This season we are designing gifts with a retro twist! Ian and I have created a series of mid century-inspired Christmas projects that transform simple, budget-friendly gifts into stylish treasures. From festive wine bags and Pyrex-themed ornaments to retro coasters, kitchen towels, and votives, these projects are perfect for adding vintage charm to the holidays. Keep scrolling for a roundup of merry, affordable, and stylish last-minute gifts!
Mid century style
We expanded the traditional Christmas palette of red, green, and gold to add pink, mint and teal. Candy colors work well for the holidays – think fun and joyful! Use cardstock, vinyl or HTV in a combination of these colors to add that retro flair to any of these projects.
Retro Christmas Cards: 6 free SVGs!
If you still need some last-minute Christmas cards, we have 4 different designs available for download in our Resource Library. I used cream, mint, teal, pink, red, and green cardstock to make these cards, with mainly vinyl lettering. All of these are easy to cut and assemble!
Every Christmas card we design fits in a standard size envelope so you don’t have to make them all yourself, and to ensure easy mailing.
I used vinyl for the starbursts and lettering for this Oh Deer card, which Ian designed in a fun skewed rectangle shape:
This card features super easy print & cut atomic cats and a mid century-style pattern. I printed on plain white 65 lb Recollections cardstock and it probably took me less than 10 minutes to assemble:
Who doesn’t love a jolly Santa? All the vibrant lettering and starbursts are vinyl, and Santa is a layered cardstock design (gifts are pink and turquoise vinyl). I used foam dots to make Santa stand out on the front cover:
The writing on the inside of this side edge card (font: Honey Script) can be filled with a very small inset/negative offset (for instructions, see our article on how to fill in letters):
Finally, for 2025 we’ve got 2 new Christmas cards using an inlay technique we fell in love with this year. These cards are designed to fit into 9″ x 4″ envelopes, so they’re a great choice if you’re including a cash gift with your card. Check out the full assembly tutorial here to learn how to make your own custom cardstock and inlay text.
Mid Century Monogram ornaments: 3 free SVGs!
We made these adorable vintage layered monogram ornaments with just cardstock and acetate. These are perfectly double-sided and you place the monogram on the acetate window at the center of the ornament. Use them as ornaments, gift tags or even as a banner!
Download the SVGs and get the full tutorial for these monogram ornaments here. Whoville-core at its finest!
Gift Card Ornaments: 3 free SVGs + easy Design Space project
Gift cards can seem impersonal, but they’re always nice to receive. Add some cool retro personality with our gift card holders that double as tree ornaments! Each of our 3 designs have a pocket on the back for a gift card, and they are super easy to make. We used scraps of cardstock and vinyl, with silver and gold Cricut shimmer vinyl for the starbursts:
If you want to make a ready-made Design Space project, try the yeti gift card holder ornament created by designers Rob & Bob. The style matches the classic 1964 Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas special, so it was a perfect addition to our mid century roundup. I made the yeti’s lips blue like Bumble’s from the movie, and I used red foil cardstock and gold pearl paper for the gift.
Wine/Spirits Gift Bags: 6 free SVGs
If you’re gifting a bottle of wine or spirits, do it with a touch of kitschy cool! Keeping the playful vintage vibes going, we created 6 different designs that you can use on plain or patterned wine bags.
You don’t need to buy a bunch of those fabric blanks, either. I found these great classic buffalo plaid paper bags at Walmart for under a dollar each, and I love how they pair with vintage designs. It’s a super fast, easy, and low-cost way to add some pizzazz and mid century charm using simple vinyl or cardstock!
Atomic Lounge Coasters: 8 free SVGs + gift box file
If you’re gifting a bottle and want to add something extra that can be used year-round, I suggest some cool retro coasters.
I found super cute packs of hardboard coasters at Walmart for less than $2 in exactly the right vintage palette, and the patterns aren’t ultra-Christmasy. Because the coasters I chose were patterned, I used plain black Cricut True Brushed vinyl for my designs, but our free SVGs in the Resource Library include multi-layered versions so you can use different colors to decorate plain coasters.
Use vinyl or sublimate to add some classic cocktail cool! As a bonus, we also created a gift box (use 80 lb or 110 lb cardstock or Kraft board plus a piece of acetate for the window).
If you want some seasonal flair instead, we repurposed our favorite wine bag designs to create a set of Christmas-themed designs on some cute plaid coasters (also $2 from Walmart). You can download the SVGs from the Resource Library.
These cork coasters we made using Cricut True Brushed vinyl are also a great gift with a bottle of spirits:
Atomic Kitties Kitchen Towels: 2 free SVGs
Kitchen towels bundled with a favorite coffee or a seasonal hand soap are a lovely gift, and these turquoise striped tea towels were another Walmart find – you don’t need to limit yourself to plain white! I only buy 100% cotton towels, so I don’t sublimate; I added these atomic cat designs using HTV.
Like the coasters, we created these SVGs to be non-seasonal for year-round vintage appeal! Download them from the Resource Library.
Vintage Candy Jar: Fill with Fun!
Ian designed these colorful and fun SVGs to go on any jar or container, which makes a great gift when you fill it with candy or chocolates. Bonus if you tie a ribbon around the top and attach one of our monogram ornaments! These SVGs are simple but can be enjoyed year-round by any vintage enthusiast.
Pyrex-Inspired Decor
A trend we’ve seen over the past couple of years is a return to classic Pyrex and Corningware patterns. Whether it’s collecting actual vintage dishware or putting these patterns on everything, mid century kitchen style is more popular than ever!
Ian vectorized vintage Pyrex patterns (Spring Blossom, Friendship, Cornflower, and Pink Gooseberry) from photos, and we added them to Christmas ornaments, votive candles, and even a couple of motel keychains! With just a tiny amount of vinyl, you can add a Pyrex pattern to anything for some added vintage charm.
Choose your favorite pattern and turn it into a vector using our tutorial on creating a layered image in Design Space (choose method #4, vectorizing a jpg or png with Photopea).
As a bonus, the 6×6″ cupcake boxes from Michaels make the perfect gift box for 4 standard votive candles or a set of 4 ornaments. You can even personalize a motel keychain to create a gift tag!
If you’ve got a friend who is obsessed with vintage Pyrex, these candles are a guaranteed winner. It’s easy to find votive candles in glass at the dollar store for a buck or two (these candles are actually $2 each from IKEA), and I literally just used scraps of Cricut permanent vinyl.
A gift like this is a fun way to add vintage charm to everyday objects that your friends and loved ones are going to use. I recommend a set of 4 votives in the 6 x 6 cupcake box – the candles fit perfectly in the included insert. How cute is this?
Get the project files
All of these projects are fairly straightforward, and the SVG files are uncomplicated. You can download the files we’ve created for our vintage Christmas projects in our Resource and Download Library. Just scroll down the page to the Christmas SVG section and you’ll see preview images of the SVG files. Click the image or the text link to download the file.
If you use these files, please respect they are for personal use only. But we’d love to see your own versions of these projects! Tag us using #sniptoit or @sniptoit.
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Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve found something inspiring in our roundup of vintage Christmas crafts. Sometimes it feels like the holidays are barreling down on you like a freight train, but our image files can help you create some last minute mid century magic! Decorating simple items with scraps of cardstock and vinyl can be used to make gifts that will become treasured keepsakes. Check out our list of favorite MCM fonts if you want to create your own vintage designs!
If you are looking for more vintage inspiration this Christmas, check out our retro wavy text Holiday t-shirt designs. If you need some last minute stocking stuffers for the kids, check out our puffy 3D illusion Christmas stickers.
