Wonderful Free Vintage Christmas Images To Print

I have curated a copyright-free collection of fabulous vintage Christmas images for you to download and use as you like, whether for decorations, crafts, or even to make your own Christmas cards.

Celebrating Christmas is a relatively modern phenomenon.  It’s only since the late 19th century that Christmas became a holiday and the biggest annual celebration we know today. 

Origins of Christmas Celebration

I know that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ, but Victorians invented how we celebrate the holiday today.

Queen Victoria’s German husband, Albert, introduced many festive traditions we celebrate today, such as decorated Christmas trees.  Henry Cole designed the first Christmas card in 1843.  The practice of sending a card soon caught on; by the 1880s, over 11 million Christmas cards were produced

Victorians also introduced the notion of Christmas becoming centred around the family, with the traditional family Christmas dinner, decorations, gift-giving, and parlour games. 

Many think Charles Dickens invented the Victorian Christmas. He didn’t, but his famous book A Christmas Carol helped spread the Christmas message of family, charity, peace, and goodwill to all men, which is still relevant today.

The Vintage Christmas Pictures

To download and print the vintage Christmas image you want, click on the title above the picture. A higher-resolution image will open in a new tab.

You can print the image, save it to your hard drive, or send it to an online printing company. Many of these companies offer gift printing services and traditional paper prints.

For example, the vintage Christmas image could be printed onto a pillow as I did with the personalized map pillows or printed onto wood slices to make Christmas ornaments

1. Santa Claus Sugar Plums

This is a vintage Christmas image for a 1968 advert for sugar plums. Sugar plum is now a pretty defunct term.

The Oxford dictionary defines a sugar plum as a comfit. That is a seed, nut, or scrap of spice coated with a layer of hard sugar, like the crunchy outer case of an M&M. Comfits are thought to be one of the world’s oldest sugar sweets.

Sugar plums are also mentioned in the Christmas-themed ballet The Nutcracker. One of the dances is called “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”

2. Merry Christmas Typography

This is a beautiful piece of Christmas typography (1876) published by Currier & Ives. I love the acorns and other foliage wrapped around the text. This would be a great vintage Christmas image to colour in. 

3. Christmas Menu Sign

A vintage Christmas image of Santa Claus and Christmas motifs in the dinner menu of Tulane Hotel, Nashville (1900).

4. Vintage Christmas Images Santa in Cart

Another vintage Christmas image from a 1900 menu shows Santa in a present-laden cart.

5. Christmas Sled With Holy

A 1907 vintage Christmas card image of a Christmas sledge in the snow laden with holy.

Like ivy and mistletoe, Holly is a wintergreen plant used in pagan times to celebrate the Winter Solstice and ward off evil spirits. The holy is a symbol as it also closely bears the crown. Its spiny leaves and red berries link to Jesus’ crown of thorns.

6. 1901 Vintage Christmas Image Father Christmas

This vintage Christmas image of Father Christmas depicts him as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with a white fur collar and cuffs.

7. Vintage Father Christmas in Green 1909

In the past, images of Father Christmas sometimes depicted him in a green coat rather than a red one. Today, pictures of Father Christmas nearly always show him wearing red robes.

8. 1901 Vintage Christmas Images Santa Chimney

Another image of Santa in his red robes. This time, he carries a sack of presents and prepares to descend the chimney.

The 1823 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” also known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, ” popularised this idea of Santa Claus coming down the chimney.”

9. Vintage Christmas Images Wreath

Another vintage Christmas image from the menu is a wreath of holly leaves. You will find some more wonderful holly illustrations, including vintage Christmas cards.

10. Barnes Ad Christmas Image To Print

A humorous Christmas advert for Barnes featuring Santa.

11. Borwick’s Baking Powder Ad

Advert for Borwick’s Baking Powder showing Father Christmas carrying a large Christmas pudding on a tray

12. Santa’s Workshop

A 1909 postcard of Santa Claus in the workshop making toys, with “Wishing You a Merry Xmas”.

13. Peace Christmas Gift

Peace. Your Gift To The Nation. A Merry Christmas. Advertising poster.

14. Christmas Church Scene

Vintage Christmas scene. Illustration of a white christmas with an angel created by Chalfonte Hotel, Atlantic City, from The Buttolph collection of menus (1919).

15. Christmas Scene With Holy

“A Merry Christmas” Postcard from E. Nash (Firm) (1910)

Other Image Collections

If you are looking for Christmas images with children, check out this charming collection of vintage Christmas illustrations from children’s picture books.

Many flowers are associated with Christmas, such as poinsettias and Christmas cacti. You can find some beautiful Christmas flower prints here to add to your collection of vintage Christmas images. Or you should check out these vintage snowflake prints.

If you loved these vintage Christmas images don’t forget to check out these other fabulous collections on Pictureboxblue.com.

• Free Vintage Halloween Postcards
• Vintage Easter Cards
• Circus Posters
• Christmas Inventions Patent Arts

If you fancy, you can Buy Me A Coffee Here.