It wouldn’t be Christmas without a healthy dose of kitsch decorating up our homes. Now while some of us are happy with us just a few lights and a tree, others go full-out Griswold—complete with RV and cousin Eddy.
Now if a full-on Griswold display is not your thing, but some saxophone-themed saxophone décor is, I have scoured the Net for some of this year’s finest Christmas kitsch for you. I have to admit though, this year’s offerings were not nearly as inspiring as those of Christmases past.
That said, I did find some lovelies for you to sit back and take in. I have provided links in case some of these are just so tempting, you absolutely have to have them. 😈
Now before we go any further, since it’s been nearly 10 years since I created the Bassic Sax Illustrated Kitsch Scale, it strikes me it is worth a quick review even for those of you who have seen it before. If you’re a newbie to this scale, this will likely help you ID what you see here today, as well as maybe some of the items in your own home. 😉
Christmas tree ornaments with a bit of sax
Let’s start off small, and feature a few of many, many saxophone tree ornaments out there. eBay and Etsy and just full of both vintage and modern, new and used tree ornaments featuring saxophones and saxophone players of all types. The materials these ornaments are made from vary widely. The following are a few that caught my eye:
4½” resin alligator with a Santa hat
This saxophone-playing gator could be hiding in your tree, waiting for just the right opportunity to make its presence be known. Perhaps it is waiting to finish off the following flamingo, who is recovering from a leg injury. 😉
7″ tall glass flamingo
The seller pointed out that the one leg had been re-glued. It is tough being a flamingo.
4″ Day of the Dead sax player
If our gator is good at hiding in the tree; sneaking up on its prey; and finding its dinner; then we might want to have a number of these sax-playing, Day of the Dead glass tree ornaments decorating our Christmas tree. Not sure that’s possible however, since this one appears to be a one-off.
A dozen 3½” sax-playing elves
According to the seller, these German glass ornaments have never been used. They are from the Inge Glass Collection, and date back to the 1980s.
Animated sax players of all sizes and kinds
For years battery operated sax players have been a staple in holiday displays. Over the years I have acquired my fair share as well—most often coming as gifts from friends.
While all three of these sax players are animated, it is Santa himself who gyrates his hips around enough to make even Miley Cyrus want to join in, all to the raunchy sax sounds of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Imagine that! 😀
Now if you want to begin your own collection of animated sax players, there is certainly no shortage on either eBay or Etsy. Like with the tree bobbles above, here are a few that caught my eye:
M&M Blue guy playing Rocking’ Around the Christmas Tree
Until I was sent mine as a gift nearly 10 years ago, I had never seen this animated Christmas display. (But then mind you, I wasn’t really looking either.) Mine came new in its box, and had belonged to someone who bought stuff, but kept it unopened.
Now these blue, fuzzy M&M guys seem to be popping up occasionally on places like eBay, as is the case with this particular one I spotted a few days ago. The seller states it is from 2010.
Tim Burton’s Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas
No word on what this version of an animated Oogie Boogie plays on its saxophone. It is also happens to be the only one I have seen, so there is no other ad to glean that info from either.
Does it work? The seller claims it does. Hey, pay your money and take your chances. But if you really love having sax-playing Christmas collectibles, then maybe it’s worth the risk. 😉
Dancing Christmas tree
This tree is the the outlier in my 2021 list of sax-related Christmas decor, since it seems to no longer be available on any site. Besides the Canadian Walmart site it originally popped up on, it was also sold out on AliExpress.
My guess is that is was such a hot seller that it sold out early in the season. None the less, since it appears to be new this year, I chose to put it in the list just in case you can find it somewhere, or it makes an appearance in years to come.
In case you’re wondering what this sax-playing Christmas tree plays, AliExpress posted a video of all 3 trees in the series—a guitar player, singer, and this sax player—and the sax player is dancing, lighting up, and its bell is jingling away to Yakety Sax… Yup, because nothing says Christmas like a bit of Yakety Sax. 😆
Life size Santas
Now if tabletop animated sax players are not enough for you, then maybe these life-sized Santa Clauses playing saxophone are. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 😉
These life-size Santas come in a variety of heights, and according to the seller, one of them “swings”. Here is a video of the swinging model. I assume the others don’t “swing”, and are stationary, and only produce sound.
Is it just me, or is this guy just a little bit creepy? That flipping hat seems to be under the control of some alien force. 😉
These electric sax-playing Santas are apparently voice-activated, play 8 songs, and also have an infrared sensor switch. The seller also notes they are “hand made”. Um, sure they are. What part is made by hand? Assembled by hand perhaps?
Besides these on Etsy that I show here, they are also available on eBay. I bet if you check around, you could find them on other sites as well.
Table toppers both high-tech & not
Since my home is decorated with European teak furniture from the mid century—called mid century modern these days—I tend to keep my Christmas décor authentic to the era. (No cost-saving LEDs, or modern trees and ornaments in our house.) 😉 This is why Hallmark’s cornucopia of wireless bands likely went unnoticed by me over the years.
Hallmark’s Wireless Snowman Band from 2010
I do love snowman decorations, so this little sax player from the Hallmark collection jumped out at me.
This auction happens to be the first I saw on eBay, but only had two of the four available figurines in the set. However, as the photo shows, each figurine comes with two songs. Put the figure together with others in the set and you can have up to eight songs that they all can play along with… Huh…
This led me to search for more of these little guys, and it didn’t take more than 10 seconds of searching on eBay before I found lots of options.
This seller had all four for sale, and even included all the song lists for all of them. However, prices for these snowmen vary greatly, so if these guys are something you simply can’t live without, shop around. A LOT.
And don’t forget, it seems that Hallmark made a boatload of these kinds of things over the years. Many featured saxophone players. Just Google: hallmark wireless band. Have a coffee ready and sit back to see what you can find.
Vintage plastic saxophones with elves, and candle holder
And now to what has become the perennial favourite here at Bassic Sax: plastic table toppers featuring saxophones, holly, poinsettias, elves, and candles. What could possibly go wrong? 😆
Now based on the date of these photos, it is possible that I might have written about these very same table ornaments already. But what the hell, they are so fantastically kitschy that one like it is even featured on the Bassic Sax Kitsch Scale as the featured image for Extreme Kitsch. Now that’s an honor! 😎
The seller on Etsy shows two plastic saxophones and one plastic candle holder for sale. I’m not sure how old these are, put I’m guessing the 60s.
The detail on this baby is simply sublime…
So that’s a wrap
I hope you enjoyed my 2021 saxophone-themed Christmas décor. If you don’t get the stuff you want in time for this year, you can always stash it away for 2022.
That said, my preference is to always buy local as much as I can. There are so many artisans and local shops out there that all need our support now more than ever. You’d be amazed at how many saxophone-themed Christmas things you can find locally. Any of the sax-stuff I have adorning our holiday displays all came from local shops, or as gifts from friends and family.
However you end up with your new, or new to you Christmas treasure, just don’t do what I tend to do: Put it away with the Christmas stuff and forget that you bought it, and then reorder more of the same for the following Christmas. There is a reason we have as many strings of bubble lights that we do. 😆
Helen, brilliant and congratulion for this tasteful collection of sax horrors. Merry swinging Christmas