to ask why ponce-tastic-ness is only "okay" at Christmas? And what else are you prepared to admit to the other 11 months of the year!!

[PoncingIsNotJustForChristmasButForLife]

So I have in the past lurked unsuccessfully I hasten to add on the poncey threads at Christmas, you know the sort of thing: -
the sloe gins carefully started in September the previous years
the homemade marmalades,
the paper whites carefully grown in tasteful vases etc
DIY wreaths
elegant tables
elaborate cakes
magazine worthy wrapping etc etc

Now of course, Xmas is the most wonderful time of the year so a bit of poncing is somehow “allowed”.

But I am wondering how much other stuff happens that is ponce-tastic year round and why we (I) are attracted to that poncy stuff?
Why do we want to do it?
I ask this as a self-confessed wannabe ponceur/ponceuse who has a house filled with items that haven’t quite managed to ponce with. I see evidence of my attraction to it in my house - Sarah Raven catalogues, aspirational cookery books, fountain pens for my correspondence. I’m not Lizzie Bennett but a p/t working mum with a string of whatsapp’s to answer and loads of laundry to fold and not iron.

I also feel that there's a whole pile of other “preenworthy” type stuff like this that others must do. Is it to feel “grown up”, to impress others, to feel smug .
e.g. I know I feel some bizarre sense of smugness baking a cake, even if it’s not elaborate!
AIBU to ask what it is that makes us want to do this kind of poncing?
And then also the self-deprecating laugh/ jokes that come alongside it.

Surely one person’s ordinary life is poncey to another and so on up the hierarchy of expense. ?

I don’t buy anything aspirational just what I like and can reasonably afford. I have friends who do the same and their ordinary items would definitely be aspirational for me but I don’t want to aspire to be like them!

I don’t buy shit just because it’s representative of some lifestyle that I don’t have.

Er, don't know what You're talking about, I really don't do that stuff

I ponce a bit year round! It’s to feel grown up and ‘together’, I think. For me anyway.

I want real coffee in a cafetiere at breakfast and I drink it out of a ridiculous Halcyon Days mug that can’t even go in the dishwasher. I have Smythson headed paper and I write letters at an 18th century desk and feel really adult and proper.

the rest of the time I just aspire to be adult and proper. But little things in daily or weekly ritual give me a cosy feeling.

Hilarious post greatly appreciated and cheered me up this evening!!
I love it too, my decanter filled with Sainsburys Rioja.... my cheap bread dipped in expensive hummus,

Yes I love it.

It's nice to do a special version of something sometimes. Can't do it all the time, but it's a bit like mindfulness and stopping and looking at something, paying it lots of attention. Other times it's bung a pizza in the oven.

And I wouldn't call Lizzie Bennet at all poncey!

I love feeling a bit poncy when I toast some nuts to sprinkle on my lunch. I could wax lyrical about the crunch and the taste. But I'm just entertaining airs above my station really. 🤣

I bought myself an amusing artistic item made out of recycled materials which came be hung in different locations to surprise and entertain ones friends. I relocate it every now and again for my own amusement. That's poncy.

I am not sure it's expense, because some of it is not necessarily expensive (though time consuming and that's a form of privilege I know).

Interesting that a PP said that it made them feel like they have their shit together....

I used to have a glass carafe and cup set which I dutifully filled with water and took to her every night in case I wanted a drink in the night. Every morning, i woke up feeling slightly dehydrated, I poured the water down the sink and rinsed out the unused carafe and cup. I did this for years. I never drank the water but I wanted to give the impression that maybe I had my shit sorted enough that I had special bedside table drink ware and would wake if thirsty overnight. As I lived by myself, I'm not entirely sure who I was going to make this impression on. My flat at the time was miniscule so I could have reached the kitchen sink in about 10 steps.

I know what you mean I love the Christmas poncing thread. I think it's just time and other commitments and what's the points. I might do a bit for Easter and special occasions for birthdays and things

Poncing is not just about expense. It’s effort and time to go the extra mile just for the satisfaction it brings.

It is making custard from scratch even though you can buy decent readymade these days.

