What Christmas cost in 1953

[stopbush]

What Christmas cost in 1953:

Christmas cards for friends: 98 cents for a box of 50

The stamp to mail a card: 3 cents

A sled for Ned: $3.75 (37-inch Clipper)

A Lionel train set for Billy: $19.95 to $65

A tricycle for Sally: $21.15

A 20-pound turkey for the famliy: $21

Six 6-ounce bottles of Coca-Cola for the guests: 30 cents

Cut 6-foot Christmas tree: $2.50

Parakeet to sing on Christmas morning: $1.98

An electric clothes dryer for Mom: $169.95.

A Frigidaire Thrifty 30 Range for Mom: $245.95

8mm movie outfit for Uncle Moe: $102.45

Electric blanket for Aunt Millie: $19.95

1954 Studebaker for Dad: $1,789.07

Here: http://www.starbeacon.com/article.asp?id=1199

[cliss]

1. That's why they call them

the GOOD old days. Of course, wages were pretty low then. What? 50 cents an hour?

I would say the only thing that for sure is cheaper now, is turkey. That 20-pound turkey was a little more than $1.00 per pound. I can get a turkey at Safeway for 17 cents a pound with the club card.

[DieboldMustDie]

6. In 1953 the minimum wage was $0.75 per hour...

though if you adjust for inflation (http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl) that comes to $5.20, just slightly higher than today's $5.15.

[elperromagico]

2. What about a dimebag?

[PinkTiger]

4. They were nickel bags then.

ha!

[PartyPooper]

3. A 20 lb. turkey for $21.00 in 1953?

That's gotta be wrong!

My father took us four kids out to dinner in 1960 and he spent $20.00 for the entire evening...and, my mother had a fit that he had spent so much. I must admit it was a 'fancy' meal. But, we loved it! (They were getting divorced...so, she wasn't there!).

:D

[Bucky]

7. This was during the Great Turkey Shortage of '53

I think it's the main issue that helped Democrats win back the Senate in the 1954 elections.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. Yeah, I think $21 is a typo...that works out to $145.51....

maybe $2.10? which would be $14.55 and in line with reality.

[madrchsod]

5. remember if you made

over several hundred dollars a week you were rich. i think the average wage was somewhere in the 75 dollars a week range. my parents both worked and made about 100 something a week...

[DemBones DemBones]

10. I made $75 a week in 1968, and

was able to buy a brand new car, in addition to supporting my husband (a student at the time) and myself. There were plenty of people working for less then so I'm fairly sure that average salaries had to be less than $75/wk in 1953.

. . .

For Christmas 1953, I got a red tractor to pedal around. It was made entirely of metal, except the tires, of course. Very sturdy and well-made.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Prices that I remember from that era (1968)

Minimum wage was $1.25.

A pair of Levis was $7.00, but Penney's house brand was $5.00.

Apartment rent was $75-$100 per bedroom.

You could get the "special meal" in a family restaurant for 99 cents or less.

A new car was $2000 or less. You could buy a decent house for $20,000. and if your house cost $50,000, you were very well off.

The year I graduated from college, my mom bought me a blouse to be worn only on special occasions. I was to take especially good care of it, because it was really, really expensive: $17.00. That same year, I splurged and spent $23 for a pair of shoes. They lasted for years, though.

In 1973, I went to New York City as part of the Cornell Chorus's spring tour. My mom found a postcard on which I complained about the high prices: $2.85 for breakfast.

Between 1974 and 1977, I lived on $350 a month as a graduate student. That included 1/3 of the rent on a 3-BR apartment in a very nice building.

[Spirochete]

9. Wonder what I got for Christmas

in 1953. I was just over 3 weeks old, so I don't remember. hehe

[Bombero1956]

12. I remember my Dad

working at the foundry for $72 a week take home. My Mom nagged him into getting a better paying job, so he found one at a plastic injection molding plant.This was in 1967, his first week he took home $86. I dragged my ass around a tabacco field for $1.25 an hour, my take home was $52 and I felt rich. On edit: Hey I just hit the 700 club woo hoo!!