To hate seasonal decor

[Outnumberedmummy2022]

Just that really- I was watching stories on instagram and I can’t help but notice people decorate differently for different seasons- eg. Pumpkin cushions/ornaments, halloweeny props (in sebtember) Xmas yeah that I understand. Summer different colour cushion covers, even rug changes etc. Easter little ornamental decorations, daffodil door wreaths etc etc. But it’s not celebs it’s everyday people! Has this always been a thing??

@HumanBurrito

What a lot of 💩

So does Waldorf/ Steiner.

As mentioned upthread, there are German customs around seasonal changes and they are behind the seasonal decor you find in America. There are many millions of Americans of German/ Austrian/ Prussian/ Bavarian/ Scandinavian descent who keep seasonal decor and soft furnishings in a box in the attic just as their grandparents did.

Oiy I loves my gleanings

I've got a black 🐈‍⬛ so forever decorated for Halloween 🎃

I do t do it but I'm beginning to change my mind!
Both of my sons have gf that they live with who change with the seasons. I quite like it. They are all house proud and it gi es the li ing room and downstairs loo a nice vibe. They change the colour if rhe towels, the room scent and rugs. In winter they use fairy type lights.
It's not tat that gets thrown away as it is reusable.

We're supposed to be scenting with cinnamon and cloves now.

Personally my log basket is enough scent for me.

Of course,but people are so dismissive of seasonal decoration as a concept, failing to acknowledge that for many people, it is not just some American import. It is how we live. How our ancestors lived.

It is like reading all the shite about how Halloween is new and imported, when some of us have always done it, or bemoan Easter being taken over by eggs and bunnies and not being Jesus-ish enough, when it started out as being nothing to do with jesus.

It is just really disrespectful of many people's traditions.

@Machiavellian the change in seasons has been celebrated LONG before SM & budget shops. It costs nothing to collect leaves, conquers, draw pictures & very little to buy wool if you want to knit a pumpkin. Papier mache or whatever.

Why do people always say this?
Seasonal bedding, cushions etc will not 'for straight to landfill' or create clutter any more than non-seasonal versions.

Used to hate the mess of making pumpkin faces, cutting out the bits. Then the stink when the candle sat in them. As for the whiff of rotting pumpkins ugh.

Nope don't miss that.

🤣🤣🤣

I've bought some Halloween stuff but I'll use it year round
The cat is not included but he says Halloween is perfect for him

My dear friend decorates for autumn. She puts up some pumpkin ornaments on her mantelpiece, fairylights and a throw on her sofa. It makes her home look cosy, her kids like it and she feels happier. I don't decorate for seasons, at most I pull out hot water bottles and buy nicer hot chocolate ( than I normally have in) and get marshmallows. I do think almost everything is commercislised now but my friend at least tends to reuse and rotate stuff. Surely it's each to their own?

My black cat sits on the windowsil all year, He's not just for Halloween.

When I was a kid, we always did stuff like making wreaths and garlands, season depending. We loved it, and it's something I've always liked keeping up with to some degree.

I'm also really interested in folk traditions, and a lot of that revolves around seasonal stuff. So we'll make stuff together as a family, and the kids enjoy it. Autumn wreaths, we had a go at making a cornucopia one year, I change candles around, make simmer pots for the smell. We collect leaves and make collages, which the kids get really excited about. Summer and Winter Solstice we'll make nice food, watch the sun set/rise. We watch it at Stonehenge via English Heritage stream. Obviously Christmas and Halloween/Samhain stuff.

It's just really fun and keeps a bit of excitement going throughout the year.

I hate this so much. From an environmental POV (unless you're making a leaf wreath from fallen leaves you've collected, or similar) then so much seasonal decor is absolute BS.

If I see another pool noodle mantel piece decoration I will 😱

Love all the MN posters justify their Halloween habit by saying oh it’s ok, it was my great grannies 100 year old tablecloth.

I think the OP mean the literal tonnes of plastic tat sold in shops like B&M.

I hate it and think it’s awful for the planet on one hand but on the other secretly love it as have a side hustle renting out containers that people pay a fortune for to store all their plastic tat in that they can’t store in their house!

I like the idea of this.. do you mind sharing where to find these wheels and almanacs, or do you make them yourself?

I’ve been thinking about living a bit more seasonally lately, but more along the lines of things to do, eat, read, etc. rather than decor. My cats won’t let me have nice things anyway.

Oi!
Hallowe'en is 100% a real holiday. It was always one of the biggest events of my DCs' year, along with the annual block party and Christmas. They always celebrated Valentine's Day in school too, with little cards and pieces of candy or bubble gum to pass around to all their classmates and their teacher (before the fun police swooped in and insisted candy was bad for children, so they came home with goody bags full of stickers or novelty pencils or small pieces of plastic tat instead).

Seriously though, Hallowe'en is a bone fide holiday, bigger in RC and Celtic fringe areas of the UK than places dominated by English culture/ puritanism, and it was brought to the US by the many millions of emigrants from Britain and Ireland.

I don’t do it - I am too poor in both time and money! - but I see the appeal in celebrating the seasons. There’s some beautiful to appreciate in every one and I think we are lucky to live in the UK where, although the weather can be a bit shite, there are distinct seasons over the course of the year. I’ve missed them when living in places where it was just hot / cold all year round! I don’t love it when autumn just gets reduced to Halloween though, or winter just to Christmas. There’s more to them than that!

I love it. It's one of my favourite things to do.

Not an autumn recommendation, but a winter one. Lovely book all about different folk traditions, different things you can do all the way through the winter season. I think there's one for Spring and maybe autumn, but I'm tired and can't be bothered searching right now!

A friend bought it for me a few years ago and I've incorporated ideas into our winter celebrations since. It's all cheap or free stuff, too, lots rooted in history and family/folk tradition. Everything we celebrate comes from somewhere - we've always celebrated the seasons. It's okay not to want to buy the stuff in B&M or not to do anything at all, but it's nothing different to what we've always done throughout history.

unbound.com/books/merry-midwinter#AboutSectionMobile

'Xmas you understand and totally get' because you've 'fallen for that marketing' for years. No one needs to decorate for Xmas or celebrate it either but you obviously do and think it's okay.

It's the exact same as others celebrating or simply decorating for other things - seasons included. It doesn't make anyone who doesn't do so any better or less marketing-immune.

However the recent thread by the overwhelmed mum that was stressed out by the expectations of all these random pointless things demonstrates that people don't necessarily enjoy it, they do it because social media makes them think it's compulsory they feel they have to

You could say the same about Christmas or anything really. Some people simply follow the crowd and do whatever but complain and don't really enjoy it; others do so because they love it.