The People In Our Lives

Most people, if asked, can name someone who has positively impacted their lives. That person could be a parent, another family member, a teacher, a coach, or someone else entirely. Human beings are, for the most part, social creatures. As a result, we all have an impact on the people around us, sometimes without even realizing it.

I come from a large family, so I guess it's not surprising that my family has had a major influence on my life. This influence is reflected in my keychain collection. There are a number of keychains that have ended up in my collection because they reminded me of someone I know and care about. Below is a sampling of some of these keychains, along with the necessary background information explaining who the keychains remind me of and why.

My Mom:

The house shaped keychain in the top corner features the logo for the So-Fro chain of fabric stores. The design was made to look like bolts of fabric, stacked into the shape of a house. My mom likes to sew, and she frequented this store a lot when I was a kid. At the time, there really wasn't much there to hold my interest, unless I was helping my mom pick out fabric for my Halloween costume, and I'd frequently get bored on these shopping trips. I think this store chain eventually went out of business.

My mom, like her father before her, is also a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. Philadelphia sports teams have developed a reputation for not being very good, so being a fan takes real dedication. And though my mom isn't as hardcore as some fans I've seen on the local news, she wears her Phillies baseball cap with pride.

Also pictured is a St. Anthony keychain. St. Anthony is the patron saint that Catholics are supposed to pray to when trying to find something they've lost. The prayer, "Dear St. Anthony, please come around, something's lost and can't be found," is one that my mom uses frequently. And according to her, it actually works, though I don't seem to have the same luck with it that she does.

My Dad:

I'm not sure why my dad has an interest in carousel horses. Maybe he appreciates them as art objects. Or maybe he's impressed with the craftsmanship that went into creating older carousel figures. At any rate, this carousel horse keychain makes me think of my dad.

Dad is also a fan of the comic strip Peanuts. His favorite Peanuts characters are Snoopy and Woodstock.

Dad is a card-carrying member of Triple A as well.

My Sister K.:

My sister K. loves musical theater. Her favorite musical is The Phantom Of The Opera. So naturally, when I found a Phantom Of The Opera keychain secondhand I had to get it.

The other keychain pictured is a small knife in a sheath. My sister likes to dress up in costume for the local Renaissance fairs, and she has quite a collection of, purely decorative, weaponry for accessorizing her outfits. For a while, she couldn't go to a Renaissance fair without purchasing a sword or a dagger. But she quickly realized that swords are difficult to store. So she now mostly buys additional jewelry items and headpieces for her costumes.

My Second Sister, L.:

This Bop It keychain from Basic Fun Inc. really works, with the correct batteries. I took the batteries out quite a while ago, so that they wouldn't start leaking over time while the keychain was in storage. Anyway, my second sister, L., had a full-sized Bop It game when we were growing up. She got pretty good at it too, from what I remember.

My Third Sister, A.:

My third sister, A., wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up. So the above assortment of outer space related keychains reminds me of her. A. had to give up her dream in college, when she realized that she couldn't meet the higher math requirements. She majored in history instead, but she still has a fascination with space.

A. is also a fan of Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean films, which is why I have this key shaped keychain that replicates a prop from the second movie in the series.

My Brother:

This assortment of manatee keychains will always remind me of my brother, and of a certain family vacation to Walt Disney World. My brother is mildly autistic, and he sometimes has trouble coping if his senses are 'over-stimulated'. On one particular day of the trip, my family was checking out the ocean themed pavilion at Epcot. Part of the exhibit included a large tank for rescued manatees, who had been injured by motorboats. My brother spent quite a bit of time by that tank, watching the manatees placidly swimming and eating lettuce. It helped him to relax in the crowded and sometimes overwhelming environment of a Disney theme park.

My brother also collects a wide variety of trading card gaming cards, including Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic: The Gathering. Wizards Of The Coast is a prominent company in the trading card gaming industry, but that's about all I can tell you on the subject. My brother knows a lot more about it than I do.

Also pictured is a battery-operated Goosebumps electronic organizer keychain by Micro Games Of America. When he was younger, my brother had quite the collection of Goosebumps brand books.

