Page 8 | To think decorating your home for different seasons is silly

harrisaar · 2023-09-26T18:53:46+00:00

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??

HoneyBadgerMom · 03/10/2023 02:33

Now Halloween is "bad for the environment." Is anyone ever allowed to actually enjoy anything, or is that also bad for the environment? 🙄

McIntire · 03/10/2023 02:57

Is it any different to Christmas decorations though and possibly a substitute for those who don’t celebrate it.

I don’t specifically, but do change my throws from cotton to fur or wool. A few more candles and fairy lights etc.

In the UK there is massive differences in the weather throughout the seasons and clothes reflect that. Other countries may not get those extremes and it’s one way of embracing each season with change I suppose

HazelDean · 03/10/2023 03:50

Decorating your house for the seasons is a very American thing to do- especially for "The Fall". I think the UK is just copying. I've lived in the states for 10 years and have finally succumbed to buying a Fall themed table runner!

mathanxiety · 03/10/2023 04:10

I don't do it myself but I feel you're overthinking this.

If money isn't an object, why not?

mathanxiety · 03/10/2023 04:13

Bouncyball23 · 26/09/2023 20:30

Copying the USA who have done this for many years.

MN Bingo....

How did it happen that British people know so little of their past?

mathanxiety · 03/10/2023 04:15

bopbey · 26/09/2023 20:54

It's a social media American thing isn't it though; "decorating for fall". I decorate for easter, xmas & halloween. I suppose summer to autumn is one of the more noticeable seasonal shifts & I do change my bedding eg use a duvet etc

No, it's a really, really old British thing.

mathanxiety · 03/10/2023 04:16

Saschka · 26/09/2023 21:23

I always associate it with bored, rich American soccer moms with too much time on their hands (which is honestly no criticism, if I didn’t work and my kids were in high school I’d probably do it too as it gives you a project).

We do have some Halloween decorations, but mostly because DS had a Halloween party last year (it fell on a weekend) so we bough a lot of stuff for that.

You'd be mistaken then...

Yassification100 · 03/10/2023 05:42

It’s one thing to have a few seasonal cushions and bits you swap out through the year, but buying swathes of glittery pumpkins and ghastly ‘I love fall most of all’ signs every year is environmentally disastrous and, imo, a poor use of money. I think people can enjoy the seasons without needing their houses to resemble the Seasonal Goods aisle in a supermarket but that’s one of the dangers of social media, isn’t it - it normalises the idea that everyone is treating their houses like they’re theme parks and creates peer pressure on others to do the same.

Sehenswürdigkeiten · 03/10/2023 07:07

It is a money making scheme, however if folk enjoy it/can afford it/have decorations from previous years then why not?

InYourHeadZombieeeaeaeaea · 03/10/2023 07:15

I have bigger issues with majority of fresh food being wrapped in plastic than with people occasionally buying plaatic pumpkin tbh

User174085934 · 03/10/2023 07:16

I have seasonal Emma Bridgewater mugs but that is as far as it goes

Ffsnotaconference · 03/10/2023 07:39

Yassification100 · 03/10/2023 05:42

It’s one thing to have a few seasonal cushions and bits you swap out through the year, but buying swathes of glittery pumpkins and ghastly ‘I love fall most of all’ signs every year is environmentally disastrous and, imo, a poor use of money. I think people can enjoy the seasons without needing their houses to resemble the Seasonal Goods aisle in a supermarket but that’s one of the dangers of social media, isn’t it - it normalises the idea that everyone is treating their houses like they’re theme parks and creates peer pressure on others to do the same.

That ridiculous.

So people can’t do anything because it creates peer pressure on others to do the same? No holidays, cars, meals out, days out, no crafting with the kids, no kids, no weddings, no doing well at work or having a career, or birthday parties and so on.

Because if you do something you enjoy it creates peer pressure?

So what if people want to treat their own home as a theme park?

No sure how a few decorations makes it theme park but so what?

So many people really feel bitter about people having fun or enjoying something, even in the privacy of their own home.

Yassification100 · 03/10/2023 08:46

Ffsnotaconference · 03/10/2023 07:39

That ridiculous.

So people can’t do anything because it creates peer pressure on others to do the same? No holidays, cars, meals out, days out, no crafting with the kids, no kids, no weddings, no doing well at work or having a career, or birthday parties and so on.

