To think decorating your home for different seasons is silly

[harrisaar]

I LOVE autumn, and Christmas. So much. I understand decorating for Halloween maybe a couple of weeks before it if you’ve got kids and they’re excited to Trick or treat or they’re having parties etc. And Christmas decorations through December, fair enough

What I’ve been noticing is most homeware shops and supermarkets alike are full to the brim of autumn decor. Cushions, throws, pumpkin bedding, wall art, Halloween bath mats… the list goes on. If you were to kit your home out and make it autumnal, as pretty as it would look that’s a huge expense for items you won’t really want on display after October. Not great for the environment either. AIBU to think why??

Each to their own and it does make people happy. I think it’s wasteful more than anything - but no worse than cheap throwaway fashion.

I don't really do it but I think it looks lovely. Especially when spring starts to come in and everything's all pastel coloured and light.

It depends on how you do it as to whether it's wasteful though surely?

I mean I make most decorations I have so I'm not the best person to comment but bedding for example, if someone has Christmas bedding that they use for the month of Christmas, so long as they are not throwing out bedding before it's worn out then their normal bedding lasts a month longer for every year its used and the Christmas bedding should last years.

I love decorating my home for each of the seasons, I've worked hard to finance and renovate my house and it's very much where I spend most of my time outside of work so I enjoy a good faff 😅

I have shelving in my kitchen that I put pumpkins on and scented candles and hang an autumn wreath on my door.

At Christmas there's always lots of twinkly lights and festive theme throughout the house. Come spring it's lots of daffodils, easter bunnies etc.

I also pack it all away and get it out each year so wouldn't say it's wasteful.

I know it isn't for everyone and it's massively commercialised, but I just enjoy it, and god do we need to be allowed to find our small joys in a world that is constantly telling us to be miserable.

Yes agreed and I’m the same, I buy house things that I’ll use year on year (same with clothes). But a lot of people will just want to spend £20 or whatever on cute trend driven seasonal things from B&M/Primark/Amazon that end up in the bin.

But people do that without decorating every season too.

Being wasteful is being wasteful. Decorating for the seasons isn’t, innately, wasteful.

People who decorate for the seasons are necessarily being wasteful. Just like people who don’t decorate for the seasons could be very wasteful. Just in different ways.

I change my cushion covers in September from my green Orla Kiely ones to my olive green tartan ones. That’s it!

We used to do this as kids when the clocks changed but not in a tat way. We used to change our curtains from light summer ones to heavy winter ones, change our duvets from summer to winter ones and add a blanket to the bottom of the bed and pop some blankets on the end of the sofas. We also used to run the coal down and clean the coal house out in spring and do the reverse with the curtains and duvets.

I have plans for this weekend that include getting out the Autumnal throws for the sofas (cream with a leaf pattern) and changing the cushion covers to ones that kind of match the throws. Also, my Autumn tea light holders will come out. That’s it.
Then, come 01 December, the Christmas throws etc come out.
That’s it. It does look nice though.

@DaisyWaldron I thought most people did this too. I assumed the OP was meaning full themed decor and accessories.

It's always the same on these threads, everyone saying that they are 100% sustainable, reusing for decades, definitely not buying tat from China or the seasonal aisle in Home Bargains. That's all bought by the "other people".

But they are buying into the idea that it is essential to redecorate and have ornaments or whatever for each season of the year.

Absolutely each to their own and I'm sure if I was a millionaire with unlimited storage space I might be happy enough to own a full Christmas china dinner service and Halloween cushions etc ... but yeah, I'm amazed that enough people buy this sort of thing to make it worthwhile stocking them for the average high street retailer. Decorating the house with a few bits seems pretty normal but swapping cushions, bed-linen, china etc seems bit extra to me! I wouldn't judge someone for doing it but I'd certainly wonder where they were keeping it all out-of-season.

I love it, I love making our home look cosy for the autumn. I don’t go over the top - we have a leafy garland and a couple of little pumpkins and 2 autumn candles on the fireplace, a wreath on the inner front door, a pumpkin cookie jar which gets replaced with a gingerbread man in December and then a bunny one in the spring. We use the same things year in, year out, so I don’t know how it’s bad for the environment, we’re not throwing everything away every year!

Yanbu. Some people have way too much time on their hands, clearly.

It is just a way for shops (and influencers) to sell more tat to the gullible.

@Icannoteven a lot of what I display I make.
Hand made crafts - I sew, I paint etc
I also design and create seasonal themed Lego Builds.
They are my hobbies. They are my fun. I do them in my spare time.
Sorry if my hobbies aren't to your approval. When I have some spare time on my hands what hobbies are acceptable to you?

I can understand people going in for general autumn decorations, the same for the other seasons too. Christmas decorations are obviously a must. I don't get the point of halloween decorations though, it's not like Christmas where you can have them up for a few weeks, with halloween it's acceptable to have decorations for literally one day (and barely acceptable at that) so it's pointless getting general decorations for it.

Cycling😁 But don't tell anyone because it's outing

@InYourHeadZombieeeaeaeaea nah I live in a place with to many hills 😂

I do this!

I've got some 'art work' which is basically DSs favourite leaves in a frame collected when he was about 2/3.

I've got bath towels in seasonal colours, extra blankets come out on the sofa in autumn as well. We also have seasonal bed sets.

Obviously were not mega strict with it, so sometimes the Christmas bedding goes on mid summer or the orange towels come out in spring but general rule applies.

This

I have those little pumpkins from Aldi dotted by the fireplaces, my lush smelling candles and a few garlands on the mantles.

I do it because I want to 😀

I’ve got a Halloween decoration box as big as the Christmas one. Decorations are up for about 3 weeks. No kids either. How silly!

Thank you very much !

It doesn't hurt anyone.

I think it's ok for people to do what brings them pleasure.

I don't see how it's any different to growing flowers in your garden, or painting your home in a colour you like. It doesn't really achieve anything, but they like it. Having a home you like is nice.

i popped into The Range last wk hoping to buy a nice plant holder & indoor houseplant and it was aisle after aisle of Halloween tat and Xmas tat. I honestly don't know where people store it for most of the year! Or how people can afford it all. They had an 8 ft inflatable clown (think Pennywise) that was just awful & pretty creepy & cost £45. Each to their own & all that but it's annoying when I can't find the things I actually want to buy at some of my favourite shops. I understand Xmas decorations as they could be up a full month (or even longer if you like to get the tree up in October or whatever) but people don't really leave Halloween stuff up for longer than a week so I can't really see the point personally.

I decorate for Autumn. Love it , get out my velvet and rattan pumpkins. Fake autumn leaves with fairy lights. My candles come out but I reuse them every year and they only fill one box so it's not wasteful and they come down end of November for Christmas.