This coming weekend in Canada is our “Victoria Day Long Weekend” where we celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria. Happy Birthday Queen!

Young Queen Victoria illustration — Source: the graphics fairy

Victoria Day also means that many of us gather up friends, family, dogs and cats and bundle up into cars to head to our cottages or our camping grounds for a fun weekend of campfires, fireworks and smores. This year a few of my friends are getting together to do just that (and maybe we just might add some alcoholic beverages in there, just like my friends in the pic below).

1950s Vintage Photo: Camping 1950s photo of a two men in a tent holding beers.

For today’s post I thought it would be fun to share with you some fun “Vintage Camping” photos from the 1930s thru to the 1950s of fellow outdoor enthusiasts. Enjoy!

Lets go camping illustration — Source: Etsy-thewheatfield

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay, are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Camping in the 1930s – 1950s

The Vintage Photos

Lets hit the road shall we? 1939 photo of two women waving to each other after arriving on holiday with their caravan / trailers.

Further Reading: Vintage Trailer Advertising

1930s vintage photo from 1939: of two women waving to each other after arriving on holiday with their caravan — Source: Fox Photos/Getty Images

Make sure you don’t forget anything. 1950s illustration.

1950s camping illustration of a family packing their car trunk for a day out.

What you like to use for camping depends on family to family. Some of us like tents, others campers or for really living it up..the cottage! -1950s vintage image.

1950s vintage photo of an airstream with vintage car driving on a road trip. — Airstreams are the best!

These couples like their tents and why not? Easy to pack and light to carry and easy to take down (just not easy to put up). -1930s photo.

1930s vintage photo of a group sitting at a table outside of their tent in 1930s fashions.

Cottages are my favorite. Warm, dry and a bed to sleep in.

Sometimes the trips you make to the cottage or camping ground are long and you need to take a break for food and drink. These lovely woman from 1931 are doing it right. Tea in dainty tea cups while wearing stylish pants and berets is the perfect glamping uniform.

Further Reading: Vintage Tea Advertising (archived post)

1930's vintage photo of 2 women in 1931 in berets and 1930s fashions making tea outside of their camper in front of a 1930s vehicle. — Tea for two: A couple of women make a cuppa by the side of their caravan in 1931
Source: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Your here! Time to relax and freshen up and maybe eat something. -1930s photo.

1930s vintage camping image of women and men in swimsuits and summer fashions outside of their camper. — Source: Fox Photos/Getty Images

Or just sleep on the boat while others worry about food. -1940s vintage photo

P.S. I love her PJs they are too cute!

1940s vintage photos of a woman cooking food over a camper stove and a man hanging out in a canoe. — Source: wgsn

Play time at the campsite. -1950s image.

1950s vintage photo of two wome playing badmonton outside of a tent by their car in 1950s summer fashions. — Source: DKW Automobiles

1950s vintage photo of kids trying to catch fish with nets by the lake.

1950s children playing by the lake trying to catch minnows with nets. — Catching Minnows

Or maybe some quiet time is in order. -1940s photo.

1940s vintage photo of a woman reading a book while camping

1949 vintage photo. No camping trip is without a night by the campfire. Whether it’s roasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories or just watching the glow of the flames, you know that you will always have fun when you’re sitting around with friends around that fire.

1940s vintage photo of men eating roasted marshmallows while camping. — Source: Etsy-maclancy

Camping with grama, can be loads of fun especially when she brings the hot dogs!

1950s illustration of two kids with their grandmother cooking hot dogs over a fire. — Source: Etsy-naturepoet

And lastly, the award for the most handsome couple around, goes to this 1950s couple! Such style! Look at his socks and I just adore everything the wife is wearing. I will not be looking this cute this weekend but I might have to channel this look for another trip.

1950s vintage photo of a couple sitting in their lawn chairs in 1950s fashions by their 1950s car. — Source: pixshark

Have a wonderful weekend friends, even if it’s not a long weekend for you.

