📬 August 18 – Mail Order Catalog Day: Flipping Through the OG Online Shopping Experience 📦
Before there was Prime, before there were shopping carts that existed only in pixels, there was...the mail order catalog. Yes, that chunky, glossy brick of dreams that once landed with a thud in your mailbox and promised everything from stylish sweaters to suspiciously cheap lawn furniture. And on August 18, we celebrate Mail Order Catalog Day, a nostalgic nod to the retro roots of retail therapy. 🛒✨
Affiliate Disclosure
Just so you know, this post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click through and buy something, I might earn a tiny commission—enough to keep the lights on and maybe snag a celebratory cupcake. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, pinky promise.
📖 The Backstory: From Paper to Porch
Let’s rewind to August 18, 1872, when Aaron Montgomery Ward dropped the first single-sheet catalog and changed shopping forever. His genius idea? Cut out the middleman and bring a general store's worth of goods straight to your doorstep. Boom—Montgomery Ward became the Amazon of the 19th century (minus the drones and existential dread). Soon after, Sears, Roebuck & Co. joined the paper party, and the rest is papery, dog-eared history. 📚
Mail order catalogs made rural life a little more glamorous, delivering corsets, coal heaters, and even prefab houses—yes, you could literally buy a house from a catalog. Wild.
🧐 Fun & Quirky Facts You Didn’t Know You Needed
The Sears catalog once sold a complete DIY house kit, shipped in pieces by train. Some of these homes are still standing! 🏠
Farmers would use old catalogs as toilet paper or wallpaper in outhouses. Resourceful and rustic. 🚽
The Montgomery Ward catalog was nicknamed the "Wish Book" — like a Pinterest board for prairie folk.
In 1955, the Neiman Marcus catalog debuted fantasy gifts, including things like camels, submarines, and a $1.5 million backyard water park. 🎁💸
The J.C. Penney Big Book was once over 1,000 pages. That’s thicker than a Tolstoy novel with more flannel.
🥳 10+ Delightfully Retro Ways to Celebrate Mail Order Catalog Day
Flip through an old catalog (eBay, Etsy, or your grandma’s attic might have one). It's weirdly therapeutic.
Make your own "Wish Book" by cutting out pictures from magazines and gluing them into a scrapbook. Manifest it, 1890s-style. ✂️📔
Host a ‘catalog fashion show’—only clothes you bought from a catalog or wish you had. Bonus points for shoulder pads or prairie skirts.
Try to buy something from a real mail order catalog today (they still exist!). L.L. Bean, Hammacher Schlemmer, and Vermont Country Store are keeping the dream alive. 📦
Create a spoof catalog page with ridiculous items (e.g., "Cat-Sized Chaise Lounge: Only $499.99 + 3 chickens"). 🐈🛋️
Write a love letter to your favorite childhood catalog—like the one with all the toys circled in crayon. 💌
Send snail mail to someone, just because. It’s the spirit of mail order, minus the cash-on-delivery. ✉️💌
Have a catalog-themed dinner party where everything you serve is something you could order by mail in the 1950s. Think Jell-O molds and SPAM. 🥫🍸
Design a modern digital “mail order” catalog for your dream life—a fun excuse to play with Canva or Photoshop and dream big.
Stage a dramatic reenactment of receiving a catalog in 1902. Bonus points for monocles and yelling “Gadzooks!” when you see the deals. 🎩📰
Make a TikTok skit or Reel comparing catalog shopping to today’s online shopping woes. “Waited 8 weeks and it STILL fit better than this $8 Shein top.” 😬📹
Dinner Theme - “Retro Comforts & Rainy Day Vibes”
🥘 Main Dish: Creamy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
(A one-pan tribute to comfort food and clipped recipes from glossy catalog pages.)
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (rotisserie works great)
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, green beans)
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 sheet puff pastry or 1 can of refrigerated biscuit dough
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter until soft. Stir in flour to make a roux.
Slowly whisk in broth and milk, cooking until thickened.
Stir in thyme, chicken, vegetables, salt, and pepper.
Pour into a greased baking dish. Top with puff pastry or biscuits.
