A novelty item is usually something you have which you don’t typically use or that doesn’t have an actual function, but that you keep around for amusement, collection, or decoration purposes.
Sort of like something you’d keep in plain view (like on the coffee table, kitchen counter, bathroom) so guests can see it and laugh/ask you about it.
What’s one of your most cherished novelty items? Zombie-head cookie jar? Coffee mug in the shape of a donut? Bathroom mat that has “fake” bloody footprints on it? Even something small, like a shark fin tea infuser.
There is a giant stuffed stegosaurus wearing a tiara in my living room. We call her Princess Stegosaur.
Cthulhu is riding on her back.
EDIT: One of my favorite novelty items, not so large, is a pair of pink plastic chopsticks that say, "Madonna: Feel the Good Feeling.‘’ Hopefully you don’t have to be a Madonna fan to appreciate that bit of loveliness.
One is a ceramic cookie jar in the shape of a pumpkin but with a big fat face. I found him in a Goodwill Store a few years ago, and fill him with lollies…my little grandson always asks, “Nana, what’s in Mr Pumpkin Man today?” when he visits.
The other is a glass tile, app 20cm square that has a picture of Elvis Presley…made up of vegetables of various kinds. It takes pride of place in my kitchen (even though I hate Elvis).
I tried googling to see if I could find anything resembling either but no luck…I’ll take some pics later and try to post them here.
Our basic decor has been compared favorably to the Addams Family. (snap, snap).
On the wall beside my computer station is a lovely, framed 1920’s Death Ray.
Above the hearth Madame Pepperwinkle keeps a figurine of her beloved Sam Elliott in western garb. And that’s just for starters…
Let’s see…
There’s the Shaolin Spade, the Ashandarei, Sting, and the Crusades-era long spear.
And those are just the things that will slice a foot off if you trip over them. Our house is full of conversation starters.
Coming to mind immediately, I’ve got a little plastic donkey that my mom bought me at a thrift store. He’s got real fur–rabbit, I think. Very soft. I pet him occasionally.
I’ve also got a handful of stuffed animals–Opus, Thumper, an unnamed purple dragon. There’s also a hedgehog, but he’ll be moved to my car as soon as I get home.
I can’t even begin to go there. My husband wanted one room to decorate - he got the livng room/kitchen area (they are attached). One of our friends calls it “The Emporium”. When people come over, they spend the first few minutes trying to figure out what’s new, what’s moved, etc.
I have a petrified piranha that I got at Obscura Antiques in NYC, the store featured in the show Oddities. We’re fans of the show and I went there on my last trip to NYC. They were about to film, but they let me in and I got to talk to people who are on the show. Very cool folks. I asked for a picture and they told me to give my iPhone to the professional cameraman running the TV equipment. I started to tell him how to work the camera app, and he just smiled at me and said “I got it.” :smack:
I have a paperweight that is a large pill. For a drug called Stelazine, an antipsychotic tranquilizer. Of all the kitch my dad received as a doctor, it’s one of my faves.
I have a collection of unusual and colorful rocks that I’ve collected from various travels. One of my cats loves to swat at the rocks and send them flying toward the other cat, just to annoy her.
And I have an antique Singer sewing machine from the 1870s. It has a treadle, and still works.
I also have an ornate wicker baby buggy from the 1890s. It has a swan design on each side, and it’s the home of my orchid collection.
I…I…looks around blankly…I don’t think I have any novelties. Holy crap, how did I end up with a grown-up’s house?! :eek:
OH! Wait, I found one. I think he’s my only one, and he’s not really mine-mine, but he’s in my custody. He’s a singing hamster dressed as a doctor. When he’s not here, he sits in the front window of the First Aid shack where I volunteer. He’s wearing a little handmade sign around his neck that says, “Yes, I work here. How may I help you?” and if you squeeze his paw, he dances and sings “Doctor, Doctor.” (this isn’t mine, but it’s one just like this, only considerably grubbier after so many years of camping.)
What I lack in quantity, I make up for in kitsch value.
That sounds cool. We have a skull and crossbones one, but unfortunately they’re small and melt quickly, so we don’t use it much.
In my car I have a bobblehead white tiger on the dashboard. It’s wearing a gold chain. I bought it many years ago from a man selling them in the parking lot of a ghetto Safeway. It’s the tackiest thing I own and I love it. For some reason, all 68 times that my car got broken into, no one ever stole it which I’m glad about but it does make me question their taste in dashboard decor.
If you watch the Star Trek (old series) episode “The Trouble With Tribbles” in the bar area there is a shelf with little knick knacks and stuff on it. You can see it in this picture and this picture.
We own one of those knick-knacks. My spouse picked it up at an early Star Trek convention in the early 1970’s before everything became overpriced and heavily license/commercialized.
I also own a hand-made, fully operational spinning wheel that’s 175 years old.
We’ve probably got a few more odd bits and pieces, but that’s what first comes to mind.
