Living for the Very, Very Young Homemakers

by Lynne Rostochil

I am the least crafty person on the planet, but every holiday season I make a gallant but ultimately pathetic attempt to create something in the spirit of the season.  The project may be a painted ornament or a centerpiece or even a mod gingerbread house like this one I made a few years ago:

I didn’t have any ideas for this year and decided to look through some vintage magazines in my collection for ideas.  Well, I didn’t find a craft project, but I did find some pretty crazy photo spreads in the December 1960 issue of Living For Young Homemakers magazine that I just had to share with you.

This first set of images is pretty sweet and shows a bunch of tots dressed in their best attire and celebrating the holidays with a “punch-and-cooky” party, showing that “hospitality is a lesson being learned by the youngest of merrymakers.”

Here’s where things get fun.  In another article, photographer Burt Owen created scenes of daily life with dolls taking the place of actual people.  The images look like something out of an especially creepy “Twilight Zone” episode and definitely reinforce antiquated stereotypes, but they are fascinating nonetheless.

After looking at these most unusual images, I completely forgot all about my craft project and had to scan and share this crazy find with you.  This is way more fun than getting my fingers stuck together with glittered glue as I clumsily try to get crafty, anyway.