inflatable Christmas decorations.

[rodeodance]

If i was to do a war on chrismas, it would be to outlaw these.
i have seen too many just looking like trash in yards-as this quote says---and think of the plastic it takes to make these huge decorations.\
Waste waste waste. I sound like a grump, guess I am when it comes to these monsters!

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"The children must enjoy it, but we were noticing how when they’re deflated, these things look like trash."
ROBERT RICKERT, on inflatable Christmas decorations.

[notadmblnd]

1. I see dead Santas.....

and snowmen all over the place. I hate the things too but you can't regulate good taste.

[maine_raptor]

2. So is it ok

if I put little Santa stocking caps on the Pink Flamingos on my lawn?

[POAS]

3. Good idea

I'll put one on my Buddha!

[China_cat]

10. OH...that sounds lovely

when compared to some I've seen.

[rodeodance]

11. te he.

[lostnfound]

4. I know what you mean. More time, more taste, less waste..

Or perhaps not less waste but more creativity.

Oh for national pastime that stemmed from the soul, like papier mache, or knitting, or snowmen competitions, or wreath-making, crafts. But there is a certain amount of waste in many of these things, too.

And the only snowmen to survive in global warming may be the plastic ones..

Though the 3 year olds may enjoy seeing them, the lack of authenticity of the darned things means they hold no charm for the 6 and up crowd, I think, so I tend to agree with you. Each to their own, I guess.

[GreenZoneLT]

5. Noise pollution

I don't mind tacky decorations; I kinda like it when people take it to nutty excess. But those inflatables all have a droning fan; add a bunch of those up and it's truly obnoxious.

[Drifter]

6. Modern day pink flamingos ...

Thank goodness there aren't inflatables for year round.

Cheers
Drifter

[AllegroRondo]

26. Oh, there are

one of the stores I saw them at bragged that they now have "an inflatable for every holiday!". I've already seen plenty of them in yards at halloween, July 4th, and easter.

[WildClarySage]

7. Nothing says Merry Christmas

like a 10' plastic Snowman. Where's yer holiday spirit???

[rodeodance]

12. it goes PUFF when I see them.

[Saturday]

8. You must be reading my mind,

Just yesterday I drove past several in different yards deflated and lying on the lawn. I said to DH, "What's the point of that decoration?" It did look like garbage now that you mention it.

[WinkyDink]

9. I hate them because I find them ugly as sin.

[annabanana]

13. There are lots of these in my neighborhood. . and when

the homeowners aren't home, they turn off the fan. This leaves the whole place looking like front yards are full of spent condoms.

Not the Christmas image they would like to think they are projecting, I'm sure.

[BlueJazz]

14. "Spent Condoms" LOL!!

[Tracer]

19. They need a fan??!!!

I thought that they were just pumped up!

Because, as I look out my window, across the street there is a "dead" Santa sprawled on my neighbor's lawn --- and I thought that he just had a slow leak!

[pitohui]

24. that's what i thought but my hubby agrees that they do need a fan

apparently our evil neighbors are turning off the fan when they leave the house so the neighborhood can only be scenic and attractive when they are at home

selfish shitheads

i'm tempted to stick a pin in these inflatables myself but twouldn't be in the spirit of xmas so i'll just gnash my teeth and mutter darkly behind their backs per usual

[sarge43]

15. But they are more fun to take pot shots at than road signs.

"Got me a Santa, a Rudolph and a Virgin Mary today."

[pitohui]

16. and they don't stay inflated so they look like crap

one of my neighbors has several of these, they spend more time on the lawn completely deflated than not, it's really sorry, esp. since everyone else has such a nice light display

[xultar]

17. I don't like them either. But it is a quick easy way to get something out for the kids.

Most of the time I see them deflated looking like garbage.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. The only cool one I've seen is in front of a neighbors house. it's a carousel and

actually goes around. The rest are gross and they all do look like trash (including the carousel) in the cold light of daytime.

[seaglass]

20. I saw an inflatable nativity scene, with Joseph's role played by

Santa. Well that's what I thought when I first passed it because he had on a red suit and a beard. I made my husband drive by it again because I thought it was really tacky. On second passing I noticed that the beard was brown - a clear giveaway that it wasn't Santa.

My husband and daughter had a great time laughing at me about it, after that every time we saw a Santa decoration they'd yell out "Oh look, there's Joseph on a sleigh!" "And there's Joseph over there with the reindeer" "And look - there's Joseph with Frosty!"

I have to admit it was pretty damned funny until the 15th sighting of "Joseph."

[rucky]

21. It had to be said. n/t

[mtnsnake]

22. I couldn't agree more

It is a waste and they're so cheesy. In my area, the people who have them can't stop at just having one. They load their yards up with tons of the goofy looking things. It's not that I don't appreciate people celebrating the holidays, it's just that these inflatables are too much in your face.

There's this one beautiful place in the country that has a pond surrounded by spruce trees, each one daintily strung with muted blue lights. Their place is situated on a sweeping curve in the highway. When you approach their house the lighted trees around the pond appear to be moving as if on a massive natural carousel, due to the optical illusion that the curve in the highway causes as you drive. Each year, my family and I drive out to see it numerous times during the holidays. This year, unfortunately, the neighbor of these people started loading up his yard with those atrocious lit-up inflatables and it really hurts the entire effect of the guy with the spruces because it's so close to the first people's property. The spruce place is still amazing, regardless, though.

