Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Premiere Event Experience and Haul

It’s almost the end of July, and that means it’s the time of year when the Hallmark ornaments are available for sale! I’ve wanted to go to the first weekend the ornaments are for sale, called the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Premiere Event, for about two years. I almost went last year, but I had a family emergency that prevented me from going. This year, I got some coupons in the mail and I didn’t have anything happening that weekend, so I decided to go!

I know it’s July and too early to think about buying Christmas tree ornaments, but I’m always overjoyed to see or smell anything that reminds me of a time of the year when the temperatures are cooler and gives me an excuse to find really nice sweaters to wear. Plus, in previous years, I’ve tried to buy ornaments from Hallmark but they were sold out. So, I wanted to buy my favorites before it was too late.

If you’ve never tried to buy an ornament from a Hallmark store, the start of ornament season is May when they release their booklet of ornaments.

The booklet, called the Dream Book, has all the ornaments that are going to be for sale that year.

The book also says when the ornaments are for sale. The new ornaments are released in the months leading up to Christmas. In years past, I missed buying ornaments I really wanted because I thought they’d be available closer to Christmas, so whenever I get the booklet I looked at the back to see the names of each ornament event, or release day, is. That way I can plan which ornament I wanted and if I need to save up for the ornaments I want to purchase, I can.

Another thing about the Hallmark Keepsake Dream Book I should mention is the wish list. If you fill out the paper in the middle of the booklet, called a wish list, and turn it in to the Hallmark store before a certain date, you get the opportunity to buy special ornaments that are only available to those who filled out, turned in, and paid for everything on the wish list.

I don’t know all the details about the wish list because I never used it before. Still, I’d consider doing it if I like one of the special ornaments. This year, I didn’t like the wish list exclusive ornaments enough to fill out the list, so I didn’t do it.

I don’t remember the exact day when the booklet was released, but I went into the Hallmark store and got one near the end of May. In years past I’ve found many ornaments I wanted, but this year seemed to be an off year for me because I only found a few ornaments I really wanted, and most of them are going to be released in October. Not July. Still, there are a few ornaments that I wanted to get during the Premiere Ornament Event.

The main ornaments I wanted to get was both Mountain Bluebird ornaments…

I have an ornament from last year (I’m afraid I don’t remember the name of it right now) that is in the same series but in different colors. Since they had the same bird but in two different colorways this year, I decided to get them to match the one I got last year.

I went to the Premier Event on July 15th, the first day the ornaments could be purchased. Event though the store opened early on the 15th and 16th for the Premiere Event, I had errands to run so I went in the store at around 10:30 AM. I didn’t take any photos while I was in there, but the store I went to was fairly busy. There wasn’t a huge line to check out, but since the store was small it was easy to form a line with just two or three people waiting to check out. Also, the wall where the ornaments were displayed was crowded with ornament shoppers.

Overall, I had a wonderful time at the Premiere Event at the store I went to. I do wish I had a friend to go with so we could gush and goo over the ornaments, but I’m very happy I went. Although the store was busy, the shoppers and the employees were friendly and seemed to be having fun looking at ornaments. (More reason why I’d like to go with a friend in the future!) There were also refreshments such as cookies in the shape of little muffins and water. (Very welcome during a hot Arizonan morning)

I was able to buy three ornaments while I was there…

Well, actually I bought four ornaments. One is another raven ornament and is for a friend.

The downside to the whole entire trip was that I couldn’t get the bird ornaments I wanted. They sold out before I got there which makes me disappointed because one of the colorways is in limited quantities and is only available during the Premiere Event week. I checked at another Hallmark store, but they were sold out too. So, I don’t have the ornaments that I really wanted. It was a disappointment, but it’s ok. I got another ornament that I really wanted that was also in limited quantities, Father Christmas’s Reindeer.

Ten years ago this year, I bought a reindeer ornament like this one from Dillards. I loved it and was very special for me because it was the first ornament I bought for myself, but it broke and all but one of the pieces was thrown away.

It took me about seven years before I finally got over it enough to buy a new one, but it still makes me sad to think about how I lost the first one. The replacement is from the same brand as the first and, although the saddle is a different color combination, I love it very much, it is a very fragile porcine and, by accident, I recently broke one of it’s leg off. I was able to reattach it with super glue, but I scared me enough that I decided to buy a different reindeer ornament that I think could take more abuse than my replacement.

When I saw this reindeer ornament in the look book, I decided to get one as my other reindeer ornament. It is a limited quantities ornament and is a companion to the Father Christmas ornament. (Which I want to get as well) I almost forgot to get this ornament, but I remember went I went back into the store to get the second raven ornament.

Although this ornament isn’t porcine like my other reindeer, it is very detailed and, after looking at it and comparing it to my old reindeer, I like this one more.

I don’t have a comparison of my old reindeer ornament next to the new one, but like I said, I like this one more than my old one. It also seems to be less fragile than my old one, so I think I’ll hang this one on my tree and display the old one somewhere where it won’t get bumped or moved too much.

After purchasing this ornament, I’m now on the hunt for more reindeer ornaments! I’m not in a big hurry to look for them, but I’ll keep my eye open for them when it gets closer to Christmas.

The next ornament I bought is Cinderella’s shoe…

I liked this ornament, but I didn’t like it enough to buy it until I saw it in the store. When I saw it in person, I liked the detail on it and the light up shoe effect. I’m normally very picky about my light up ornaments because it can sometimes look tacky. This one impressed me because the light is in the shoe. The light is also not so dull that it won’t make the shoe glow and be seen in daylight, but not so bright that it will blind anyone.

In the photos of the ornament out of the box, I didn’t put the batteries in the ornament to show how it shines, but I hope you’ll still see the details of it anyway.

There are other Disney ornaments that I want (The Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, and Tinker Bell are my favorites right now), but I plan on waiting a while before I purchase them.

The last ornament I bought isn’t in their Christmas section, but Halloween section…

This ornament, the Ravishing Raven, looks very similar to the Blue Bird ornaments I wanted. I don’t know why, but I didn’t notice this one in the Dream Book. I saw it after I failed in finding the blue bird ornaments, and decided to get it instead.

It’s hard to take photos of the ornament without hanging it. Since I did not have a way to hang at the time of taking these photos, I laid it on it’s back side and took photos of it that way.

This photo does not do it justice. I really do wish I had a way of hanging it for the photos, but it’s the best I could do at the time.

Although I’m sad I couldn’t get the Blue Bird ornaments, I’m very happy with this one. When it comes to Halloween decorations, I don’t like a lot of scary or horror decorations. I like cute and pretty Halloween decorations, especially anything that can be used for Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations, so this ornament is right up my alley. Also, this ornament can be used for Christmas decorations because it’s coloring isn’t the traditional Halloween colors. The only complaint I have about this ornament is that the gold has glitter on it. It does shed, but it’s not really bad and I don’t mind it.

Overall, I’m happy with my experience going to the Premiere Event and and the ornaments I bought. I hope to go back in to buy another ornament that I have my eye on. It gets released in October, so I will need to wait to buy it.

Thank you for reading!