GIFT SEASON

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 33, 15 December 1944, Page 5

GIFT SEASON

APPROACH OF CHRISTMAS

MANY ARTICLES DISPLAYED

With the approach of Christmas and gift the large majority of the shops in Whakatane are starting to build up their window displays and decorations in. keeping with the coming festive season. Toy shops are showing quite a large range of articles mostly of. ther Avooden variety, although Tinker Toys and some lew other metal ones are also featured. Funny-face masks also hold a prominent place in some of the windows, and as these sup-, ply an endless amount of amuse-? ment for kiddies are. bound to be snapped up at the earliest opportunity. In drapery and other shops a quite respectable range, of. gifts may be and although mainly New Zealand made goods are of a high quality and well worth the money. The selection on display should make, the buying of presents a good deal easier this Christmas than- it. was last, and the fact that the New Zealand slogan appears on many articles proves once again the swing towards those goods made in our own country and away from the imported ones of pre-war days. Not only the windows however herald the. approach of ChristmasInside a number of the shops decorating Has already commenced and gaily coloured streamers float overhead signifying typically that their occasion is but two _weeks hence. The cake shops supply still further evidence in their own particular appetising manner. Delicious looking cakes, iced in many colours are a temptation to the house-< wife to purchase one. this year ini place of the usual home-made one, especially as cakes fitted to the size of every family can be obtained at quite a reasonable cost. Prominent among the articles showing in the various windows- are cakes of soap, boxes of soap, perfumed soap ? non-perfumed soap ? bathsalts and soap—and still more soap; in fact enough soap to turn the whole of Whakatane into one frothy lather. Of course this somewhat startling range is not offered because. New Zealand has a universally dirt}'' population (at least we hope not) < but rather because a gift box of soap is, and ever will be, a very popular present. Paral-* lei with this but in the. men's; deri partment are displayed quantities and quantities of shaving soap— enough to strip the whiskers from every male face in, the district. This also is a popular present. As can. |)e readily seen it may be had in elegant company with a bottle of hair oil in a fully-fashioned gold box (or the, cheaper variety in a plain cardboard box) or alternatively in conjunction with a guaranteed camel's hair brush (we didn't knoAv camels used them but that's what the label says). Back in the kiddies as stated before, Father Christmas this year has quite a good variety to choose from. The wooden toys include everything from destroyers and tanks drawn up in battle, formation to tops and machine guns. Cranes, of both the travelling and stationery variety may also be seen and appear to hold a fatal fascination for small boys who usually take upwards of half 1 an hour to pass a shop showing toys of this description. One advantage wooilen toys have, over metal ones of the. same type (and this is certainly a big one, especially with the rising generation), is that they may be used inside and -outside, on polished floors, in mud and in sanely without deteriorating one scrap through 'the works' getting rusted. More goods and better goods this Christmas bring back memories of days before the war when almost anything could lie , and and the appearance of the windows would this season seem to herald: that those days will very soon be with irs again.