[deepthought42]

23. Those things are disgusting,

cheesy, tacky, a waste of money, resources and fucking UGLY!!! :rant:

Did anyone see the ones they had for Halloween? Talk about pathetic...

If I had any control over the Xmas decoration on my house, I'd do away w/the lit-up seal balancing a fucking ball...geez! WTF does that have to do w/any holiday!? :wtf:

[poverlay]

25. Wait until some hoolligan teens decide it's fun to slash them open. Then

they'll truly be trash. $60-$120 trash...

[Lone_Star_Dem]

32. I saw a news clip last week of just that taking place

There was someone who had been attacking one homeowners Christmas decorations so they set up a hidden camera to catch them in the act. They had footage on the news of two men with knives slashing away at a 10 foot Frosty The Snowman. Frosty held his own for a while, but in the end he was outnumbered and deflated in defeat.

I think they had charged the two with vandalism.

[deepthought42]

27. Of all the Xmas decorations

in the mall where I work part-time, the ONLY religious holiday decoration is the Menorah. Not one semi-religious Christmas decoration. So how is Xmas a religious holiday anymore? It seems many so-called Xtians care more about acquiring stuff in the name of Jesus rather than actually thinking about the religious reasons for the holiday. I don't celebrate xmas as a religious holiday, but then I'm not religious. It just pisses me off when Xtians get so up in arms about the so-called "War on Christmas" when they're being so damn hypocritical about how they celebrate it... fucking a... :rant:

[Bobbie Jo]

28. Thank you! n/t

[bedazzled]

29. i even feel guilty wasting energy for christmas lights

the idea of buying tacky lawn junk is abhorrant to me.
i can't bear the idea of sending money to china for more
repulsive plastic junk that probably won't last a
season -- and having to use an air blower
all day to boot! you can't even buy a swim
tube or beach ball that lasts for a day anymore.

i don't mind the stand alone plastic stuff they had
when i was a kid so much -- at least it didn't use
energy, and lasted for 50 years.

i do a couple of strings of lights during christmas/new
years week, and put up a lighted tree, because my young
son likes 'em. wouldn't do them otherwise -- a wreath
is fine.

[JNelson6563]

30. It's amazing isn't it?

They've got these giant dome like things filled with scenes of inflated characters within. I see them and I just think to myself "why?". They are so ugly! *sigh*

My neighbors across the street have an old fashioned mager scene on their lawn. He made the little structure and they put straw down and have the traditional characters. It's very nicely done and clearly focuses on the actual "Christmas" aspect of things.

Though I'm an atheist I appreciate their efforts and lack of hypocrisy. Oh, and these folks are not very religious, just earnest.

I believe the American public is reaching frenzied consumerism levels. Everywhere you look you see people just buying stuff for the sake of buying and having it. All have been so programmed to believe that one must spend all one has and more, if possible. Just wait till the coming financial storm hits. The shock will be astounding.

Julie

[applegrove]

31. I love em. The more the merrier!

[HuffleClaw]

33. they are an abomination

fuuuuuuuuugly as hell. uglier even than plywood cutouts and thats saying something.

[poverlay]

39. Heeeey, I love my plywood cutouts. A very tasteful snowman family lit with a

classy blue light.

Pick on your own tacky ornamentation. I work hard on mine.

In fact it took me 15 helium ballons to get 25 strands of gold and purple lights into my 50 ft tall ash tree this year and everyone not only loved them, they got a good laugh out of watching me put them up!

[Katherine Brengle]

34. Ugh, if nothing else they are just plain tacky.

Every time I see one, my blood gets a bit closer to boiling...

[havocmom]

35. "Saw Santa, face down, takin a dirt bath', next door to you"

was how a local pal described the situation.

Imagine the horror of the little children, coming upon the scene on their way to school! We MUST stop the inflatable Christmas desacrations... FOR THE CHILDREN!

did I phrase that correctly?

[Fleshdancer]

36. My hypocritical stance on inflatable decorations:

I don't like them BUT if they start making a huge inflatable version of the leg lamp from The Christmas Story, I am so totally buying one. :D

[hfojvt]

37. anybody who puts one in their yard

loses all progressive cred with me.

Unless they inflate them with cigarette smoke, or exhaust from their SUV.


Some of these things are kinda cool when one person in town does it. When they get to be too numerous, then it is not cool. What my hometown had, which seems to be unique was neighborhood themes. There was a CandyCane Lane, a Christmas Card Lane, and some others that I do not remember (Christmas Card Lane was on my paper route). In the days before icicles I think we had a string of outdoor lights that may have gone up one or two years and a wreath on the front door, but except for sometimes putting the tree in front of the picture window in front, my parents did not do outside decorating. Which I have to be thankful for, because as elder son I am sure I would have been dragooned into helping.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

38. Flavor of the month.

They will soon go out of style. American consumers like new stuff. Remember the wire reindeer of yesterday? Hardly saw any this year. Of course living next to the ocean, they do rust quickly.