My Best Friend:

The purple Coach keychain works on two levels, since my best friend is a fan of Coach brand purses and her favorite color is purple.

As for the Josh Groban keychain, he's one of my best friend's favorite singers. A self-proclaimed 'Grobanite', my best friend always keeps up to date on when and where Josh Groban will be performing.

My Paternal Grandfather:

This Sherlock Holmes silhouette keychain reminds me of my paternal grandfather. I wasn't as close to my grandfather as some of my siblings were, but Sherlock Holmes books were something we both enjoyed. I was a big Sherlock Holmes fan when I was in grade school, and while my interest in Holmes has cooled a bit since then, I still enjoy reading the original short stories from time to time.

My Paternal Grandmother:

I still remember how passionate my paternal grandmother was about bowling. At one time she was even part of a bowling team, along with my dad and at least one of my aunts. I was very young then, and my memories are hazy, but I vaguely recall being brought along to the bowling alley. According to my mom, my dad stopped taking me after I accidentally poked myself in the eye with one of the pencils used to keep score.

My grandmother's health deteriorated in her later years. But even when she could no longer visit the bowling alley, she still enjoyed the game. Towards the end of her life, before she had to be moved into assisted care, she liked to sit in her favorite chair and use a Wii video game system to 'bowl' at home.

My Maternal Grandmother:

My maternal grandmother always had a few of these Tupperware bowl keychains around the house. I remember playing with some of them when we came to visit. The ones in the 'playroom', which was actually a spare bedroom where her grown children's old toys were kept, were ok to play with. But if I saw one in the catch-all dish on my grandmother's dining room table, I wasn't allowed to touch it, because that's where my grandmother kept any keychains she was currently using to hold medication or bus tokens or whatever.

My Great Aunt H.H.:

My great aunt loved animals, especially cats. The cats that she kept as pets over the course of her life were always rescued strays. My great aunt's love of cats also extended to the musical stage play Cats, which is why the two keychains above are featured in this post. My great aunt's favorite character from the stage show was Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat.

My great aunt also donated money to animal related causes like wolf conservation, which is why this wolf's head keychain from the National Wildlife Federation reminded me of her.

My Aunt S.F.:

One of my aunts, S.F., and her husband, my uncle J.F., have several hummingbird feeders set up on their property. Hummingbirds are also a reoccurring theme in their indoor decor. I assume this was more my aunt's doing than my uncle's, so I think of my aunt when I see this hummingbird keychain.

My Cousin K.V.:

I'm not really sure if my cousin K.V. genuinely had a thing for unicorns, or if I just think she did. I remember strongly that she had a small box with a unicorn design on the lid that she kept in her bedroom when we were kids. I saw it several times when my family came to visit. And like every other little girl back then, my cousin loved My Little Ponies.

Whatever the actual case may be, in my mind I associate my cousin K.V. with unicorns. Or at least, I associate my childhood memories of my cousin with unicorns. My cousin is an adult now with children of her own. And these days, on the rare occasions when I see her, I don't immediately think 'unicorns'.

As you can see, there've been a lot of people in my life that I've 'memorialized' in my keychain collection. These people have all made a mark on my life, and I sincerely hope that any marks I've made on their lives have been positive.

Signed, Treesa

Keychains In Movies (A Website Recommendation)

In my introductory post, I expressed the opinion that keychain collecting is underrepresented online. So when I stumbled across a fun website that appealed to me as both a keychain collector and as a pop culture fan, I just had to share. What I discovered was a blog called Keychains In Movies. The homepage states that the blog was compiled by Keychain Collectors International. And according to the blog's mission statement, the purpose of the site is to, "find keychains in the media, whether that be in movies, video games, on tv, music, or shorts". Basically, the blog collects keychain sightings from film, television, and other forms of popular entertainment.

Each sighting includes a brief write-up, as well as accompanying screen shots. Sometimes the keychain in question is important to the plot of the movie or show, and other times it's only featured briefly as set dressing or as a background element. (The most common sightings are of hotel room keychains or keychains dangling from car ignitions.) The really great thing, in my opinion, is that the blog still appears to be active. The most recent entries were posted this past year, and some of the keychain sightings are from the Marvel film franchise and other, still popular movies. There's also a search bar, so if you're checking the site for a particular film you can just type in the title.

