to decorate for Autumn today and not wait until later in September?

[TimeForAutumnDays]

We decorate our house for Autumn each year and usually do it the first week in September. I mentioned it to someone I know who said ‘you can’t do it yet as it’s not officially Autumn.’ Obviously I can do it when I like, but IF you decorate for Autumn, when do you do it? 🍂 🎃

If you don’t like decorating for autumn, see it as stuff for landfill, plastic tat, just another American thing etc, this probably isn’t the thread for you. 😊

😂

This is madness to me but do what you want obviously.

It's bad enough having Christmas decorations up...I only do it for the kids.

What I absolutely loathe about any kind of decorations is you have to keep your house absolutely immaculate for them to look good. Any kind of mess/dirt/clutter/ordinary household detritus just looks a million times worse when interspersed with decorations.

One thing puzzles me - do the people who 'decorate for autumn' then swap it over to decorate for Christmas, then after New Year they decorate for winter, and then do it again at some point for spring and again for summer? Or is it just autumn that gets the treatment?

I love following the rhythm of the seasons, I find it very calming when the rest of the world is so chaotic. I enjoy decorating but it’s not about buying plastic tat - hardly anything I have is plastic and everything gets re-used - and I also like cooking seasonally and enjoying my garden and the outdoors as they change through the year.

My house is pretty neutral so it’s easy to have a few different throws/cushions/candles for each season - and I like using natural bits and pieces in a vase or to make wreaths. I’ve got conkers, Chinese lanterns and some dried seed heads at the moment. I am slightly drawn to some of the B&M type stuff but I don’t like waste so I’d only buy if I knew I’d use it for at least a few years.

Life can be pretty depressing but I find living more seasonally comforting.

OP I usually wait until the equinox but it’s felt quite Autumny here in the evenings so getting cosy was too tempting!

One thing puzzles me - do the people who 'decorate for autumn' then swap it over to decorate for Christmas, then after New Year they decorate for winter, and then do it again at some point for spring and again for summer?
Or is it just autumn that gets the treatment?

Yes I do. I decorate for each season, not holiday. I don't call it "decorating for autumn" though or make it into a big thing. I just do it. If anything, I call it seasonal decor and use the opportunity to refresh my curtains, soft furnishings, etc 4 times a year. Store and reuse till they need to be replaced.

Another thing - should I capitalize the names of the seasons or not?

My autocorrect seems to do that by itself. Perhaps that's how it should be? I don't know but it doesn't bother me either way.

@clotheslinefiasco UK ONLY Everything Autumn Lovers.

I put out my autumn decor on Sunday afternoon, I didn’t get to put it out last year as we’d not moved into our new house so I was very excited to decorate this year!

@EuclidianGeometryFan 21 June as midsummer makes zero sense if you go with solstices and equinoxes as it's the actual start of the summer!

Midsummer is 15/16 July, logically.

To answer the question I've always had the first two weeks of September as my main summer holiday and for me anyway autumn starts when I get back and ends with Advent Sunday.

Autumn Equinox is the 22nd September

If ever there was a thread that would only be started by a woman and replied to by women…. It’s this! 😆

I can't believe people change their curtains for the seasons!

I couldn't decorate differently 4 times a year because none of it would go with my normal colour scheme

Also, I couldn't be arsed

I would LOVE to go to someone's house that was decorated for Autumn.... how funny! Like a themed wonderland! Love it....

Decorating for Autumn isn't a thing. Theredore do it whenever you want. Decorate your own home, however you want at ang time you want to. Unless there id an actual official date in a diary, like Christmas day, but even then you can celebrate that however you like. Many Australians have christmas in the middle of the year instead.
There are no laws. So if you want to decorate for Autumn, you can do it in Spring if you really want to.

Many Australians have christmas in the middle of the year instead.

do they??!

I’m decorating the house at the minute anyway so I might put some pumpkin stuff out now and keep the Halloween stuff for mid October.

I don’t decorate my house for autumn, but I am itching to decorate me with my new boots and warmer coloured hair dye.
Based on this thread, I will try to keep the boots in their box until 22 September.

I've decorated for autumn 1st Sept this year, then will swop to Christmas decorating 1st November early/mid November. I like the cosy feeling/ twinkly lights.

I don't start Christmas decorations until after Advent otherwise it's too soon. I don't pull them down on Boxing Day either. I take Christmas themed stuff down after New Year's Day and leave greenery and subtle lights up until Imbolc.

How strange. The 2 seperate M&S stores i was in last Friday had autumn themed decor with ornamental pumpkins, autumn coloured vases, candles, artificial plants and flowers, throws and cushions all with a definite autumn theme.
A seasonal theme dosen't have to mean tat and crap.

Yes some do. Christmas in July. I think a lot of Brits who have moved to Oz do to have a cold Christmas as obviously Christmas is in the middle of summer there. I think it’s usually just a the meal and decorations rather than the whole festive season and presents etc.

You said “many”

but anyway… what’s your source for this? Never heard of this!

Of course they (and many other places do). They're not going to miss a profitable trick, are they?

My autumn wreath went up on the 1st September! 🎃 🍁🍂😊

How often do you wash your curtains?

If I was going to wash and change them anyway, then it's easy to change them to match the seasonal decor.

Also my general colour scheme is neutral. The soft furnishings are what brings the accent colours so it's easy to switch colour scheme.

Thanks for the replies.

I did say in my OP that I know I can decorate when I want. I was just curious if others hold the same view as the person I spoke to in thinking that Autumn decor should not be put up until 21/22 September, or whether people put it up sooner. I can see many of you do it now and some wait, I can understand that some people are clutching onto the last bits of summer.

For those that asked, we do decorate for Spring as well as Autumn, as they are the seasons we enjoy most. We also decorate for Xmas like most people, but not Winter specifically or summer.

I’m sure some people post their autumn decor on social media but we don’t post any photos of us, our kids, our house, our pets on it. Other than mumsnet, I’m not really a social media person. The decor is purely for our own joy and happiness. I used to feel quite sad about the kids going back to school after a lovely summer, the colder weather and the earlier dark nights but having some autumn decor makes me feel happier so why not? We decorate outside too which is lovely to come home too. I know it’s not for everyone but we really like it. 😊

@Sorejaws - I don’t think I said many. I said some do. My source is Australian friends. It’s not a huge nationwide thing with public holidays etc. Some in Australia like to have friends and family over for a Christmas meal in July when it’s cold enough to feel like a proper Christmas. Rather than a hot Christmas - having been in Australia in the run up to Christmas even with lights and decorations it really doesn’t feel like Christmas. And I did two Christmases in Asia - it really didn’t feel like Christmas.