Because if you do something you enjoy it creates peer pressure?

So what if people want to treat their own home as a theme park?

No sure how a few decorations makes it theme park but so what?

So many people really feel bitter about people having fun or enjoying something, even in the privacy of their own home.

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Settle down. I didn’t say people can’t festoon their houses in gaudy tat if they want to, just that in my opinion it’s a waste of money, and bad for the environment. Me thinking those things doesn’t stop people doing whatever they want to (including crafting, eating meals and all the other activities you mentioned despite them having nothing whatsoever to do with my comment).

Ffsnotaconference · 03/10/2023 09:09

Yassification100 · 03/10/2023 08:46

Settle down. I didn’t say people can’t festoon their houses in gaudy tat if they want to, just that in my opinion it’s a waste of money, and bad for the environment. Me thinking those things doesn’t stop people doing whatever they want to (including crafting, eating meals and all the other activities you mentioned despite them having nothing whatsoever to do with my comment).

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I need to calm down but you think people shouldn’t do things because it creates peer pressure. And can’t help yourself from calling it gaudy tat? Such negativity doesn’t come from someone calm.

Of course it doesn’t stop anyone. Where did I say anyone cared enough about you to change their behaviour?

You had an opinion and I replied. It doesn’t make sense to say people can’t do something because other people may feel pressured to also do it. Because you can apply that anything. Why would it only apply to people decorating for autumn?

Can you explain how decorating for autumn is innately bad for the environment? Surely it depends on how you do it? And many people, don’t decorate for autumn, and still act in ways that are bad for the environment.

I think ‘its bad for the environment’ is so funny. It’s become what people say, when they don’t like something someone is doing and is desperate to make it appear that their opinion is morally superior. It’s weird.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 03/10/2023 09:14

I do wonder where people keep all the stuff they have to put away for next year. We don’t have a very small house but I’d be pushed for cupboard space - even if I wanted to do it.
The most I store, apart from 🎄decs, is a 🎅🏻 double duvet set for the sofa bed Gdcs share.

Yassification100 · 03/10/2023 09:45

Ffsnotaconference · 03/10/2023 09:09

I need to calm down but you think people shouldn’t do things because it creates peer pressure. And can’t help yourself from calling it gaudy tat? Such negativity doesn’t come from someone calm.

Of course it doesn’t stop anyone. Where did I say anyone cared enough about you to change their behaviour?

You had an opinion and I replied. It doesn’t make sense to say people can’t do something because other people may feel pressured to also do it. Because you can apply that anything. Why would it only apply to people decorating for autumn?

Can you explain how decorating for autumn is innately bad for the environment? Surely it depends on how you do it? And many people, don’t decorate for autumn, and still act in ways that are bad for the environment.

I think ‘its bad for the environment’ is so funny. It’s become what people say, when they don’t like something someone is doing and is desperate to make it appear that their opinion is morally superior. It’s weird.

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You’re so funny 😂 you might find it easier to calm down if you read and responded to what I say, and not the mad things you’re attributing to me.

I specially referred to glittery pumpkins and the like - the kind of trinkets you see filling literally entire aisles in supermarkets and other shops this time of year. Of course it’s bad for the environment to mass produce plastic items which people use a handful of times before binning because they’ve seen something new they like better. Naturally there are ways to decorate for autumn which don’t have the same terrible environmental impact, but I wasn’t talking about those, was I?

You’re in an absolute tizzy over my comments, which were nothing more than me expressing my opinion that this kind of decorating is ugly, a waste of money and bad for the environment. You know you can’t reasonably argue that I’m not entitled to think those things, so you’ve fired off strident rebukes about me saying people ‘can’t‘ do things or ‘shouldn’t’ do things. I’ve said nothing of the kind. If it makes you happy to put a garland of plastic pumpkins round your front door, go for it. What difference does it make if a rando like me thinks it’s ugly and environmentally damaging?

I stand by my assertion that social media creates peer pressure to do these things (just like I believe it also creates peer pressure in respect of things like Christmas Eve boxes, blowout birthday parties for infants, expensive interior decor, oppressive beauty standards, diet culture and endless other things). You’ll notice I didn’t suggest people can’t or shouldn’t post whatever they like on social media; just that peer pressure and consumerism are inevitable consequences. I am very far from the first person to think that it’s sensible to approach with social media with caution because of this.