If you happen to have some time to kill, I would highly recommend checking out the Keychains In Movies blog. I've included a link to the site on my sidebar, as well as a link near the beginning of this post. Have fun and enjoy the rest of your day.

Signed, Treesa

Ocean City Vacation: July 2018 (Keychain Souvenirs Haul)

Remember how, in a previous post, I wrote about the lack of souvenir keychains in gift shops? Well apparently, there's at least one place where souvenir keychains can still be found in abundance, and that's Ocean City, New Jersey. My best friend and I took an 'extended weekend' trip there near the end of July, and I came back with over half a dozen keychains for my collection.

My best friend bought this first keychain for me as a gift. I was eyeing it at one of the shops on the Boardwalk. But because it was the first day of the trip, I was trying to decide whether I should just buy it then or wait and see if I could find it cheaper elsewhere. My friend must've gotten tired of waiting for me to make up my mind, because she offered to buy it for me. The turtle itself is made from wood and has the words "Ocean City" painted on the underside.

This next group of keychains came from a shop on Asbury Avenue called Hoy's 5&10.

I first learned about 5&10, or five-and-dime, stores in my grade school social studies textbook. I don't know whether the store in Ocean City actually dates back to the 'golden age' of five-and-dimes. But I did realize that, due to inflation, there wouldn't be anything in the store for five or ten cents at the store. However, because there's a chain of stores in my area called Five Below (where everything for sale is five dollars or less) I thought that maybe the 5&10 in the name had been updated to mean five and ten dollars. I was wrong in that assumption. There were a number of things for sale at Hoy's 5&10 that were over ten dollars. Actually, this lot of three keychains ended up costing me over ten dollars. But honestly, where was I ever going to find that noodle bowl keychain again in the United States. And as the previous keychain featured in this post demonstrates, I have a real fondness for turtle design keychains. The black shell with the rainbow-colored floral design is actually a coin purse, made from two shells that had been painted black and stitched to a zipper.

This record player keychain, or 'turntable' as it's called on the packaging, is from the World's Coolest line by Super Impulse. Record players, like typewriters and VHS tapes, are 'old school' technology, and have received renewed attention in recent years. The resurgence of these items in popular culture has genuinely piqued my interest, since I fondly remember such things from my childhood. In my keychain collection, I categorize these and similar items as 'retro tech', the word retro meaning inspired by or imitating the recent past. I plan on devoting a blog post to the subject at some point.

I was looking at the 'turntable' keychain in a store called Kay Jay's Doll Shoppe, but I put it back because I thought the price was a little high for one keychain. I was also feeling guilty for spending over ten dollars on keychains at Hoy's 5&10. My best friend bought the record player for me when I wasn't looking, then handed me the bag after we left the store. I replaced the original metal clip on the keychain with a split ring after getting home from vacation, because I'm nitpicky like that.

I found this seashell keychain for sale at a candy shop on the Boardwalk. Now, the thing I've noticed about seashells is that they can be fragile. Shells with thinner walls can easily crack or crush. So when I looked through the basket of shell keychains at the store, I made sure to pick one that not only looked interesting, but also had decently thick walls. Hopefully this will make it more durable.

This dolphin keychain came from a 'dollar store', also located on the Boardwalk. The store had a similar keychain with a sea turtle design that I was considering buying. However, the sea turtle seemed to have a rather unpleasant expression, while the dolphins looked much more cheerful. And I do have the same soft spot for dolphins that I have for turtles.

I think I was drawn to this last keychain because it's made to be three collectibles in one. First off, it's a souvenir keychain. Secondly, it's a collectable souvenir spoon. And thirdly, it can function as a bottle opener, thanks to the way the back is shaped. Not only that, but there's a 'spinner' element at the top as well.

