What did poor Victorian children get for Christmas?

In a “poor child's” Christmas stocking, which first became popular from around 1870, only an apple, orange and a few nuts could be found. Father Christmas / Santa Claus – Normally associated with the bringer of the above gifts, is Father Christmas or Santa Claus.

What would a poor Victorian child get for Christmas?

At the beginning of the Victorian period, the children of the rich received handmade toys, which were quite labor intensive to make and expensive. The children of the poor received stockings filled with fruit and nuts, a tradition we still have today.

What presents did Victorian children get?

Along with a joke, gifts inside could range from small trinkets such as whistles and miniature dolls to more substantial items like jewellery. The Victorian age placed great importance on family, so it follows that Christmas was celebrated at home. For many, the new railway networks made this possible.

How did the poor Victorians celebrate Christmas?

Often, it was considered another work day for the poor, but some workhouses provided a slightly more elaborate means to the workers that day. Families who did not live in the workhouses might have a meal of rabbit or beef, but there was little in the way of gifts.

What presents were commonly given at Christmas in Victorian times?

Gift giving was traditionally part of New Year celebrations, but the Victorians used Christmas as an occasion for giving fruit, nuts, sweets and small handmade trinkets to their loved ones. Handmade games, dolls, books and clockwork toys were popular, as were apples, oranges and nuts.

Victorians: the filthy rich and the filthy poor

What did kids get for Christmas in the 1800s?

Preserves, jams, jellies, candies, needlework, plants, and doilies were common gifts in the late 1800s, Winans-Bagnall said. Also new this year is a children's holiday game popular in 1874 that involves throwing a cloth snowball through a wreath.

What would a poor Victorian child find in their stocking?

In a “poor child's” Christmas stocking, which first became popular from around 1870, only an apple, orange and a few nuts could be found. Father Christmas / Santa Claus – Normally associated with the bringer of the above gifts, is Father Christmas or Santa Claus.

Did poor Victorians have Christmas trees?

However, it was Queen Charlotte who brought over a tree from Germany for Royal festivities in 1800, but few people followed the Royal fashions at this time. Christmas trees were expensive in the 19th century and poorer families often had the difficult choice of a tree or goose for the festive period.

What did the poor eat in Victorian Christmas?

At Christmas, poor families ate rabbit or beef for their Christmas dinner. Some workhouses would provide a beef or mutton meal, with some alcohol, cheese or pudding. However, those living there would not usually receive the day off and had to get back to work after they had eaten.

What was the difference between a rich Christmas and a poor Christmas in Victorian England?

While we rightly associate many Christmas customs with Victorian times, it was a festival that the poor could rarely afford to partake. They might save a little from their wages to pay for a Christmas goose or beef, but an agricultural labourer earning 5/- (25p) a week could never afford to save anything.

What toys did poor Victorian children have?

The toys children played with in Victorian times often depended on how wealthy their family was. Children from rich families played with rocking horses, train sets, doll's houses and toy soldiers, whereas children from poor families tended to play with home-made toys such as peg dolls, spinning tops and skipping ropes.

What toys did Victorian children have?

Girls usually played with dolls, dolls houses and tea sets. Boys usually played with toy trains, boats, soldiers and marbles. In many homes, the only toy children were allowed to play with on a Sunday was Noah's Ark, because it related to the Bible.

What did poor Victorian children do for fun?

Poor children often made their own toys such as rag balls or, if they were lucky, bought cheap penny toys. Wealthier children played with dolls with wax or china faces, toy soldiers and train sets.

How much did poor Victorians get paid?

Did you know? The average wage in the 1850s was about 15 shillings (75p) a week. Many children got just 5 shillings (25p) a week, or less.

What did kids get for Christmas during the Depression?

Other treats in stockings were bananas, nuts and candy. If the kids were really fortunate there may have been a toy such as a doll; or a toy wagon for the very youngest. The Christmases of the Depression were nothing like the over-commercialized, buy-till–you-drop Christmases of today where kids drown in toys.

What was it like for a poor Victorian child?

Thousands of street children slept where they could; in doorways, damp cellars or on the streets alongside criminals, disease-carrying rats and open sewers. Starving, dirty, cold and weak, these 'gutter-waifs' had no-one to look after them and little hope of survival.

What did rich Victorian children get for Christmas?

The gifts however differed greatly. At the beginning of the Victorian era the rich would have handmade children toys which were expensive and not readily available due to the handmade nature of the production. The poor however would focus on stockings commonly filled with fruit and nuts.

What did poor Victorians drink?

Tea was the staple drink. Coffee might be consumed at breakfast even by the poorest, but in the form of chicory/coffee mixture. Breakfast was generally bread, occasionally with butter. For the poorest a sandwich of bread and watercress was the most common.

What would a poor Victorian child eat?

Poor children would eat cheap food that wasn't very nutritious, such as bread and potatoes.

What are some unusual facts about Victorian Christmas?

Presents were shared on the evening of Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day as is traditional in the 21st century. In the royal household Queen Victoria insisted unwrapped presents be spread out across tables, as they did with royal birthdays.

What did Queen Victoria eat for Christmas dinner?

In 1840, Queen Victoria's Christmas meal included 35 unique dishes. This included: boiled turkey, turtle soup, roast swan à l'anglaise, iced knuckle of veal and hare curry! Not wanting any food to go to waste, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert cleverly served leftovers at their New Year's Day feast.

What meat did poor Victorians eat?

Meat was pretty expensive during the Victorian Era, but besides beans and eggs, it was the most readily available protein. Poor families who couldn't afford better cuts of meat bought broxy from a butcher instead. Broxy was a butcher's term for any kind of meat, usually sheep, that had dropped dead of disease.

Did Victorians sell their children?

With no laws to protect children, this meant they had few rights and were badly treated. Seen as simply the property of their parents, many children were abandoned, abused and even bought and sold. Thought to be born evil, children needed to be corrected, punished and made to become good citizens.

Why did bad kids get coal?

In the 19th and 20th centuries, coal was commonly burned to heat homes, so when Santa Claus came to visit, it was convenient to grab a lump to leave for children on his "naughty" list.

What does an orange in your stocking mean?

They're Said to Represent a Gift of Gold from Saint Nicholas

The father eventually found out who the gift giver was and was so moved he told everyone in town about Nicholas. This was not only the origin of Santa Claus but also one reason for oranges—which represent bags of gold—in our stockings.