Capturing Every Memory with Keepsake Ornaments: 50 Years and Counting

Keepsake Ornaments as we know them today began modestly, first with six glass ball ornaments sent to select retailers just to test the concept of “what if a greeting-card company expanded into the ornament business?” Overwhelmingly positive response led Hallmark to mass produce those ball ornaments as well as a dozen figures of yarn and fabric—carollers, snowmen, kids and Santa among them—for the 1973 Christmas season.

Sculpted figures soon followed as Keepsake Ornaments grew in popularity. Original artistic concepts featuring holiday icons such as angels, poinsettias and nativity scenes as well as favourite popular-culture characters from Betsey Clark and Walt Disney shared tree branches from the early days onward.

By the end of the 1980s, Keepsake Ornaments featuring light, motion and sound made their ways to Christmas trees. Keepsake artists created dozens of ornament series that allowed people to add to ever-growing sets over time.

As years passed, ornaments incorporated photos, written words, recorded voices and even hand-prints to capture moments from our lives. Technology and craft continue to combine even now, bringing details to artistry and storytelling never before offered.

Of course, that’s just where Keepsake Ornaments have been. The future of Keepsake Ornaments includes new ways of celebrating your traditions and capturing meaningful memories with friends and family for holiday seasons to come. And we’re excited to share a glimpse of it with you!

Each year, new Keepsake Ornament designs offer hundreds of ways to create a tree that tells stories, celebrates traditions, shares memories and inspires Christmas joy. By combining them in your own unique ways, you can use Keepsake Ornaments to create a tree that is a reflection of you and your loved ones.

What might that look like? We’re glad you asked. Read on for all the different ways you can add the magic and artistry of Keepsake Ornaments to brighten your Christmas traditions at home.

• You could mark a child’s introduction to holiday traditions with Baby’s First Christmas ornaments featuring the year and the ability to add photos or adorable mementos such as rattles, bottles and stuffed animals.
• Remember what grabs your kids’ interests and imaginations year after year with ornaments inspired by favourite toys, activities and characters. You might even find some vintage ones in the mix!
• Add the furry companions to the tree with pet photo frame ornaments—after all, they’re family, too!
• Hang ornaments to celebrate a new home, a first Christmas together, engagements, weddings, new arrivals and other important family milestones.
• Pay tribute to the past with retro spins on holiday decor, houses and shops, cars and trucks, movies and TV shows, and other favourite memories.

When one or two favourite ornaments just aren’t enough

More and more people are sharing what they love not just on a branch or two of a family tree but with an additional tree dedicated to displaying whole collections unified by their interests.

You could fill a smaller tree in a family room or a child’s bedroom exclusively with ornaments inspired by favourite athletes, classic cars, sci-fi movies, trains, angels, snowmen—whatever fills their hearts with joy and holiday spirit.

• Complete a set of Keepsake Storytellers Ornaments with the ability to bring holiday stories to life or revisit memorable scenes from the big and small screens. These high-tech ornaments connect wirelessly to each other and perform synchronized shows.
• Hang everyone’s favourite characters with Hallmark-exclusive ornaments featuring voices and likenesses you’re sure to recognize and remember.
• Capture the thrill of video gaming with ornaments based on characters and adventures for all ages.
• Laugh over memories of family game nights with ornaments inspired by board games enjoyed for generations.

Magic at the press of a button

For decades, Keepsake Ornament artists and engineers have collaborated to create Magic ornaments featuring light shows, sound performances and moments in motion.

The latest ornament innovations include animatronic movement in lifelike characters and performances synchronized with wireless technology across multiple ornaments.

• Each year, Keepsake Ornament artists create new additions to dozens of continuing series, some of which are decades long. Whether your interest is cars, penguins, snowmen, Santa Claus, birds, fairies, movie characters or anything in between, there’s at least one series to appeal to everyone in your home.
• Want to start a series with its very first ornament? No problem! Several series launch each year, so you can begin a new tradition whenever you wish.

• Choose from a growing number of Keepsake Ornaments containing recycled materials that help sustain the planet’s resources.
• Celebrate your faith with ornaments incorporating words to inspire and images to reflect beliefs we hold true to ourselves at the season and all year long.
• Share a laugh or a not-so-serious take on the holidays with ornaments sure to bring a smile to everyone spending time at your tree.

With hopes for Christmases yet to come

Sustainability is a priority for Keepsake Ornaments, and 2023 ornaments help bring us closer to Hallmark’s goals of reducing product weight, using recycled or sustainable materials, and improving product recyclability.

Two of our newest ornaments contain recycled materials, and packaging is made from recycled materials and is 100% recyclable. Plastic trays to protect ornaments in packaging are being replaced with corrugated material that’s also 100% recyclable.

• Bring your best game to your tree with ornaments depicting inspirational athletes, favourite teams and sports in general to bring everything but the roar of the crowd to your holiday.
• Like to sew? Bake? Vacation? Garden? Raise a glass? Keepsake Ornaments have a wide range of interests and hobbies reflected in new ornaments each year.
• Show off how you like to play whether by moving pieces around traditional board games or grabbing a video console controller and saving the universe. Let everyone know what you like to watch or read with dozens of designs drawn directly from decades of comic books, picture books, movies and television from the classics to today’s favourites.