You Might Be A Little Fatter Because Of These

Sitting here underneath the glow of the Christmas lights shining from our mantle and the Christmas tree.  I really like what we've done with the apartment this Christmas.

I just wanted to write up a post before I head to bed.

Tray tables were invented during the 1950s as a way to hold food and beverage items while watching TV.  Chances are you had one or more of these in your home if you or your family ate outside the dining room area.  National advertising for TV tray tables first appeared in 1952 and since then they've been used as a product for merchandising and commercialization.

As I recall, I think we had two television trays in my home growing up.  They were the bland matching type with their own rack where they could be hung when not in use.

As a vintage item I think they look great and are a nice addition to any collection.  As per usual, the older the better apparently.  I did an eBay search earlier for 'tv tray vintage' under "Toys & Hobbies" and only received 51 results. I'm not sure of the scarceness of these pieces as time has done it's work on a few of these metal trays, I'm sure.  But I really like the full picture on the merchandise and the fact that it's printed on something that occupie(s/d) such a prominent place in U.S. domestic and cultural history.

We picked up this tv tray table of the Power Rangers earlier today, it was a nice find - It appears that it might be from 1993, during the shows first series.  I was pretty obsessed with the show to be honest; I would watch it every evening and tape it on VHS, pressing the record button during the commercial breaks.  I don't think I would ever watch the VHS over again though :/

Power Rangers was aworld-wide phenomenon between 1993-1995.  The show was huge, the toys were huge and they were in demand for a strong 3 years.  Power Rangers Halloween costumes flew off the hangers.  If I remember correctly they had their own granola bars, cookies & mac n cheese.  I can't believe that it's still on the air!  The more I write about it, the more I like this find.

Here's another tv table tray that we found recently; I want to say 1989 but I have no idea as it isn't marked with a date.

Disney's The Little Mermaid merchandise is still heavily made so it's harder to place a date on the issue.  As for the movie, it's been given credit for "breathing the life" back into Disney animated feature films.  Although it looks very nice I could see us moving this item in the future, depending on the date.

And to top it off, I'll post the last but not least tv tray table thrift find since we've started collecting.

Amazing!  Superman 1976 DC Comics.  I personally think we got a steal when we picked up this for about $10.  I've never been a big fan of Superman but there is no denying the significane of the image and character as a cultural icon in American history.  And as I mentioned before, I like the full image and the illustration; the multi-color stars and pose really define Superman.  It's a very nice collectible that I'm very pleased we own.

Always hoping to find more of these!

Linking up again with Sir Thrift Alot again!