The 2008 Sears Wishbook vs. the 1979 Sears Wishbook

Has anyone taken a look on the Sears website at their 2008 wishbook? (You can view the whole thing online.) I ordered one but it hasn't come in the mail yet. Am I the only one that has noticed Sears has lost the catalog focus that made it so wonderful? They really don't seem to remember who their core customer base is that made them a successful company for so many decades.

What's my biggest Christmas gift-giving problem? From looking at the 2008 Sears Wishbook, Sears seems to think my biggest holiday gift problem is deciding what to put in my new home movie theatre/game room! I don't know about you but I don't happen to have a home movie theatre/game room. Now to be fair there are some in America who bought new homes and do have massive, empty spare rooms however by watching the latest news I'm sadly guessing that many of those families were only able to buy huge homes by getting in over their head mortgage-wise. Right now they are probably more concerned about trying to pay their mortgage and avoid foreclosure as opposed to buying pool tables and full size popcorn machines.

My biggest holiday gift dilemma and also shared by almost all Americans is: Buying presents on a budget for old ladies who own everything and various relatives that won't appreciate what you get them anyway! The old Sears wishbooks were chock full of reasonable gift giving solutions for the impossible to buy for....but the new wishbooks seem to only focus on buying things for your own immediate 'nuclear' and rich family. I mean its fun to look at those big ticket items but priorities are priorities....all of us have to buy something for a grumpy Aunt Edna or some other relative that we have absolutely nothing in common with but have to see once a year! Please Sears...give me a gift idea for the relative who always buys me a notepad & pen writing set each year?

Honestly although I know I'll never, ever get anything from my relatives that I could use or enjoy this holiday season...I do get this perverse joy in trying to rise above that knowledge and buy them something they might actually like or find useful. Am I the only poor soul with this affliction to try to do nicer unto others than they would do unto you? I know I don't always succeed but I do keep other people's interests in mind and I do try. It's nice when you get the gift spot on and see that look of surprise and non-fake appreciation...but most of my relatives don't even bother to try. They say I'm so hard to buy for (do you ever hear that?) but what I've really learned is to translate that into: "I know you don't like the things that I like and I think it's just horrible of you to not have the same taste as me. I really don't value our relationship enough to find out what you really like or to go out of my way to shop at one of the stores that carry things you like so I'll just give you this generic body lotion set that I found at Walmart instead." Now I'm sorry if that sounds unappreciative but seriously I do appreciate gifts that might be way off mark but I know the person put even some tiny bit of thought into it and at least tried. I suppose this holiday season I should be grateful that I do have at least a few relatives and friends in my life who care enough to at least try....so at least I have that going for me!

Take a look at the new and an old wishbooks and let me know what you think! Do you have people in your lives that you wish you could order out of the 1979 catalog for their Christmas gift this year?:

Link to the 2008 Sears Wishbook Catalog

Link to the 1979 Sears Wishbook Catalog on Flickr

Holiday Barbies 2008

Admit it even the most mature, serious woman can't help but glance over at the Barbie display if she happens to find herself in that aisle...sure she was looking for toothpaste and it's in the same aisle it was in last week but hey, the holiday Barbies are out!

The first and most well known holiday barbie is the one that used to be called the Christmas Barbie. Why did they change the name? To make it easier for parents to give for Hannukkah or Diwali? Admit it she's still the Christmas Collector Barbie! Although I have to say that this year's Christmas Barbie is less than inspiring. Oh it's pretty. It has an 80s Bob Mackie sorta look to it...great if you like that but somehow it doesn't seem original enough or worth of an official 2008 collector Barbie in my humble opinion.

Holiday Kelly. These dolls are targeted as stocking stuffers. Actually they do well for that. They are small enough for most stockings. The outfits look like holiday dresses and they come with cute cups of hot cocoa. I also thought these were cute two years ago and also sometime year before that too. (Think last year the Kelly dolls wore Christmas-related costumes like Toy soldier and Reindeer.) These are still great for little girls stocking stuffers but adult collectors of the Kelly dolls will likely be disappointed that these dolls don't seem to be much different than the ones a few years ago.

