you could hang it from...something and admire it from all sides!

This book was distributed by the Benner Food Stores, not a name that I recall, so this probably came from an estate sale or auction. It has a recipe for baking a ham in foil and the lyrics for some carols and lots more suggestions on how to make your holiday festive with Reynolds Aluminum Foil!

So, if you are stumped for table decor ideas, just get out the foil, glitter and glue and welcome your guests with this lovely place mat!

And after dinner, you can re-cycle them!