Now that we're counting down the days until spring, it's a good time to decorate for Easter. If you love vintage pieces, you can also incorporate them into your Easter and spring decor even if they didn't start out as Easter decorations.
This 1960s Metlox Poppytrail Lamb cookie jar is the latest piece I've added to my collection. Because it's a lamb, I thought it would fit right in with my Easter decorations. It still has the original crier in the hat and is in perfect working condition with no chips or cracks. We found this at an antique mall a few years ago while on vacation in the fall, so not only was I surprised to find this, but I think Ryan was surprised to hear that I wanted it to add to our Easter decorations (when I'm sure everyone else had their mind set on Halloween or maybe even Christmas decorations that time of year). The owner of the antique mall let us walk away with this guy for $30. We've since found him on Etsy and eBay for $75-$100, so we got a great deal on him, especially since usually the crier is no longer working and ours still works!
The next two pieces also didn't start out as Easter decorations, but that's how I use them now. Both are mid-century planters, so they're a little older than the cookie jar. The first is a lamb planter. These were popular baby shower gifts in the 1950s. I got this at a different antique mall from a vendor that was closing their booth. Everything in the booth was 50% off, so this was $3.00. This one has a yellow bow, but since they were originally baby shower planters, they often have pink or blue bows. All perfect colors to match your Easter decorations! These turn up at thrift stores, and you can also find them on Etsy and eBay, so it's easy to add a few extra lambs to your Easter decorations if you'd like to!
The second is a little chick hatching out of an egg and it's marked Japan. I got this one at a local thrift store for 99 cents. He's nestled into the table decorations and because of his size, he'd make a great Easter candy dish.
Next, we have a few vintage pieces that I've displayed together. I found this 1960s Inarco cake stand at a thrift store for $4. It features an embossed pattern of green apples and daisies, which is perfect for spring decor. I've used it as a pedestal for my trio of vintage 1950s Lefton rabbits.
I've got a few vintage pieces incorporated into the table setting, as well. At each place setting, I have a Depression Glass saucer topped with a vintage Anchor Hocking Champagne/Tall Sherbet Dish in the Wexford pattern. I have the sherbert glass filled with a mini bird's nest and eggs, but you could also fill it with Easter candy or an actual dessert for Easter dinner.
I have also added a vintage Smith Glass Early American Milk Glass Water Goblet in the crosshatch pattern to each place setting.
Bonus Tip:
Here's a bonus spring decorating tip that will work for you if your daffodils are blooming around the same time that you've decorated for Easter. This makes an easy centerpiece if you like the look of fresh flowers. And you can continue to refresh the centerpiece with different flowers from your garden to keep it out past Easter and well into spring.
I like to collect all of my vintage milk glass bud vases and use them to display fresh daffodil blooms. You could also use your vintage milk glass vases to display other spring blooming flowers, such as tulips, irises, sweet peas, peonies, stock flowers (gillyflowers), lily of the valley, ranunculus, freesia, gardenias, or forsythia branches.
For this display, I used milk glass vases in varying heights to add visual interest. Milk glass vases are available individually at thrift stores, estate sales, and antique malls, but you can often find collections of them on Etsy or eBay if you'd like to buy a whole group at once.
Milk glass vases are easy to decorate for different seasons. You can see these same vases decorated for both Halloween and transitional Halloween to fall/Thanksgiving decor in our
Halloween Home Tour. And pop over to our
12 Vintage Days of Christmas post to see how to decorate milk glass for Christmas.
I hope this gives you some ideas about how you can repurpose vintage items to decorate for Easter. For more vintage Easter and spring decorating ideas, make sure to check out Harris Sister Deanna's Spring Home Tour.
Spring will be here before you know it!
