Agree or Disagree?: Inflatable yard Christmas decor is tacky

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't make me happy. They remind me of all the junk people buy at the holidays and how much of it winds up in landfills and also how much oil and fuel gets used up shipping it to people's homes so they can do this stuff. I get some people use them year after year, but some people don't, and also it becomes another thing that people compete over so what starts as one house with a few tacky inflatables because entire neighborhoods full of them. Yes it is bad for the environment.

Also, there are lots of ways to make kids smile. You can hug them! Bake some cookies! Say you love them! You really do not have to buy a generator and a $100 piece of tacky plastic on Amazon to make your child smile during the holiday season.

Sorry to be a killjoy. I love holidays and celebrating with family and friends and enjoying food and I even like plenty of decorations, just not the plastic crap ones, and the yard inflatables are sort of the poster child for "plastic Christmas crap." I'm not a grinch but I can't get behind these.

Coming from a person who probably has a too big of a house and hires out lawn care...

Wrong on both counts. I live in a condo, don't have a lawn at all. I don't even own a car. I love how the responses to my post have all been "whatever, you're probably a hypocrite." But I'm actually not.

I bet a lot of you talking about how much you love the inflatable lawn ornaments also lecture people about recycling and claim to be environmentalists. But you'll hide behind "but the kids like it!" when you want to buy all your plastic crap from Amazon. Guess what, kids don't understand the implications of filling our lives with a metric ton of plastic waste that must be shipped using fossil fuels to arrive on your doorstep -- it's your job to know that.

The "it's for the kids" argument is particularly galling when you realize that the accumulation of all this plastic crap, delivered via the burning of yet more fossil fuels, is precisely what is destroying this planet "for the kids."

Anyway, I don't care if I'm a killjoy. You people need to hear this.

You are being righteous but neither you nor any of us have a good idea of the environmental footprint of most of our decisions. We try to do our best and balance concerns for the environment with other needs.

P.S. Out inflatable is recyclable and is a whole lot more environmentally friendly than often taunted environmental solutions like owning crypto, an electric vehicle etc

I think you mean “vaunted”, but who has said crypto is environmental? Good lord, it’s most certainly not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it. Kids love it. You’re boring!

Not boring. Santa is real and op is Scrooge.

Go away op. We have all had enough of cynical bitter adults who want to suck joy out of any and every single thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t figure out why but I like this thread. It makes me laugh that DCUM can fight about literally anything 😂😂.

and be offended by literally everything. So many sticks up so many butts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They don't make me happy. They remind me of all the junk people buy at the holidays and how much of it winds up in landfills and also how much oil and fuel gets used up shipping it to people's homes so they can do this stuff. I get some people use them year after year, but some people don't, and also it becomes another thing that people compete over so what starts as one house with a few tacky inflatables because entire neighborhoods full of them. Yes it is bad for the environment

No one is throwing these out each year. They aren't cheap. They are very easy to store, not taking up much space at all. They are more environmentally friendly than most holiday decor (fake garland/trees/wresth, hard plastic decor from the 90s, christmas lights)

No one throws them away. Everyone reuses them.

Also do you all know that those plastic blow mold Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving decorations sell for a huge amount of money? One guy designed a bunch of them and people worship him. A turkey blow mold for Thanksgiving regularly sells for $200 even if it has been beaten to hell since whenever it was made. There are sets that sell for nearly $1000. Go check out ebay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several neighbors have inflatable Christmas decor in their front yard, and it is so tacky blowing around in the wind. Does anyone else find this method of decorating tacky and cheap looking?

Tacky, cheap, ugly, annoying, tasteless and environmentally dumb. Its the second worst thing for yard, next to chain link fence.

Let me guess. You are immigrants and don't celebrate these holidays.

I'm going to buy more to put in my yard. Thanks for the reminder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Toronto and there’s a neighborhood that has over 50 giant inflatable Santas every year.
It’s fun.
https://www.blogto.com/city/2018/12/kringlewood-giant-santas-toronto/

That’s awesome. I was out in the Shenandoah a week before Thanksgiving and passed a house with about 150 of all types of Santa figures all over lawn. A lot of them were the old fashioned hard plastic ones like I remember seeing in peoples’ yards when I was a child… real antiques.