NeedTheSeaside · 03/10/2023 09:48

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 03/10/2023 09:14

I do wonder where people keep all the stuff they have to put away for next year. We don’t have a very small house but I’d be pushed for cupboard space - even if I wanted to do it.
The most I store, apart from 🎄decs, is a 🎅🏻 double duvet set for the sofa bed Gdcs share.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER in my fully boarded loft, though increasingly my body (my knees in particular) is asking when I'm
going to find a better solution! I'm eyeing up the ex airing cupboard in the small room. Though that would involve a major cull of Christmas Decorations.

i don't have a lot of Autumn/Halloween/Easter bits though, just enough to make the house feel different & I'm in a 'one in one out phase'! So if I find something I love, I have to decide what I love less is going to go. As I'm very sentimental, the new thing doesn't usually get bought. I did buy some autumn tea towels & hand towels the other day, the old ones had 'done their time' (so many years I've forgotten how many!!) & been donated to the vets for their small pets cages.

RaraRachael · 03/10/2023 09:54

The Christmas family pyjama sets always make me laugh. A grown man posing in some naff nightwear he's obviously not happy to be seen dead in. They probably wear them for about 2 weeks and by the next year, the kids will have outgrown them.

Sehenswürdigkeiten · 03/10/2023 09:57

RaraRachael · 03/10/2023 09:54

The Christmas family pyjama sets always make me laugh. A grown man posing in some naff nightwear he's obviously not happy to be seen dead in. They probably wear them for about 2 weeks and by the next year, the kids will have outgrown them.

I have a pair of Christmas PJ's that I wear all year round, because they are so comfortable! My child had them when he was younger but I have never forced OH to wear them!

Yassification100 · 03/10/2023 10:02

RaraRachael · 03/10/2023 09:54

The Christmas family pyjama sets always make me laugh. A grown man posing in some naff nightwear he's obviously not happy to be seen dead in. They probably wear them for about 2 weeks and by the next year, the kids will have outgrown them.

Makes me cringe too - it just seems so forced and awkward! I’m sure some families (the Von Trapps…?) genuinely love the experience but the rictus grins evidenced in a lot of these photos hints that it’s not always so.

RaraRachael · 03/10/2023 10:03

Glad you get some wear out of yours @Sehenswürdigkeiten The two I remember from last year were a fairly famous sportsman known for being quite a hard man, posing with his wife and 2 kids in his Christmas PJs and a male vague relative whose wife is a wannabe insta influencer who made him pose for her "content" Hilarious

PhantomUnicorn · 03/10/2023 10:04

Not great for the environment?

Are you assuming people just throw the decor away? We don't. It gets used every year.

But them i'm also a goth, so a lot of it actually stays out year-round.

Dramatico · 03/10/2023 10:05

I mean people have always done this?

We know the Romans and ancient Greeks dressed their household gods in different clothes and hung up different wreathes for different feasts.

We know from Bede that the Anglo Saxons did it for Lencten, Haerfest and Winterfylleth (it's Winterfylleth right now by the way).

We know that in Mediaeval Catholic UK and Europe there was a tremendous amount of decorating that went on for the different saints days and seasons.

This is attested across the various social strata.

So Western Civilisation has always been 'silly' I guess.

Oh wait. The Chinese do it too. Big time!

Yassification100 · 03/10/2023 10:13

PhantomUnicorn · 03/10/2023 10:04

Not great for the environment?

Are you assuming people just throw the decor away? We don't. It gets used every year.

But them i'm also a goth, so a lot of it actually stays out year-round.

Oh I’m sure some people do reuse these things but yes, lots is thrown away or stuffed into storage and never seen again after a couple of years when something newer and shinier hits the shops.

I see it with Christmas decorations too. When I was a child, most people had more or less the same Christmas decorations year after year. Now you frequently see people buying enormous quantities new every year, because they have a theme in mind and want their home to look like a magazine editorial about hosting the perfect canapé party. And it’s totally understandably why they feel that way, because social media makes it look like everyone is doing it and it’s totally normal behaviour!

MyJetNowAirlines · 03/10/2023 10:15

IMO, the current trend for decorating your house seasonally comes from exposure on instagram and the like. Interiors influencers needing content and ways to make photos of the same 6 rooms look different. Plus obviously the #sponcon opportunities for selling and raising revenue via affiliate links.

Shops stock the stuff because it sells.