Stocking Barbie comes in a old fashioned looking plastic(?) stocking. I'm suspecting that this one with the modern-yet-old-fashioned look to it is meant to have it appeal to grandparents, aunts, and those looking for a Toys for Tots doll to donate to the charity. Too bad this photo doesn't show the stocking but if you go to one of the local stores (Target in my case) then you'll be sure to see it right now. It has all the hallmarks of a great value and something that a little girl would be excited about when she opens it on Christmas morning (unless she doesn't like Barbie dolls...most girls do but can't force it on the few who don't.)

The best for last! Although I suspect that this might not be the first Christmas PJ Barbie doll...I don't hold that against Mattel. This doll's price is around $10 and very cute! It might not have the flashy bargain appeal of the stocking Barbie doll but this doll would be a great present for a little girl to open on Christmas Eve! (If you happen to follow the tradition of allowing one Christmas eve present.) She has a cute stuffed animal toy (Reindeer) and a little box with something as a gift for the child (not sure what the gift is as to me in the photo it looks more like an unpleasant item of medical equipment....but no matter.) This doll has the added benefit of being modest enough to give to the child of a relative or friend who might object to the other more skimpy Barbie dolls. If they do object then just tell them that it was between that or a Bratz doll...and you could take it back to exchange for the Bratz doll if they would like! That'll cause them to gasp in horror! That's right aunties and uncles...Barbies no longer generate as much moral outrage or concern now that Bratz have arrived on the toy store scene! It's like... Lonnie Anderson vs Paris Hilton.

Looking Back at the Sears Wish Book Catalog 1979 (Part 1)

This Christmas I received a Vermont Country Store Catalog in the mail for the first time. Taking a look at their old-fashioned catalog advertising format left me nostalgic for the many catalogs that used to arrive in the mail right before the holidays back when I was a child. The undisputed master of the catalogs in my opinion was the Sears Wishbook. I went to the Sears online website to see if I could recreate that Sears Wishbook feeling. I found the website to be organized very oddly and that most of the staples of their past Wish Books were not available on their website:

** Where were the Gourmet Processed Cheese Gift Packs or the many cans of nuts? (Especially the cheese in a frying pan gift! How could you ever go wrong with that classic?!?)
** Where were the tartan granny nightgowns trimmed in lace in sizes for men, women, boys, and girls? (Okay technically the men and boys items were called night shirts....but still!)
** Where were the pages of useless but festive decorative gifts for under $10 to give to Drunk Aunt Sally or Stuck-up Third Cousin Jenny?

How I miss the good old days of silencing people who complained about how hard you were to buy for by handing them the Sears Catalog with little pieces of paper for the pages that contain items you would enjoy receiving. Of course I never did receive such exotic gifts as Petit Fours, Cans of Nuts, a new Dollhouse, the Barbie Dream House, a Holly Hobbie nightgown, Chemistry Set, or the holy grail of gifts: a food cheese/sausage/cracker/chocolate sampler gift pack of my very own! Obviously our family was on a budget like most families so when I look at the prices on some of the items I can see why my parents did not buy them for me...they did the best they could by buying some of the less expensive items further down on my wishlist and of course more than once I received gifts that my parents must have wanted as a children but held absolutely no interest for me such as:

* A Laverne and Shirley Mystery Date Game.
* An ugly blue vinyl toy chest/hope chest.
* Slipper socks (although this gift came from Grandma of course.)
* A Clown doll.
* A Victorian looking candle holder.
* A Barrel full of Monkeys (I know some people love these things and don't want to offend those people but to me they were always a Barrel full of Boring.)

Looking through the Sear's 1979 Wishbook brings up some interesting item on practically every page however the page I spent the most time looking at and would pray for years in a row that by some miracle I should receive this expensive gift (because having this toy would of course make my life complete and ensure happiness for the rest of the days of my life!) was:

At what is equivalent to $206 today I can understand why I never received it...my parents like many parents back in 1979 would never dream of spending $206 on a toy for one of their children. Although times and cultures have changed... which is apparent when you hear stories of parents from all income levels spending that or even more than that to buy their child a video game system or new iPod for this Christmas.

Here is the link to the flickr account of the person who so kindly uploaded this whole interesting 1979 Sears Wish Book catalog.

A question for the Comments: "What page was your favorite to look at when you were younger and what items where they?" or "What catalog page do you wish existed today so that you could order something from it?"