Neighbors decorations

[Bonny]

I'm not much of a decorator although one of my friends REALLY gets into it.

I used to think it was kind of a waste of money and in my orignally blue collar town there was often a corollation between the shabbiest looking houses and how many decorations were out.

But then Covid hit and I had an appreciation for the decorations that I never had before. I loved laughing and being delighted by them.

I am no longer that judgmental b*tch. 

[soupandstew]

Oct 27, 2023 17:04:19 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I'm not much of a decorator although one of my friends REALLY gets into it.

I used to think it was kind of a waste of money and in my orignally blue collar town there was often a corollation between the shabbiest looking houses and how many decorations were out.

But then Covid hit and I had an appreciation for the decorations that I never had before. I loved laughing and being delighted by them.

I am no longer that judgmental b*tch. 

I hear you. Around me there's a lot of backlash against holiday decorations as something only Hispanics (particularly illegal immigrants) do so that's a good chunk of why I do it.  I'm half-Hispanic and 100% legal so I sort of enjoy pushing back on the stupids.  Especially the folks that say it's okay to have a 10-foot illuminated cross at Christmas time but file a complaint about a 4-foot Virgin of Guadalupe statue during the rest of the year.  

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Oct 24, 2023 13:17:36 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

We have large lots in our neighborhood and the neighbors across the street always do a big display of inflatables. I think they had six of them for Halloween- which is fine, I’m sure the kids love it.

However- they took the Halloween ones down on the 21st and put up Thanksgiving turkey inflatables. Currently they have a rowboat full of skeletons sitting at the edge of their pond and four large inflated turkeys???

I suspect the problem is they have a whole squad of decorations to put up for Christmas (they have a five acre lot) and it usually takes several weeks to get everything up - so they are moving Halloween and Thanksgiving up to allow more time for the big show.

I’ll be interested to see if the blow up turkeys in pilgrim hats make it to thanksgiving.

Seems like a lot of work. And money. I throw a holiday wreath on the door if I remember to, do I guess I’m a party pooper. My neighbors probably hate my lazy ass.

It is a lot of work. It is a lot of money.
If inflatables are wet when it’s time to take them down, it takes months to dry them out.
Because of our current location, we have condensed football, Halloween, and Thanksgiving to just the month of October instead of each one having its own month.
We get Christmas decorations set up the week following Thanksgiving and take it down the few days after Christmas.
Our hope is that it brings at least a few people joy.
Current status:

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Oct 24, 2023 20:10:54 GMT -5 giramomma said:

We don't decorate outside much.

I did contemplate taking the missy out for an evening drive to look at the decorations, as I think she would get a kick out of them.

Which is our entire goal—that someone gets a kick out of them. There are only two of ours that are scary. Unless you count the spiders. I think we have three of those. [mention]pinkcashmere [/mention] wouldn’t like those.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Oct 25, 2023 19:46:28 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

Last year, I gave away all but a few of my Christmas decorations.
This year, I gave away my Halloween/Fall decorations. I don't have the energy to cart them from my unattached garage, put them up, then take them down and cart them back out to my garage and store them again. And since I don't get visitors, I'm over it.

DD2 and her husband however, do it up big time every year, with different decor. They've been having people come by, stop and take pictures for a couple of weeks. They've received the "yard of the month" award before. I think they have 5 or 6 GIANT inflatables up this year, along with colored lights and spot lights, etc outside, this year, so far. They also have changed their inside decor including a long black casket runner rug at the front door and a large skeleton head, round rug, pillows and and other inside decor.
Every year, they out do the year before, at Halloween. People come, just to see what they've done this year. And they give full size candy bars and treats, which is a draw.

I usually take my treats to their house and pass out treats, while they take their kids trick or treating. Last year, his mom did too, so I might not go, this year. But I did buy good treats to give out, wherever I end up. (Hostess snacks and bags of mini cheeseballs)

I also have three seasons of indoor decor
—regular
—autumn
—winter

Pillows, rugs, towels, serving dishes, etc.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Oct 24, 2023 14:54:35 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Oct 24, 2023 14:24:38 GMT -5 resolution said:

Our first year at this house we had as many kids walk past the house as we had come up the steps to knock for trick or treat. I don't know if they expected everyone to sit outside with a table full of candy, but we kept seeing them hesitate, and some had discussions over whether they should knock or not, even with the porch light on.  My husband started waving at them through the mail slot in the door, which is how we got most of our trick or treaters.

