Is ThriftCon Worth It?

So I'm a big fan of vintage. The clothes, the toys, everything. I'll just go back to my childhood when I see original My Little Pony's or PeeWee Playhouse figures. 

My daughter loves vintage too. She comes up with incredible outfits with pieces she's found at thrift stores. 

For example, this dress and scarf were both found at Goodwill. I believe the entire look is under $10. 

This dress was given to her, and she paired it with accessories she found at a thrift store:

Natalie was the one who told me about ThriftCon, which is a convention that has a bunch of booths filled with vintage goodies. We decided we would check it out.

Now, the website did warn that products wouldn't be priced as they might be at a garage sale. So we were warned.

It cost $17 for tickets if you purchased early online.  ($20 if you waited.)

And it was pretty neat to see all the booths. There were racks and racks of clothes. 

But were they affordable clothes? Eh, not really. There were some t-shirts that were marked at $100. I was like, what, is this laced with GOLD? I get that it might be from the 90s, but damn. 

We did manage to find some t-shirts on clearance racks, and that's where we mostly looked. 

Natalie did love this dress, but it was $190. For a USED DRESS. I mean, did someone famous wear it? 

(Oh, and the outfit Natalie wore was thrifted.)

Anyhow, there were cassette tapes that weren't too expensive. We love Davie Bowie:

There were vinyls, and some were affordable, but others were pricey. 

I was looking forward to checking out the toys. There weren't as many as I had hoped, but I was thrilled to find Steve Urkel. I used to watch Family Matters on TGIF. 

I was on the search for the game DreamPhone. I used to love as growing up, and I'd love to own it again. But alas, no DreamPhone. ("I know who likes you, but I'm not telling, HA HA.")

Was it worth it? Well, tickets were $17, as I mentioned, and parking was $15. There were a lot of overly expensive items. I wish more booths had affordable options. I mean, hello, in THIS economy asking for a $100 t-shirt? 

I probably wouldn't return, but Natalie said she would. It seemed like she was the demographic targeted, because all the young ones would jump in and go through racks as though they were professionals. Meanwhile, us older folks started to get cranky when people constantly bumped into us and we'd be the ones shouting, "FIFTY DOLLARS FOR A USED SKIRT?" 

I did like stumbling upon these Girls Next Door bobbleheads. I used to watch the show and I even watched it again with Natalie. She became a huge fan of Holly, so she squealed when I showed her the dolls. I didn't even check the price. I am sure they were out of my price range judging but how everything else was marked. 

So maybe I would attend again, but with the knowledge that I wouldn't be purchasing many items.

ThriftCon is headed to Orlando next, so if you're in the area and have the extra funds, pop on in. (And let me know if you find any vintage Panic at the Disco t-shirts. That's what my daughter was after. Alas, we had no luck, but she did find a 2014 Fallout Boy shirt, so it wasn't a total loss.)

Things I Thought Everyone Went Through As A Military Kid

I grew up as a military kid. My mother was in the Air Force and retired as a Colonel. Growing up, I lived in a lot of fantastic places, and they are the following: McGuire AFB, NJ, Comiso, Italy (since closed), Ramstein in Germany, Rhein-Main in Germany (closed now), Travis AFB, CA, SHAPE, Belgium (where I met my husband), and Hanscom AFB, MA.

There are some things that I assumed ALL kids knew or went through...

1. I thought all kids moved every couple of years. Sometimes I went to school on base. But sometimes I went to a school closest to base, which meant kids who weren't affiliated with the military also attended. I would ask where all they've lived and and would be surprised when they'd go, "Huh? I've lived here my whole life. I haven't even been on an airplane before!" This was also a foreign concept to me. By the age of 10, I had been on multiple airplanes.


2. I thought everyone had to stand for the National Anthem before seeing a movie. If you see a movie on base, the National Anthem will play instead of previews. Everyone must stand. I remember seeing a movie with a friend off base and when the previews came on I whispered, "When does the National Anthem start?"


3. I assumed all kids stayed home with their dad. Back in the 80s and 90s, it wasn't as normal for a father to stay home with the kids. But my Dad did. I thought it was weird when I'd see other mothers at home. I said, "What's your Mom doing here? Why isn't she at work? Where's your Dad?" a number of times when I was tiny. My Dad even had a newspaper article written about him on being a stay at home dad.


4. Wait. Your mother's picture isn't in places like the bowling alley? My mother was the commander of squadrons, so her face would be in places I'd go. Like the bowling alley on base. I remember being embarrassed as a teenager, especially when kids would be like, "Hey, isn't that your mom?"


5. I thought it was normal to not have family nearby. Some of my non-military friends would be like, "My Grandma lives a block away. My aunts live in the town over." We'd usually have to fly to see family or they'd visit us. It didn't happen too often, especially when we were in Europe, but I felt like I knew them enough.


6. I assumed everyone said "all over" when asked where they were from. Even now when people ask, I'll say "all over." I didn't grow up in one place. I grew up in Italy. Germany. California. Belgium. So many places.

7. Didn't everyone know what a hail and farewell was? I had to attend several, especially when it was time for our family to move on. (It's when you say goodbye to someone moving.) It was boring, I won't lie. You listened to people speeches. Mom usually got something. Then you had to stand in a line and shake hands with a smile. My favorite part was the cake at the end of it all.


8. Since I was in Europe for most of my childhood, I was shocked when I went to a restaurant and there was actually ICE in my drink. AND I got free refills. Is this normal? This happened when we got to California. I couldn't believe how big the soda glasses were. I was used to the tiny ones in Europe. With no ice. And if you asked for ice over there, you basically had a large sign over your head that said AMERICAN.


9. Huh? These are normal commercials. Where are the cheesy ones from AFN? In Europe, you got ONE American channel called AFN--or the Armed Forces Network. AFN didn't have the normal commercials of the States. They had commercials that reminded you not to litter and not to have fraud, waste, and abuse. When I got to the States again, I actually LIKED watching the commercials because they were...normal. (Bored? Go to YouTube and type in AFN commercials.)


Growing up as a military kid gave me all sorts of amazing experiences that I wouldn't change. Sometimes I did wish I could stay in one spot for more than three years, but then I wouldn't have met all the people that I did (including my husband.) Not many kids can say they got to live in Italy, Germany, and Belgium.

But I can.

Hey, It's Okay

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. You can link up any day of the week. All you have to do is make a list of what you're okay about. Simple! Please do not link up a post that has nothing to do with Hey, It's Okay. It's rude and I'll delete the link.

HEY, IT'S OKAY....

.....to have gone to ThriftCon with my mom and daughter over the weekend. It was a place with tons of booths filled with vintage clothing and toys. Most of the items were overpriced, sadly, but it was still neat to see what people had. 

......to have a stocking stuffer gift guide here if you want to start shopping! I never like to wait till the last minute. It stresses me out.

......to have bought Wicked: For Good tickets for Natalie and I. We've already seen the stage production so I know we'll probably enjoy the movie. 

.....to be enjoying the show All Her Fault on Peacock--it's about a five-year-old boy who goes missing and there are many suspects. Who took him?

.....to be proud of Tommy for working on several film productions in town. He's passionate about what he does--and future film people, he graduates in May and he has an Associates in Video Cinematography and a Bachelor's in Film & Media--he'd be a fabulous addition to your team! (He'd LOVE to work in Burbank for Warner Brothers.)

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