What Gifts Were Given For A Victorian Christmas?

fruit, nuts and sweets :

• Giving Christmas Gifts. Although people gave holiday gifts prior to the Victorian era, the gift-giving was usually centered around the New Year celebration.
• Sending Christmas Cards. Christmas cards became a holiday tradition during the Victorian era. …
• Sharing Christmas Crackers. …

Gift giving had traditionally been at New Year but moved as Christmas became more important to the Victorians. Initially gifts were rather modest – fruit, nuts, sweets and small handmade trinkets.

Traditional Victorian Christmas Activities

• Giving Christmas Gifts. Although people gave holiday gifts prior to the Victorian era, the gift-giving was usually centered around the New Year celebration.
• Sending Christmas Cards. Christmas cards became a holiday tradition during the Victorian era.
• Sharing Christmas Crackers.

• Decorations. In the 16th century, listeners were encouraged to ‘Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly’, or at least they were in Wales, where that carol originated.
• Carols.
• Christmas cards.
• Father Christmas.
• Christmas dinners.
• Christmas crackers.
• Commercial Christmas.

How to Amuse Anyone with Funny Christmas Gifts

• Personal Humor. Of everyone on your shopping list, it’s easier to shop funny Christmas gifts for friends.
• Laugh Track. Funny Christmas gift ideas don’t have to be a “thing” that gets wrapped up in a bow and opened for laughs.
• Simply Sarcastic.
• Know Boundaries.
• Quirky Cool.
• Had to Be There.
• Retro Rewind

Did Victorians spend money on Christmas gifts?

Victorian ladies and gentlemen were urged not to exceed their budget on Christmas gifts. This was often easier said than done. Some felt obligated to spend a great deal on the gifts they gave to friends and family in order to prove their affections. An 1887 edition of the New Outlook even went so far as to declare that, at Christmastime:

Though store-bought Christmas gifts were gaining rapidly in popularity, many ladies still made most of their Christmas gifts by hand. An 1894 edition of Demorest’s Family Magazine reminds its female readers that “the gift should be part of the giver.” As such, they advise that:

In general, an unmarried Victorian lady did not give gifts to a gentleman who was not related to her by blood or marriage. However, if a Victorian lady was being courted, she might give a gift to the gentleman who was courting her. And if she was engaged to be married, she would likely give a Christmas gift to her fiancé. In these cases, the gift should be inexpensive and, preferably, made with her own hand. As Mrs. Houghton’s 1893 book on the Rules of Etiquette and Home Culture advises:

What was the purpose of the giving of gifts in Victorian times?

The exchanging of presents is of ancient origin however at the beginning of the Victorian times this was done to celebrate the new year. This was moved to Christmas day as the significance of this began to grow.

At the beginning of the Victorian era the rich would have handmade children toys which were expensive and not readily available due to the handmade nature of the production. The poor however would focus on stockings commonly filled with fruit and nuts. A tradition we still adopt today too!

This was moved to Christmas day as the significance of this began to grow. The Victorian era was seen as a time to reward Children with gifts; a celebration and one which was embraced by rich and poor alike. The gifts however differed greatly.

Victorian Christmas. The significance of the Victorian era and their impact on the way we operate in modern day society cannot be measured. It was an important era for us all. The Victorians impact on how we celebrate Christmas is fascinating to say the least.

One of the most significant cultural shifts within the Victorian times was the introduction of the holiday season. With the wealth and infrastructure delivered by the industrial revolution the middle class were allowed to take Christmas day and boxing day off work. Couple this with those who had moved into the city for work being allowed to return to the country for the Christmas; there was a significant shift in family, tradition and work life balance ahead.

In 1843 the first Christmas card was made. Sir Henry Cole asked an artist to create a Christmas card of which he printed 1000 for sale in his art shop in London. This initial idea seemed to work as the wealthy families began sending out their own cards every Christmas.

The popularity of the Christmas tree throughout the Victorian era typically falls at the feet of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert. Born and raised in Germany Albert made the Christmas tree as important in England as it was in his country of birth Germany. This began when he brought one to Windsor Castle in the 1840’s. This tradition is probably one of the most significant ones of modern day Christmas.

Why did Victorians celebrate Christmas?

This would allow the new middle-class workers who had moved to the city for their jobs time to go back home to visit their families. Even those who grew up far away could get back home quickly with the advent of the newly built train lines. Queen Victoria and her husband Albert thought family life was essential to overall well-being. And they wanted their citizens to be able to return home to be with family at Christmas.

As mentioned before, Victorians loved their ornaments. In the late 19th century, the traditional colours for ornaments were the patriotic red, white and blue to represent the British flag. Small drums, airships and trains were also a popular kind of decoration. These were meant to express your national pride and love for the British military. With the invention of the printing press, die-cut images of Santas, angels, and other Christmas iconography were popular things to hang on the tree.

In the Victorian era, one of the most popular sweets to eat during the holidays was called “ sugar plums. ” The candy was made of nuts, spices and sugar, and rolled into a ball. The dark colour had the appearance of a plum, and that is where it got its name despite there being no plums in the dessert. Queen Victoria was known to hang cones on her Christmas tree and filled them with these sugar plums. Her love of the dessert popularized the sweet greatly. It was so popular even made its way into Tchaikovsky ‘s famous ballet The Nutcracker, with the ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.’

Queen Victoria’s reign was during the time of the first Industrial Revolution. Factories and mass production meant that many products previously only made by hand which cost a fortune were suddenly available to the middle class at a significantly lower price. This was especially significant when it came to Christmas gifts. Before toys were reserved for the rich but now almost all children’s parents might be able to afford to buy them something special to play with.

The first child to find the decoration on Christmas morning would receive a special gift. The tradition made its way to England in the Victorian era, no doubt from Prince Albert. Although the addition of the Christmas pickle seems to have died out in England these days, during the Victorian period, under the watchful eye of Prince Albert, it was a staple in any household.

The name Santa Claus comes from the Dutch word for St. Nicholas “ Sinter Klass. ” When the Dutch settlers moved to America in the 17th century, they brought the tradition of celebrating St. Nicholas’ saints day on December 6 by filling Stockings with gifts. In 1870 after Santa Claus’ popularity had grown in America, it made its way over to Britain. Since the popularization of Christmas by Queen Vicotria has already started to grow, the general public really latched onto the image of Santa Claus. It was then that it cemented itself in the minds of the people as the symbol of the season.