Last year I added a lit up pumpkin man, and we still needed to wave through the mail slot, but we got around 500 kids.

This year, since we have half the downstairs windows boarded up, I painted the boards in addition to displaying the pumpkin man. Hopefully we won't have to flag down the kids again.

Holy crap!  500 kids??  That's a lot of candy!

I don't decorate, but we're out in the country, so no trick or treaters.  I still buy candy.  Because it's candy.

As for decorating, that's one of the few areas where I'm really good at being a minimalist.    Your porch is what I would consider tastefully decorated...if I actually decorated.  I usually throw a couple pumpkins and corn shocks out on the steps, but that's about it. 

While we have the inflatables, I attempt “tasteful” for the porches and indoors.

[happyhoix]

I need to get off my lazy ass and clean / decorate the front porch - tonight may be truck or treat night.

[wvugurl26]

I enjoy decorating but some seasons get away from me. I at least try to switch the wreath/door decoration at a minimum. Our front door just looks so plain without something. I do some outside stuff but our front yard is tiny.

[Pink Cashmere]

Oct 28, 2023 0:06:58 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Oct 24, 2023 20:10:54 GMT -5 giramomma said:

We don't decorate outside much.

I did contemplate taking the missy out for an evening drive to look at the decorations, as I think she would get a kick out of them.

Which is our entire goal—that someone gets a kick out of them. There are only two of ours that are scary. Unless you count the spiders. I think we have three of those. [mention]pinkcashmere [/mention] wouldn’t like those.

[toomuchreality]

Oct 29, 2023 0:22:41 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Oct 28, 2023 0:06:58 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Which is our entire goal—that someone gets a kick out of them. There are only two of ours that are scary. Unless you count the spiders. I think we have three of those. [mention]pinkcashmere [/mention] wouldn’t like those.

My "new" neighbor who thinks it's a good idea to buy and play drums, while living in an apt, also thinks it's a great idea to decorate the outside of his apt, with a GIANT hairy black spider. ALL year long. It's one of the first things he put up, when he was moving in. Before he had furniture, or anything else.
He's a male version of an entitled Karen, who loves to argue and is very loud and opinionated. YUCK.

[happyhoix]

Well, just like I thought, the neighbors bumped Thanksgiving.

Last weekend, all the smaller thanksgiving decor disappeared. Everything except the big blow up turkey at the end of the driveway. Also, a small platoon of blow up snowmen in various costumes entered stage right. Ok, disrespectful to Thanksgiving, but not tremendously Christmasy yet.

That was just the weekend work, though. I’ve been working until after dark every night this week, which means when I come home, the neighborhood’s yard is glowing like a beacon. Each day, a new flourish - all the trees got some kind of moving led light icicle things, then a flock of maybe (?) blow up candles in Easter egg colors, followed by a another pack of snowmen (maybe some angels) curving around the edge of the pond.

I think the only thing missing (at least compared to last year) is the 3/4 life size nativity scene. Maybe they’re waiting to get past Thanksgiving before officially rolling out the Christ child and starting the Christmas season.

Meanwhile, I put up a fall wreath on the door for Halloween, and left it up for Thanksgiving. A week before Christmas, I’ll put a Christmas wreath on the door and put up the tree. A week after Christmas, it will all be put away. My neighbors must absolutely hate me - I’m a grinch !!!!

[Tennesseer]

Neighbors and others need to remember:

[NastyWoman]

Nov 17, 2023 21:16:25 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Neighbors and others need to remember:

What a crotchety old man. And the creep goes by "jolly" to make it worse. 

[alabamagal]

When we lived in Alabama we had a neighbor with a lot of inflatables who was a procrastinator. First year we moved in at end of Feb and there were about 30 deflated inflatables in the yard. We called them the dead Santa’s. Think they were out until end of March. Next year they went out a week before Christmas, made it past end of Jan, but we never saw them inflated - we drove by his house every trip in or out. 3rd year was similar schedule and we finally saw them inflated! Last year we were there no decorations.