Bake for 25–30 minutes until golden and bubbly.
Serve in vintage-y bowls with a side of daydreams about mail-order banjos or sock stretchers.
🥗 Side: Tomato Aspic–Inspired Caprese Salad
(Yes, aspic was a catalog-era staple. We’re skipping the gelatin and keeping the vibes.)
Ingredients:
Sliced heirloom tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella
Fresh basil leaves
Olive oil + balsamic glaze
Salt & pepper
Instructions:
Layer it up in a retro serving dish, drizzle with oil and balsamic, and pretend you're hosting a mid-century garden party.
🍨 Dessert: Jell-O Parfait Revival
(Layered nostalgia in a glass.)
Ingredients:
1 box flavored gelatin (cherry or lime for max retro vibes)
Whipped cream or Cool Whip
Fresh fruit (grapes, cherries, or canned mandarin oranges)
Instructions:
Prepare Jell-O as directed and pour into serving glasses.
Let it set halfway, then add fruit.
Chill until fully set, then top with whipped cream.
🍹 Drink: Iced Coffee Milk
(A nod to the mail-order Rhode Island classic.)
Ingredients:
1 cup milk (or alt milk)
2 tbsp coffee syrup (or espresso + sugar)
Ice
Shake it up and sip while flipping through your imaginary catalog of yesteryear.
🕯 Bonus Vibes:
Use vintage-style dishes or mason jars.
Put on 50s jazz or a vinyl crackle playlist.
Drape a cozy throw over your lap like you're waiting for your Sears catalog parcel in the mail.
🍎 Elementary Idea: “My Dreamy Mail-Order Mini Catalog”
📝 Subject Areas: Writing, Art, Math, Social Studies
🎯 Grades: 2–5
🧠 The Big Idea:
Students create their own mini mail-order catalogs featuring their dream products—real, wacky, or entirely made-up! They’ll practice descriptive writing, pricing with math, and layout design, all while exploring the historical context of catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward.
📦 Materials:
Folded construction paper or stapled booklet pages (4-6 pages)
Markers, colored pencils, or crayons
Rulers
Sample catalogs or digital images (optional)
“Design Your Dream Catalog” planning sheet
Glue sticks & scissors (optional if collaging)
Access to classroom or home item inspirations (books, toys, etc.)
📝 Step-by-Step:
Hook & History (10 min)
Start with a mini slideshow or read-aloud:
“Long before Amazon…” – introduce students to the magic of historical mail-order catalogs and how they changed shopping. Show quirky vintage catalog pages (like a build-your-own house kit or 1920s toys).Plan the Products (15–20 min)
Students brainstorm 4–6 items they want to “sell.” They can be:Real (e.g., a lava lamp)
Fantastical (e.g., a unicorn pencil sharpener)
Class-inspired (e.g., “Desk Fairy Dust” that cleans your desk!)
✏️ Use the “Design Your Dream Catalog” sheet to write:
Product Name
Description (2–3 sentences)
Price (math moment: add decimals, compare prices!)
Design the Catalog (30+ min)
Students draw or collage each item on its own page or section, adding descriptions and prices. Optional: Add fun extras like:“Customer Reviews” (from pets, aliens, etc.)
Coupons
Order Forms
Catalog Share Fair! 📚
Do a mini “catalog trade” where students read each other’s creations. Bonus: Let them “order” one item from a peer’s catalog using pretend catalog cards.
🍭 Quirky Twist:
Make it “Time Travel Catalogs”—students pick a decade (1920s, 1950s, 1980s) and design products for that time period!
🎓 Secondary Idea: “The Psychology of Consumerism: Catalog Then vs. Now”
🧠 Subject Areas: Social Studies, ELA, Media Literacy
🎯 Grades: 6–12
📘 The Big Idea:
Students investigate how mail-order catalogs shaped American culture, explore how advertising has evolved, and create a mock-up for a modern-day catalog—either as a satire or a meaningful reflection of current trends.
