When did we become such a society of consumers and decorators? I am specifically talking about Holiday decorations. Don't get me wrong I love them. I love the posts of peoples houses all decorated for Fall. I love the pumpkins and the mums. I think it is festive and fun. But.... There is always a but with me. ( I am not talking about my hubby here:))
As I have been perusing the second hand stores lately I have noticed rack after rack of Halloween costumes. Now what better place to get a costume that you will wear once than at a thrift store? However we live in a small town and there are enough costumes in our 6 thrift stores to outfit most of the state. On top of that every store has several aisles of costumes and holiday decor. I rarely go into a store called Shopko here because I find them to be more expensive than other stores. I happened into Shopko last week and they had so many Fall decorations you could hardly move in the store. I mean I counted 7 aisles of decor. Much of it was so cute but also so expensive. $15.99 for a little stuffed owl even at 1/2 price I would not have bought the little darling.
Now my questions is: Who buys this stuff? Who buys this much stuff? Who pays these kind of prices for this stuff? They can't possibly sell it all. What happens to it after the Holiday? There is just way too much in every store. Do people get new every year? I am amazed at the pumpkin buckets that are sold year after year? Don't you just buy your kids a bucket and then save it. Our eldest had a cloth pumpkin bag made by my mother that she used from the time she could walk. Her oldest son now uses it. Easter baskets are the same year after year. Christmas stockings are as old as the child and Hub's and mine are 40 years old. We just recycle year after year. Yet the shelves at every store are full of stockings and Easter baskets during these holidays. Am I the only one who saves things?
I have Fall decor. All has either been given to me or picked up seriously marked down after the holiday, or crafted by me from scraps. SO many of the pieces are over 30 years old. I realize our economy thrives on purchasing things. If these things are made they must be bought. Someone has to buy them for the economy to flourish. I am admitting, I am not a flourish er. Not a word, I know.
I put out my fall pieces last week and I love them. Because I have so very little in the way of window treatments in the house, (Hubs has terrible allergies to dust), my mom suggested I make a small curtain for the kitchen window out of some leftover fall fabric. I thought yeah that would be so cute. Then I was over come by guilt, in thinking. You really will have valances for fall, Christmas, etc? Where does it end? I do have holiday tablecloths and napkins that I have made and I reuse them year after year. I don't use paper napkins except on picnics. All of these were picked up again at the lowest possible price after the holiday or the fabric was purchased when it is down to $1-2 dollars a yard. I can justify this expense when I can make it myself and it is reusable.
So my main questions are?
Did you buy or make your children's costumes?
Do you decorate for more holidays that Christmas or Hanukkah?
Do you pay full price every year for new pieces of decor?
How much is too much?
Am I an idiot for being alarmed by this?
Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.
Kim
p.s. I don't want to be a conspicuous consumer. I guess I just don't know where one draws the line?
I have gotten most of my fall decorative items at garage sales or they were freebies used as decorative items on place mats at some previous occasions. I have gotten some things at the dollar store. I, too, wonder who buys all that stuff new every year. One time I checked out behind some woman at a K Mart's the night before Easter. She apparently hadn't thought about Easter until then and she had from the looks of things ran through the store picking up odds and ends of Easter stuff including Easterish gifts for children and candy and decorations. Her bill was well over $100 , and that was quite a few years ago. If she could have found the time to drag out old Easter baskets and decorations, and looked for modest gifts she could have saved a lot of money. She was probably busy working to help raise the family income level.
ReplyDeleteI have watched this kind of thing with amazement. Now if you are just buying chocolate....Hmmmmm?
DeleteWe only decorate for Christmas here. Funny how it changes from
ReplyDeleteCountry to country xx
I know America land of excess everything:)
DeleteMaybe you just now how to have a good time xx
DeleteI never bought a costume for my children. I made them all and still make costumes. Sadly, my children buy costumes for their children. I reuse all decorations that I either make or buy dirt cheap. I reused Easter baskets and stockings. The children got one, that's all. It happened the same way at my house when I was a child. A dollar is a good price for a big piece. I have wanted one of those big crows for years but cannot stand to pay for it. So, I just look. I, too, marvel at the stuff, so much stuff, and do wonder who can pay for this and have a free conscience. I love to decorate for anything, but do less of it the last few years. "We have laid waste our powers, getting and spending." No, you are not an idiot for worrying about this.
ReplyDeleteOkay so if I see a big black crow at a good price I will get it for you. You don't want road kill right?
