Saturday, July 10, 2010

Christmas in July

They’re here, the 2010 Hallmark Keepsake ornaments. This weekend is Hallmark’s Ornament Premiere when they introduce a big part of their offerings for the year, and they always have some penguins. They’ll make others available in October and November. This is the first time I’ve ever gone to a Hallmark premiere. I usually wait until after Christmas to get the discounts, but I know I’ve missed out on some of the sold out penguins this way. I never knew Hallmark staged “events” like this until a few months ago, so I thought it might be a good idea to check it out. Also I had a discount card worth $10 (IF I spent $50, lol). The store I went to today, Jill’s Hallmark in Broadheadsville, Pa., was fairly busy with collectors filling shopping baskets with the new ornaments. It looked like some were already sold out, including a limited edition ornament celebrating 10 years of the Snowball and Tuxedo series that features a penguin and his snowman pal. But lucky for me, I decided to check out one my regular Christmas stops, Jay’s Hallmark in New York, which had the ornament and another limited edition called “Snow Many Penguins.” That’s the one I’m featuring today. I was able to buy the other five new penguins at Jill’s in Pennsylvania, but I probably won’t take photos until later in the year. If you want to see all of Hallmark’s offerings, you can go to their website or to their Dreambook catalog. I also found a couple of other penguin ornaments from previous years on a 75 percent off clearance shelf, which made me feel a little bit better about buying the others at full price. In the non-ornament, non-Christmas category, I couldn’t pass up a pair of eggplant penguins that caught my eye. I think I did the right thing.

Snow Many Penguins, Hallmark Keepsake limited edition 2010 ornament
Acquired: July 7, 2010, Jay’s Hallmark, New York
Size: 3.5 inches in diameter
Number: 779
Price: $9.95

Home Grown by Enesco eggplant penguin figurines (not a Christmas ornament)
Acquired: July 10, 2010, Jill’s Hallmark, Broadheadsville, Pa.
Size: abour 4 inches tall
Price: $12.49

3 comments:

  1. I wondered if you were going to go to the premiere or not. I don't think I'm going to go, but plan on hitting Halls by the end of the month.

    I think the Snow Happy To Serve ornament is my favorite.

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  2. @Ashley. I'm glad I went. This way I'll have all of them. I'm even thinking about searching for old Hallmarks that I don't have. Snow Happy is a good one. It's even a "working" nutcracker. You pull the tail up and down and and its beak opens and closes.

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