I really don’t need matches. I am a passionate nonsmoker. They always gave them away for free, though, so I always grabbed one. (I can’t resist taking the little shampoo bottles from hotels, either.) It became a history of all the restaurants I was going to.
For one of them, a cool Greek restaurant in Chicago, when the waitress saw I was disappointed that they didn’t have matches, she wrote the name of the place in a matchbook’s inside cover for me with an enthusiastic “Opaa.” (Pictured upper right.)
When they made restaurants smoke-free (thank goodness) in Connecticut and elsewhere, the restaurants tended to stop giving out matches. I stopped collecting them.
I keep them in an old shoebox in my basement. It was fun to look through them again and remember the times I had and some trips I took. Many of the restaurants have since closed.
- Do you collect anything?
- Do you spot any places you’ve been to?
You can check out other collections at Adventuroo by clicking the button below.
And I laughed at the "American Fried Rice." } – 
I used to collect them too (though your collection seriously has me beat). I love the Opaa one and the story behind it! I really like that piano one too!
Thanks so much for linking up!
Melissa {adventuroo} recently posted..Capture the Everyday: Something You Collect
Thanks. My favorites now are the ones of the places that have closed. They’re a little piece of history. There’s one for Caldor, too, a department store I used to work in that closed.
Marcy recently posted..Scavenger Hunt Sunday (November 13, 2011)
I get a Christmas ornament (or key chain to use as one) from everywhere we go
Shannon ~ My Place In The Race recently posted..Bang Bang Fantastic
How great! It must be so much fun each year when you take them out.
Actually, I kind of miss matchbooks too (and I never really collected them and definitely didn’t smoke). I’m an avid smashed penny collector, myself.
Shannon recently posted..CHRISTMAS CHARITY CRAFTING
We used to put pennies on track tracks near my grandmother’s house when I was a kid. I loved finding them all stretched out.
hello i was just wondering are any of these matches valuable because we found a ton of matches and we are just wondering
Hi,
I don’t think they’re valuable. They’re just for memories of god times.