DeleteKim, you are too funny! Lol
DeleteI can top you....my Xmas stocking is as old as I am. lolz
ReplyDeleteHalloween has overtaken Christmas as the big "lots of stuff to buy for it" holiday. Maybe because many folks until about 20 years ago didn't go all out for Halloween like they did Xmas? I don't know.
I bet most of what doesn't sell, even on clearance in the seasonal dept. gets donated to Goodwill/Salvation Army/etc. I have seen new w/tags seasonal merchandise at those places, often priced above what the clearance price on the store tag was where it came from. lol
I don't do a lot of decorating and have given away much of what I had(except for my Xmas stuff that has sentimental value to me). I just don't have room to store it all when not in use and that may be why folks rebuy seasonal stuff each year instead of keeping it? Again, just a theory.
I ached to make my kids Halloween costumes and did make some but often they wanted a store bought one instead, so they would conform to what their friends wore.
So does this stocking have garters? Damn kids always wanting what others have. Things like food, shelter, braces.
DeletePersonally, as a mom with young kids still I do buy my children's costumes (partly because I can't sew a lick!). That being said, their costumes this year were bought at the thrift store. Ben is going to be Darth Vader (found the outfit for $3.99 at the thrift store-- had the mask at home already). Jacob found a new in package Captain America costume at Goodwill for $3.99 and Rebecca wants to be an angel. Found a white skirt at Goodwill for $1 and angel wings that were $1.99, a white shirt at home and white pipe cleaners for a halo. Done. As for other holidays, I decorate our fireplace mantel for the different seasons using thrift store finds or handmade decorations, using the same each year. I might pick up a new knickknack here or there if I see one super cheap that is cute, but usually reuse what I have. We all have the same stockings that we always have for Christmas and we use the same Easter baskets every year. I don't think you are an idiot--I think the same thing when I see aisles upon aisles of stuff for each holiday. I look at the prices and cringe. It is definitely a sign of consumerism in our society.
ReplyDeleteI think getting things at a thrift store is a super good idea. I know I just got a beautiful fall table cloth for 1.80.
DeleteMy kids always had unusual Halloween costumes which were cobbled form whatever we had around with the addition of bought products. For example one year Son2 was Teen Wolf and wore his Dad's high school letter jacket, but I was the one who spent about and hour gluing "hair" wool and latex bit and pieces with spirit gum all over his face. I had a plaster form of both my older kids faces and we would build parts with liquid latex.
ReplyDeleteAs for decorating? I throw up the same decorations a couple of days before Halloween, every year, use the same Christmas stuff each year (Like Sluggy, I was born in September and my stocking is from December of the same year, TheHub's is from the year we were married, and the sons from their birth years, so the newest stocking here is 24 years old. Shoutout to Mom and her knitting skills) The Easter baskets we still use (for decoration only) are from my childhood. So yes I reuse things (forever it seems)
My favorite costume I made for my middle daughter. She wanted to be Rose from the titanic. I was in the middle of costuming Sense and Sensibility. The show opened and backstage I used some burgundy satin and and black lace that was left over. Sig was about 10 and very small. Then I grabbed my 6ft headless dance dummie and dressed it in a set of tails. She went as Rose and Leonardo Decapitated. Won every contest that year. So funny seeing her drag that dummie around with no head.
DeleteThat is a fantastic costume and fantastic costume name!
DeleteI pieced together most of the kid's costumes (can't sew!) or bought them from thrift stores. I've been reusing the same decor for more years than I can count. Most of it was bought at steep discounts. Interesting you mention Shopko. I was in one of their stores a few weeks ago. I saw a super cute patriotic item for 90%. Even with that discount, I figured the $4 would be better off put towards paying off debt.
ReplyDeleteLove that as I feel at 90% off it should be like .39 right?
DeleteI know things are so over priced. At 90% off it should be pennies. But I am super scroungy when it comes to that kind of stuff. I spend money on good shoes and clothes.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Even at 90% I felt the item was still overpriced!