In spite of the impressive number of keychains that I brought home, there were a few I saw that I'm wishing I'd picked up. Hoy's 5&10 had a clearance priced keychain showing the Ocean City Music Pier. The Music Pier happened to be right near the Boardwalk entrance that my friend and I always used, because it was the entrance closest to our hotel. There was also another keychain I saw at one of the Boardwalk shops that had a quote on it about how the sand and the salt water would wash away but the memories would last forever, or something like that. I really should have bought it, since I liked it so much and since it wasn't that expensive. But I was feeling guilty again for already buying so many keychains on the trip.

Of course, collectors often think about 'the ones that got away'. It's one of the factors that drives them to keep collecting. I hope that you enjoyed seeing what I got on my trip. And to any other keychain collectors out there, I wish you luck on your own collecting journeys.

Signed, Treesa

Gift Keychains

It may just be that my parents knew or were related to a lot of nice, generous people. But when I was a kid, and someone found out during a family visit that I collected keychains, their first reaction was always to head for the household junk drawer, to see if they had any spare keychains to give me. It didn't seem to matter whether the person in question was a grandparent, my father's uncle, or my mother's cousin. It seemed everybody wanted to help me grow my collection. Even now, people will still save keychains for me, or will pick them up on their travels.

One of my sisters, my third sister A., has done a lot of traveling while working for conservation corps, farms, and even the park service. She'll typically be away for months at a time. But whenever she comes back to the area between jobs, she always has at least one keychain for me. She brought back the two souvenir keychains pictured below from a stint in Ecuador.

This next group of souvenir keychains are ones that my sister A. picked up while she was driving back from a job in Texas.

As you can see, she made stops in several other states along her route, including New Mexico and Missouri and Colorado, though I’m not sure in what order.

When I was still in grade school, my father brought back this assortment of souvenir keychains from a business trip to England. The stuffed, fabric bear has a label from Liberty Of London, a luxury department store in London, England.

The Siegfried & Roy keychain pictured below is a souvenir from Las Vegas and was a gift from my paternal grandparents.

It's become even more special to me now that my grandparents have passed away.

My Mom's cousin in New Jersey, S.R., gave me these two keychains.

The piggy bank design keychain is from the Bottom Dollar Food grocery store chain. I don't get the chance to see my Mom's cousin very often. But she still saves keychains for me, for those times when I do see her. I return the favor by picking up the occasional Boyds Bear for her collection.

Not every keychain gift I've received has been from a relative, however. This Army National Guard military vehicle keychain was a gift from a family I used to babysit for. The father had served in the military.

As you can see, my family, my extended family, and even random acquaintances have been very generous with their keychains. I think this generosity is partially explained by the fact that keychains are relatively inexpensive and relatively easy to find. Not everyone can afford to spend the time and money needed to get that perfect, high-end collectable for a friend's or relative's collection. But a keychain is something that almost everyone can find and can fit into their budget. In fact, there might still be some businesses that give away promotional keychains for free, though the practice is not as common as it used to be.

So, my collecting tip for the day to any other keychain collectors out there is that it pays to let people know you collect. Even if you're not comfortable asking people directly for their unused keychains, sometimes just telling someone that you collect them is enough that they'll think of you the next time they clean out that junk drawer.

Signed, Treesa

"Keychain Terminology" Post Updated

I've updated my post on Basic Keychain Terminology to include "infinity ring" type keychain findings. You'll have to click the link above back to the original post to find out what those are. But for anyone who may be wondering, infinity ring keychains have nothing to do with the Marvel movie franchise.

Signed, Treesa

Armchair Traveling (Collecting Souvenir Keychains From Places You've Never Visited)

Some of us will never get the opportunity to travel the world. We either won't have the financial resources to do so, or our lives will be so busy that setting aside the time needed to travel won't be an option. Even those people who have the money and the free time needed to tour the globe will probably have to limit themselves, deciding where they'd most like to go in their lifetimes. If everyone lived to be a hundred years old, each person still probably wouldn't get to see all of the wonders that our world has to offer. Our planet is just too big.

Personally, I have always felt uncomfortable when I've had to travel. Some people feel a thrill of discovery from being in a new, unfamiliar environment. But being somewhere I'm not familiar with has a tendency to make me anxious and uncomfortable. I don't travel alone, and I wouldn't consider going to a country where I didn't speak the language unless I was with someone else I knew who did speak it.

