Christmas Shopping - 50s Style

This reminiscence arose following a talk with Linda Thomas.

In the ‘54-‘57 time frame we were allowed to shop for Christmas gifts on our own. We each had a budget of $5.00 (may have been 10, but 5 sticks in my mind).

We shopped at Kress and Co in downtown Beaumont. We called it Kressies (mom had worked there as a teen or young adult). Kress was a 5 and dime variety store.

My list included: Dad, Mom, Terry, Linda, Wayne, maybe Stephen, Nora and Luther.

Typical things purchased included: spoon holders, handkerchiefs, plastic toys, bamboo gliders, jacks, crayons and so on.

I am pretty amazed that I could get gifts for all of the folks for my $5 budget.