Christmas Shakers

Christmas is one of the largest categories for decorative salt and pepper shakers and this category most likely comprises the largest segment of my collection. These are two recent acquisitions and represent a very small fraction of the Christmas salt and pepper shakers that I own.

Above is a cute dog wearing his Christmas sweater and sitting next to a fire hydrant that is decked out with a big red and green striped bow and mistletoe.

Below are two sock monkeys adorned with their red and green bows. Both sets came from Cracker Barrel in 2009.

Thanksgiving Shakers

These are some of my oldest Thanksgiving Salt and Pepper shakers. They are made by Fitz and Floyd.

These are the Publix Pilgrim and Lil'grim shakers that were always for sale at the store during the holidays. Some years they were so popular that people would buy up every set and then sell them on Ebay for a higher amount. There was a commercial that featured them, which was part of what made them so popular. Below is a YouTube link to the video.

Tricks or Treats- Something's Shaking

Holidays have always been a very popular theme for ceramic salt and pepper shakers. Here are a couple of my favorites for Halloween.

The top set is from Fitz and Floyd and the bottom set are made by Vandor

How this obsession got started

I was about 22 years old when I bought my first salt and pepper shakers. I am now into my 50's. It was two little birds in a cracked egg stand. They have a luster ware glaze and indicate that they were made in Japan. 

The next set was these two bridesmaids, also in luster ware. The one on the left has unfortunately cracked the front of her dress, but I was able to glue it back into place. They were also made in Japan. 


I was fascinated with how different they were and how varied. I knew even then that they had to be ceramic and the salt and pepper had to be different from each other. This rule has occasionally been violated when people buy them for me as presents, or bring them back from trips, or pick a set up that they found somewhere. This hobby started out very much under control until I went to a national S & P convention in Minneapolis and learned exactly how many S & Ps are out there and how woefully puny my collection was. Around the same time, I discovered Ebay and then things started to get out of control. I have no idea how many S & Ps I actually own, but I have to believe that it is well over 1000. This blog is intended to showcase the S & Ps in my collection with some stories of how I acquired them and where they came from; with stories about new acquisitions as well. I hope you will enjoy learning about my collection as much as I have enjoyed collecting it. Reed