Red net Christmas stockings…no, not this kind Santa. 😎
I mean those cardboard and mesh ones stuffed full of trashy novelties. How I loved them.
I particularly remember Chinese finger traps, blow out whistles adorned with a feather, flip books, tin patty pans and tilt toys with tiny ball bearings.
Were these Christmas stockings peculiar to Australia? The first illustration I can find of them is from Sydney’s Daily Telegraph in 1939.
It appears they were put together by large confectionary firms, from mainly imported stock;
The unpretentious stocking retailing at 2/6 contains on an average 20 ‘novelties’, which may represent purchases from half a dozen countries. England invariably supplies the stiff scarlet net from which the stocking is fashioned. It supplies also games, puzzles, booklets and some of the mechanical toys. Celluloid and china toys and some mechanical toys come from Japan….Sweets, the inevitable toe-filling of Christmas stockings, are locally made…Until a few years ago the Christmas stocking sweets were in a class of their own, hard and chalky, they were made of sugar and water and a little fruit flavouring. (The Herald, Dec, 6 1935.
Those little lollies were scarcely any better in my day, 20 years later!
During the Second World War, rationing and shortage of labour meant that the beloved stockings were in short supply. A spokesperson from Sweetacres said they weren’t producing any, adding; ‘Of course it’s hard on the kids, but, after all, there’s a war on.’
There was no sympathy from Sydney mother Mrs Murray Resnick either; ‘ Christmas stockings often had a lot of rubbish in them, and I don’t think it’s a hardship for children to do without them. Even children must make some sacrifices for the war.’ (Daily Telegraph, Dec. 6 1942) Good grief Mrs Resnick, surely not that much of a sacrifice!
The content of the stockings was often cause for complaint by adults, though definitely not by kids.
In 1949, under the heading STOCKING THAT CAN’T TOE THE LINE, Melbourne’s Sun News was scathing; Christmas stockings on display in city stores will provide a very short-lived thrill for children on Christmas morning. Priced from 1/3 to 22/6 they are filled with trashy articles. Roughly made and flimsy tin cooking sets, cardboard whistles, cardboard post-offices, paper flags and horror comics comprise the bulk of the contents. But we loved all that stuff! 😛
That same year Adelaide’s News advised parents to make their own; ‘In shop-packed stockings there is little on show between 3/3 and over 20/-. One 3/3 stocking included; a small packet of popcorn, tin kitchen set, small packet of plasticine, tin dust pan, paper flag, cardboard trumpet, cardboard clock, and two thriller comics.‘
For hopelessly nostalgic people like me it’s possible to buy retro, Christmas stockings. Oh my word…so tempting.
I think I spot a finger trap.
I should point out that these stockings were entirely separate to the woollen socks hung up by the fireplace. Discovering them all lumpy and exciting on Christmas morning was an entirely different joy.
Oh the anticipation!
FOR MORE ON THE EARLY PRODUCTION OF THE RED NET STOCKINGS, CLICK HERE.