🗂 Materials:
Access to 1–2 scanned vintage catalog pages (PDF or online)
Paper or Google Slides/Canva for digital mock-up
Optional: Short article or video on the history of mail-order catalogs
Guiding Analysis Worksheet
🔍 Step-by-Step:
Engage & Explore (15–20 min)
Briefly introduce the Sears or Montgomery Ward catalogs as the "Amazon of the past." Use a few key images (like kits for building entire homes or pages of fashion ads).
Then ask:
🧠 How did these catalogs influence what people wanted?Ad Literacy Mini-Analysis (20–30 min)
Students analyze a vintage catalog ad using the “Catalog Ad Dissection” worksheet:Target audience?
Language and emotional appeal?
Implicit values (e.g., gender roles, tech dreams)?
Now & Then Comparison (30–45 min)
Students compare a vintage catalog to a modern Amazon product page or influencer ad. Create a Venn diagram or write a short response to:What’s stayed the same in selling strategies?
What’s changed dramatically?
What would future catalogs include?
Create a “Future Catalog Page” (Individual or Group Project)
Students choose:Satirical (e.g., “InstaGlow Filter Helmet: $299.99”)
Aspirational (e.g., “Eco-Habit Starter Kit”)
Social Commentary (e.g., “Buy a Personality for $49.99”)
Design includes:
Title, image (drawing or found photo), description
Target demographic
Price and value claims
Present & Reflect (10–15 min)
Share catalogs and discuss:What does this say about our society’s values?
What do we really “buy” when we shop?
🤪 Quirky Twist:
Make it a Dystopian Catalog from the future—students imagine a world 100 years from now and create a catalog of weird or worrisome products that reflect environmental, technological, or societal shifts. Think: “Rent-a-Friend Drone” or “Memory Wipe Gummies.”
📬 Quirky in the Workplace
🗞️ “The Office Catalog” – A Handmade Zine of Useless Stuff You Can ‘Order’ from Coworkers
Have each team member design one page of a fake “office supply catalog” featuring absolutely useless (and possibly cursed) workplace products. Then compile it into a glorious, printed zine for circulation.
Examples:
Emotional Support Binder Clip – $7.99
Calms your spreadsheets and your existential dread.Limited Edition Air Stapler – $59.99
Just compressed air. No staples. No regrets.Leftover Birthday Cake Scented Highlighter – $12.49
Only highlights your sugar cravings.Greg’s Slightly Haunted Desk Chair – FREE (must pick up yourself)
💡 Print a few copies and leave them in the breakroom, or make it a digital flipbook if you're remote. Add an “order form” in the back where people can request things like “One Compliment” or “Five Minutes of Peace.”
Tagline for the day:
“Mail Order Catalog Day: Because sometimes, flipping through nonsense is exactly the productivity hack we need.”
🎬 Movie Pick: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Why it fits:
This classic romantic comedy centers on two employees at a Budapest gift shop who are unknowingly pen pals through an anonymous mail-based correspondence. Though not a mail-order catalog exactly, it taps directly into the charm and romance of old-fashioned mail communication — and even inspired You’ve Got Mail, which updated the concept to email.
✉️ Themes: Anonymous correspondence, old-school shopping, letter-writing romance.
📺 TV Episode Pick: The Simpsons – "Bart Gets an Elephant" (Season 5, Episode 17)
Why it fits:
Bart wins a radio contest and chooses a gag prize — a full-sized elephant — instead of cash. The absurdity stems from the idea of receiving something outrageous through a remote request system, much like mail-order catalogs that promised wild things. It plays on the "too good to be true" catalog era dreams.
🐘 Catalog connection: A satirical look at what happens when you actually get the ridiculous thing you ordered remotely.
💡 Final Thought
Mail Order Catalog Day isn’t just a salute to old-school shopping—it’s a reminder of how creativity, convenience, and capitalism collided in a big, beautiful paper package. So whether you're flipping through vintage pages or pretending your Amazon cart is a glossy catalog of dreams, take a moment today to honor the ancestors of impulse buying. 🛍️💕
🔖 Hashtags to Mail Off with Style
#MailOrderCatalogDay #WishBookVibes #RetroShopping #MontgomeryWardMagic #CatalogLife #OldSchoolRetail #QuirkyHolidays #CelebrateQuirky #SnailMailSwag #FromPageToPorch