Lol when I was younger I was very mindful of not appearing tacky, very conservative, but now that I have a young child who loves inflatables I put them up every Halloween and Christmas. I completely get the “when I am an old lady I shall wear purple”. I’m not that old yet. If I’m really not sure why younger me was so concerned about what other people think. Plus they really annoy my painfully uptight neighbor… so that is a bonus!

I feel you and I love you.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree. They don’t give me any warm feelings about the holiday at all and very glad none of our neighbors put them up. As a PP said they are OK as parts of vibrant light displays but not on their own.

Also I resent the use of “bah humbug” to anyone who expresses dislike for cheap rampant commercialization of Christmas .

That term from the holiday classic acted out at Ford theater every year refers to dismissing acts of charity and goodwill around the holiday seasons expressing Christ’s admonitions to show special kindness to the vulnerable. Bah humbug is not a valid defense of slathering around plastic holiday crap made in Chinese sweatshops by child laborers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone's going to be visited by a few ghosts soon....

[Anonymous]

Several of my neighbors had inflatables up last week but I haven’t seen any all week. I wonder if they saw this thread, lol. Inflatables don’t bother me but I prefer lights and wreaths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree. They don’t give me any warm feelings about the holiday at all and very glad none of our neighbors put them up. As a PP said they are OK as parts of vibrant light displays but not on their own.

Also I resent the use of “bah humbug” to anyone who expresses dislike for cheap rampant commercialization of Christmas .

That term from the holiday classic acted out at Ford theater every year refers to dismissing acts of charity and goodwill around the holiday seasons expressing Christ’s admonitions to show special kindness to the vulnerable. Bah humbug is not a valid defense of slathering around plastic holiday crap made in Chinese sweatshops by child laborers.

The commercialization of Christmas is a time-honored American tradition all by itself.

[Anonymous]

My inner 7 year old loves them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone's going to be visited by a few ghosts soon....

Yes and the ghost of Christmas Futures will feature apocalyptic dystopias of desolate American suburbs and small towns with enormous inflatable Christmas decorations all year round … surrounded by cheap American flags all made in foreign sweat shops by children … Coca Cola will pioneer the “No yard left behind” campaign filling American yards with inflatable Coca Cola versions of Santa Claus …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Several of my neighbors had inflatables up last week but I haven’t seen any all week. I wonder if they saw this thread, lol. Inflatables don’t bother me but I prefer lights and wreaths.

The wind this week has been nuts. I had my inflatables down the past few nights. They’ll go back up tonight

[Anonymous]

I hate them
My kids think they look cheap and stupid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't make me happy. They remind me of all the junk people buy at the holidays and how much of it winds up in landfills and also how much oil and fuel gets used up shipping it to people's homes so they can do this stuff. I get some people use them year after year, but some people don't, and also it becomes another thing that people compete over so what starts as one house with a few tacky inflatables because entire neighborhoods full of them. Yes it is bad for the environment.

Also, there are lots of ways to make kids smile. You can hug them! Bake some cookies! Say you love them! You really do not have to buy a generator and a $100 piece of tacky plastic on Amazon to make your child smile during the holiday season.

Sorry to be a killjoy. I love holidays and celebrating with family and friends and enjoying food and I even like plenty of decorations, just not the plastic crap ones, and the yard inflatables are sort of the poster child for "plastic Christmas crap." I'm not a grinch but I can't get behind these.

Coming from a person who probably has a too big of a house and hires out lawn care...

Wrong on both counts. I live in a condo, don't have a lawn at all. I don't even own a car. I love how the responses to my post have all been "whatever, you're probably a hypocrite." But I'm actually not.

I bet a lot of you talking about how much you love the inflatable lawn ornaments also lecture people about recycling and claim to be environmentalists. But you'll hide behind "but the kids like it!" when you want to buy all your plastic crap from Amazon. Guess what, kids don't understand the implications of filling our lives with a metric ton of plastic waste that must be shipped using fossil fuels to arrive on your doorstep -- it's your job to know that.

The "it's for the kids" argument is particularly galling when you realize that the accumulation of all this plastic crap, delivered via the burning of yet more fossil fuels, is precisely what is destroying this planet "for the kids."

Anyway, I don't care if I'm a killjoy. You people need to hear this.

I just had printed 100 boxes of trial exhibits. I killed a small Brazilian rainforest, polluted a stream near the paper factory, used fedex and guzzled gas to have them transported, etc,. Can’t wait to get home and set up my inflatables!

... congratulations?

It's weird that the people who love plastic inflatables are the "good guys" on this thread.