I have no idea what baby shoes cost throughout the last century but, I assume, if you were of a mind to get a pair bronzed then you were probably economically secure enough to buy a new pair if the need came up. Or would be gifted them. My family was middle class when I was born so this wasn’t any real luxury though probably not on the radar for a family that was struggling.
Did I miss it, or hasn’t anyone yet mentioned:
There’s still companies on the web that bronze shoes that are sent to them. The original company closed in 2018.
I’m a little cynical. How do you know they actually returned your baby’s shoes? It could be some mass produced Chinese knock-off.
The history…
Link Bronze Baby Shoes: How Did the Tradition Begin?
Because there are myriad types of shoes in multiple sizes with different laces.
My mother bronzed someone’s shoes, perhaps my brother’s, as he is oldest. I never saw the point, so it never crossed my mind to do it.
My neighbors growing up did this, at least for their oldest kids’ shoes. She was born in 1972. I remember seeing them in the hallway and always being curious about them.
No. My parents didn’t do it for any of their kids, either.
Am I bad for immediately thinking Mr. Kaynes was responsible for creating the babies the shoes went on?
Plus the ads I remember seeing would brag about every little scuff preserved forever. Presumably the shoes were as recognizable to the parents as the kid would be if they were bronzed.
The only bronzed baby shoes that I remember seeing were part of the base of a lamp.
I’m guessing that the incidence of bronzing shoes went down as the cost of photography went down.
Pfft. I gold dipped my kids teenie widdle booties.
Actually I used to see in parents magazines about porcelainizing baby shoes.
I thought about it, but got busy and forgot.
I have my own bronzed baby shoes. Not sure what happened to the rest of my sibs.
In your defense, “bronzed baby shoes” could be baby shoes that were bronzed or shoes for bronzed babies
We have one in the form of a bookend sitting in our bookcase. It’s probably one of my shoes (born 1947) although I’m not sure. I had 2 brothers but we never found any more than the one.
What an odd tradition…
And when I think of all the odd traditions that get handed down, and the huge number of people who don’t question those traditions, I just have to say: People Are Even Weirder Than I Thought.
Especially the ones who say "What’s so weird about that?"
.
eta: Reacting to the people who said “Oh, we have a pair sitting on our table”, I’m looking around, and I can see exactly zero tchotchkes. No extraneous objects that have no function.
We do have some “stuff”: our piano is full of family photos, a huge pottery vase has a big plant, and an amish bowl on our coffee table holds balls of yarn when my wife does needlework in front of the TV.
I should thank her for being anti-clutter.
I think the companies only did shoes anyway.