Crikey! It's Vintage!

I don't think I have ever said the word crikey more times in one day, than today. By big boy's bed time he was saying it like a parrot too! Today we braved the bank holiday traffic on the M5 and headed to the city centre of Exeter.

I knew it would be good, the Crikey It's Vintage fair, but it was beyond my wildest dreams. Stall after stall of beautiful, delicate, intricate, bright and colourful handmade goodies and the most incredible variety of vintage items for sale. I was after a basket, like the ones you collect flowers in and the choice was amazing and all under £10!

There were a few hairy moments, when big boy raced down the grand hallway of the Thistle Hotel, which provided the venue, almost knocking over several vintage tea sets, finely balanced on the edge of the trestle tables.

Near misses aside, he adored the fair and the lindy hop dancers and tried his hardest to going in with the moves! He mastered the 'mess around'!

The band that performed, Company B were an instant hit with the audience and when I looked around behind me, everyone was dancing along to their unique style. My husband and I said, as we cheered on the encore, what party can we have that we can hire them for?! Absolutely incredible! Definitely one for the GI Janes too! Whit woo!

The only downside was that all the stall holders only took cash and after an hour we were totally out of spending money! It might have been quite dangerous, had there been a cash point nearby! There was a US Mail postbox I had my eye on and a large, Jubilee inspired heart wreath, made up of red, white and blue fabric bows. Only £10! How infuriating we were down to our last £5 between us!

I did however pick up some terrific finds!

For big boy - a children's mask with funny teeth and a moustache and a paper rainbow fan, both 50p!

For small boy - a Union Jack fabric bow tie by Kimbows, my new Folksy favourite. £4. It really is a hair clip but as it has a brooch clip, I am going to attach it to his shirt for the Jubilee!

For me - a Jubilee head piece with a gold brooch in the centre, £12 from Missy Lils (which I will wear to my brother's wedding rehearsal lunch too) and a lovely jubbly (one of my favourite phrases) card, which I am going to use to scrapbook our Jubilee weekend.

For the husband - well it wasn't really for him, he bought a birthday present for his Dad. Malby Maps (website going live anytime now) based in Bristol lacquers vintage maps onto large or small pebbles. When I say large, I mean larger than your hand with your fingers spread out! You can choose two locations, we chose Barbados and Portsmouth, his home town and his favourite island and as we need it by this coming weekend the kind gentleman is going to rush the order through! They also use maps in framed prints and even line suitcases! (We paid a cash deposit of £40 - it's £65 in total but honestly, it's worth it, which is why we ran out of cash!)

As I didn't have any pennies left for the basket I hoped to get, my husband pulled in to a side street off Heavitree Road, on the way back to the motorway, which had the most amount of vintage and charity shops I have ever seen! I only had time to go in one, Force Cancer Charity. Luckily it was the best one! A rabbit warren of rooms full of secondhand treasures. There was a whole wall of dressing up outfits and a whole shelving unit for stationary! I went straight to the baskets section and found something even better! A wooden trug, almost 3 feet long! Perfect for storing all my work architect plans! I also swiped a little wooden dolls crib that I am going to use to store the greetings cards that are too big for my organiser!

I hopped in the car just as it started to rain and we blasted home.

What a wonderful day! Well done to Shelley at Crikey It's Vintage for organising such a brilliant event! We have a wedding on July 14th so we won't be at the next seaside inspired fair! But anyone who can, should go! The people who come dressed in their vintage wear are worth the £2 admission fee alone! I am secretly jealous of anyone who has it in their diaries, but don't tell our soon to be Mr and Mrs friends!

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