Luckily, I can still experience a little of the pleasures of travel without leaving the comfort of my own home, thanks to my keychain collection. By collecting souvenir keychains that family members, friends, and even strangers selling at flea markets have brought back from their travels, I can vicariously share some of their experiences. I can look at a keychain from Venice or Stonehenge and try to imagine what it must've been like to be there.

One time I found a souvenir keychain from Iceland at a thrift store.

I don't know much about Iceland. I was never good at geography. But the fact that I'd never seen a keychain from there before made it seem exotic. I'd seen a number of keychains from France and Italy secondhand over the years, but never one from Iceland.

Of course, I do understand that there's a big difference between looking at a keychain from someplace, and actually seeing the sights in person. But in my mind, having a keychain from somewhere is sort of like looking at a picture printed on a souvenir postcard. It's not the same as being there, but you do get a general impression of the place.

Signed, Treesa

Been There, Done That, Bought The Keychain (Souvenir Keychains)

Keychains have been a popular vacation souvenir for decades. Unfortunately, if the lack of keychains stocked by the gift shops I've visited on my most recent vacations is anything to go by, then that popularity seems to be waning. It used to be that no matter where you went, any gift shop worth the name would typically feature a rack of keychains. The display would most often be located either on the counter by the register (a prime location for impulse buys) or on the opposite side of the rotating rack where the postcards were displayed.

One of my very first keychains was a souvenir from the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania.

My mom still likes to tell the story about the nice people at the leather shop who gave each of us kids a free keychain, and gave my then baby brother a scrap of leather to chew on.

My all-time favorite 'vacation destination' has got to be the Disney parks. I've been lucky enough to visit Walt Disney World three times in my life and Disneyland once. As someone who had multiple siblings and could only get to Florida or California by airplane, I can say with certainty that these trips were huge undertakings for my parents, both logistically and financially. It took my mother and father years to put aside enough money for each of these vacations, but they did it because they wanted their children to have the chance to go. I happen to think that the memories we made on those trips were worth the cost, even if I still have nightmares about that Snow White dark ride.

Here are just some of the Disney parks keychains I've collected.

There are keychains here from Walt Disney World resort, Disney's Animal Kingdom park, Epcot, Typhoon Lagoon water park, and even Hong Kong Disneyland. Most of them were purchased secondhand. I can't seem to resist Disney parks keychains when I find them at flea markets or yard sales, especially knowing how much they must've originally cost at the parks. There was one time when my parents and I went to a pop-up Disney outlet store that had leftover merchandise from the parks, deeply discounted. I must've bought half a dozen keychains.

One great thing about buying keychains on vacation as souvenirs is that their small size makes them easy to pack for the trip home. Keychains are also, for the most part, fairly sturdy. Try packing a souvenir snow globe or sand sculpture in your luggage and you'll see what I mean.

It saddens me that souvenir keychains appear to be going the way of the dinosaurs. But then, unless they end up in someone's permanent collection, souvenir keychains tend to have a rather limited shelf life. Sure, they're fun to buy while on vacation. But when it comes time to do the spring housecleaning, chances are the souvenir tee shirts and the souvenir keychains will be the first to go. I've been shopping at thrift stores long enough to know that vacation souvenirs are some of the more heavily donated items.

However, in the back of my mind is a nagging worry that fewer souvenir keychains in gift shops will mean fewer souvenir keychains ending up on the secondary market. There may come a point in the future when the supply of souvenir keychains available to collectors dries up, which could cause the prices of the remaining keychains to rise. Granted, this isn't really likely to happen, since I can't imagine that collector demand will ever be high enough to exceed the available supply, even if the supply of souvenir keychains dwindles in the future.  However, it may already be happening.

I was at an antique show recently, and one of the dealers had a basket of souvenir keychains. Due to their appearance and the materials used to make them, it was obvious that these keychains were not 'antiques'. However, the dealer was charging three dollars each for them. In the past, these same keychains would likely have been priced at a dollar each or less at a flea market or yard sale. Of course, the pricing may have had more to do with the venue than with the keychains themselves. As I wrote in a previous post, adding the word 'antique' to anything always seems to up the price.

Signed, Treesa