Question time: Do you love camping? Share any thoughts about this topic in the comments section below.

FURTHER READING:

Collection of Vintage blogs posts showcasing ‘VINTAGE PHOTOS’ from the 1920s-1960s

Liz 🙂

(Note: To view my other days at VIVA click on the days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

Last day of VIVA, wow it went so fast how was that possible? I guess it’s possible when you are having the time of your life. All good things must eventually come to an end, right?

Happy Easter! Sunday for me is ALWAYS shopping at the vintage vendors day, since many of the vendors put their items on sale as they don’t want to take tons of stuff home. Every year I have gotten lucky and have found some wonderful items and this year was no different. However I did find that I purchased less this year due to the Canadian dollar being so poor so that the exchange rate made everything so much more expensive. Oh well more money left over for future trips.

First up I picked up a couple of great scarfs to add to my collection.

This souvenir San Francisco scarf is my favorite of the two.

I also purchased the cutest brooch, it’s a Heinz 57 Ketchup bottle!

Then just as I was about to walk out a happy camper with what I had, I saw out of the corner of my eye a vintage 1950s Shirtwaist dress from the vendor “Love Street Vintage” who I had the pleasure of purchasing past dresses from before. It fit like a glove and it was a good price so it CLEARLY came home with me.

After shopping we thought we would see if we could get into the Sunday Pool Party which normally in the past we have not been able to do, due to it being the popular day and there are normally long line ups. But this year ended up being really easy and I think it might have had to do with the high winds making people think it was cold at the pool (which it was not). Yay for us!

My friend had secured several lounge chairs for the gang which ended up being in good prime viewing of the women’s swimsuit contest and the bands on the stage. Thank you!

There was so many GORGEOUS swimsuits to be seen, as you can see from these 3 lovely women. The red head is actually a fellow Canadian who has a super blog called “Pinup Persuasion“, who I did not realize I had taken a photo of until I just looked at now and clearly missed saying hello. Opps. She did later on enter the vintage swimsuit contest, which I’m glad she did because her suit was stunning (as did the girl in the green suit).

VLV 18 Pool Party Sunday 2015 Vintage Swimsuits

The band that played earlier in the afternoon “The Cavaleros” were really good (and Canadian) and kept the party going with their cool surf sounds. My favorite part though was when they took “Sing Sing Sing” and made it into a Rockabilly/Surf Version. The video I took even had Lindy Hoppers (from San Francisco I found out later) dancing to it. LOVE IT!

Speaking of San Fran here is my new friend from San Fran who was also a Lindy Hopper and really cool to chat with.

Then my friend Bill stole my camera to take a picture with beautiful women.

Bill JUST missed his chance with these ladies, by seconds. His loss.

I guess the pool party is not amusing for everyone….

Unfortunately I have no great photos of the swimsuit contest as the sun was pretty bright and was making it hard to see what I was taking pictures of. So you just have to take my word on the fact that the suits were stunning (as you saw above). Here is one photo though that turned out okay.

After the contest, we packed up our stuff and headed in to get ready for the Sunday evening favorite of mine and many others..the Jive Contest! BUT first what is starting to become a tradition, getting as many Canadians together for a group photo.

Here is this years, we clean up nicely don’t we?

Okay back to the Jive Contest…Once again the dance floor was filled with lots of wonderful dancers and once again my favorite did not get picked (I always chose wrong) but it was still fun to watch. Here is a clip of the 2nd round of the contest. The couple in the front of the video in the matching pink outfits ended up winning the whole thing.

And here is another tradition! Taking a photo with the Orleans Sign.

Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend 18, 2015 — Me and the Sign

Now the evening is really winding down and now my body is telling me that it’s soon time to call it quits. We did however want to see the Doo Wop All Stars Show. This years show included: Herb Cox-The Cleftones; Eugene Pitt-The Jive Five and Bobby Lewis (“Tossin & Turning”) It was really great and super stylish as Doo Wop bands tend to be.