It is making your own cranberry sauce, picking your own sloes or baking crackers for the cheese board.
Ponce is home made wreaths with foliage you collected on walks and co-ordinated gift wrap

I read a book by Rita Konig that was all about this kind of thing. Decanting the washing up liquid into a pretty bottle found at a flea market..

‘Have nothing in your house that you do not think is beautiful, or know to be useful’

I love a bit of poncing.

Easter tree - basically Twiggy Shit with yellow and green accessories.

Making a big fuss about the First Pull of rhubarb for Easter Sunday's rhubarb crumble.

Making redcurrant jelly and harping on about the jewelled colour (hope to god it is clear not cloudy) then entering it in the local gardening society produce show.

Making wreaths out of rosemary and lavender (just twine the lengths together along with florist wire) and tuck in current garden blooms, untuck them once wilted, replace.

For me its glasses.

The right glass for the right drink.

High balls for a long drink. Wine glass for wine, cut glass heavy tumbler for whiskey, coupe for sparkling wine (dont get me started on flutes.....totally wrong imo) the correct cocktail glass depending on the cocktail (I have 5 types of cocktail glass!). Bottled beer? Straight from the bottle, it tastes better! Gin......I am not sure on that, I do own gin globes but I prefer a high ball, I think that the big bowl glasses are like champagne flutes, an affected fashion invented to modernise what didnt need modernising.

Then we have the "high days and holidays" versions of the above, all of which live still in their tissue paper in their original boxes in my designated glass cupboard.

I have manners so I will drink out of any glass given to me in someone elses house and not comment, but it will grate! When a friend came round with champagne to celebrate her promotion, she just grabbed a wine glass for it and I made her jump with my "NO!" and then she laughed until she may have peed a bit when I said "I have COUPES!!!" and I laughed too at my utter poncey-ness about it. But we used the goddam coupes, and I bought her a cheap set as present for a laugh and now she loves them!

I always have plans to be more poncey at Christmas but end up not bothering!! One thing I can never get my head around is the bed made with loads of cushions that just get taken off at night and then put back the next day - for what?? Even if you have visitors they won’t be looking in your bedroom?

I love doing an Easter tree... twigs from garden in a vase with my special poncy decorative hanging easter eggs and little fluffy chick's in sunglasses

Lucy at Attic24 https://www.attic24.typepad.com/?fbclid=IwAR3eYK7JqYbeP1PAikulMjGzEtKJjAN7CLivF3O41ie0TuOBtx9Q0k88YgI Does this. She has a mantlepiece so is able to decorate it seasonally.

Are you me? I did the same for a good few years.

OP, I barely have enough time to ponce at Christmas, never mind the rest of the year. But if I did….

I have a vase of pussy willow twigs and special tiny Easter eggs on ribbons for Easter, plus a family of ceramic bunnies.

There's not much scope for poncing St Patrick's Day - it's the anti poncing holiday par excellence - but I'll be baking soda bread lovingly, from acratch.

Absolutely agree, we have sooo many glasses for each drink in our house. DH indulges me..

Drinks don't taste the same unless they're in the correct receptacle

I have quite a few year round poncetastic things.

my cooking oils are all decanted into crystal decanters sourced from charity shops (as is my washing up liquid and my bath oil)

my vegetable patch is referred to as my kitchen garden and has signs for the various produce made from
old roof slates used as chalk boards

my chicken coop has its own wreath on the doorway

all of my laundry products are decanted into glass jars and bottles with brass scoops attached and beautiful labels

my seeds for the garden are collected and stored in little brown envelopes so they all match with planting instructions and a sketch of the flower on the front

i could go on and on. As a pp has says it makes me feel like I have my shit together and it looks pretty so why not.

I'm just here to say how much I loved your OP, @PoncingIsNotJustForChristmasButForLife 😂 Absolutely perfectly expressed!

And I say this as an ex-ponceuse. So very 'ex' that my cheap fake Christmas tree is still up with its workmanlike display of coloured lights, and I've only just brought the fake Christmas wreath in (I was waiting for the battery to die).

I made croissants today! In the air fryer. From frozen dough. And I didn't roll them, I just squished balls of dough. So not croissants at all, really ...
Flavour 9, texture 9, ponciness 1.

my chicken coop has its own wreath on the doorway

WE HAVE A WINNER!

I’m sure there are poncier MNers than me but I do try!