DeleteAlways made Halloween costumes (what comes to mind are scarecrow, pirate, race car driver, and clown) and made some Christmas decorations, and the few Fall decorations are from when my sister took ceramic classes. Reuse same year after year, however if I do get to shops, I look to see if there is anything of interest to add to my stash, I may buy one thing or will check out after holiday to see if I see anything that I might find really inexpensive. I did have to buy new Christmas stockings last year. We moved from a town house where we had a glass top dining room table and open stairway to upper floor - a bit more "elegant" design, to an older home with a much more conservative design. The stockings are a bit "country" and have a home hanging from our fireplace mantle and look as though they belong. We have saved a lot of money just by living here. All the main stores are several miles away and we, too, have a Shopko and I have not had good luck there either. However, ordering online seems to be common for us. but mostly for things we need and cannot find here or cannot find at a better price. We've even ordered car parts this way and when my husband is unable to install himself, can get installed at local car repair for decent labor price. I too worry for the same reasons as you as to what happens to all of this stuff. We recently bought a new vehicle and there are so many cars, trucks, crossovers and suvs in the lots - who buys all of them. No, we do not buy new every few years as some apparently do - our truck is 14 years old and our jeep is 22 years old. They're worth more to us than what we can get for them, if we sold them. The Jeep will be restored and we have still so much yard work to do, the truck is very useful for hauling away yard waste and stuff to the dump. With everyone trying to consume less and more online shopping, more and more brick and mortar and malls are disappearing. What happens when they all close up? I've also heard and read that many grocery stores are struggling. We have a Coborns and a Walmart. Do not do Walmart and Coborns is expensive. So shop carefully and if need to go to bigger cities, pick up some things at Aldi stores, as an example. Where will it all end? Ranee (MN) sorry - I have a tendency to ramble on....
ReplyDeleteI just worry sometimes that the bubble will have to burst again and I don't want to go down with it. Trying to be happy with what I have, or can make or can thrift. Our town has very little shopping. I go to bigger cities to shop or shop on line.
DeleteI bought costumes from the thrift stores, and occasionally new if it was something I knew would be loved, AFTER Halloween to stock our dress-up bin. When it was time to trick-or-treat my boys just dug through what we had and picked something. Most of those costumes are now at my brothers' house in their dress-up bin. I have a fall scarecrow, and a Christmas wreath--both of which are over 20 years old and still going strong. Christmas stockings are the age of the owner. I have a problem with the amount of one-use purchasing we do as a society and try to avoid it whenever I can, for financial, environmental and ethical reasons.
ReplyDeleteErica
I really don't like the plastic throw away society we have become. It just bothers me.
DeleteI always tried to do costumes with things we had on hand or had my mom sew. Occasionally I did buy costumes, but never expensive. As for decor I do tend to decorate for the seasons and Christmas. I used to do more when I had little kids at home.
ReplyDeleteDo you think you could use the fall tablecloth to make a curtain? I used one for a shower curtain (with a plastic liner) and it turned out very pretty and cheaper than buying new.
I would sure try if I found one I like. The drapes on my dressing room in my sewing shop are shower curtains.
DeleteWhen my kids were young, we just made them - even though I did not sew. They are close in age so went as Charlie Brown and Linus for a couple of years. Or they used their dance/tae kwon do/ baseball uniforms. As they got older, I gave them a set amount and they bought them. I stopped when they were about 12 buying any.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a set amount I will spend, but I know for sure NONE will be spent this year - no money.
I am alarmed every year, so I see nothing wrong with you being alarmed. It is startling!
I do not decorate except for Christmas. Easter, we used the same baskets until they out grew the holiday as a gift holiday and they were cheap plastic, so I tossed them. Christmas stockings are used over and over, BUT they are awful cheap things, so I want to make them special ones with embroidery - eventually. Until then, we will continue to use the cheap ones.
I NEVER pay full price for decor, it has to be on sale. We won't be decorating much now though - we live in the woods and noone will see it. We will just decorate inside with the things we already own.
I really do love things to be festive and I am also the Queen of excess. But this is just over the top. This is a small town. Who is going to by all this crap? And most of it is CRAP!
DeleteSome years, we made my daughter's costumes; other years, we bought them. We gave away some of them, but we kept some, including her first costume (she was a jack-o-lantern pumpkin) and we still have her very first plastic jack-o-lantern candy bucket! I don't decorate as much now as I used to. But most of my decorations are what I've made or others have given me and everything is several years old. When I do buy new decorations, they are mostly bought on sale.
ReplyDeleteSee I think everyone is like me. We just must be an odd group or there are landfills full of plastic decor.
DeleteWell if you are an idiot, I am right there standing beside you my friend. ;)
ReplyDeleteOur family stopped celebrating Halloween when our kids were still quite young. All they really wanted was the candy anyway, so we bought them some of that and would cuddle up and watch a movie that night. It's something that we felt led to bow out of celebrating and our kids never felt left out because they understood our reasons and they still got candy. ;)
I have some Fall decor and if I want more, I always hit the thrift stores or even the Dollar Tree. I just picked up 2 packs of pretty Fall hot pads for my kitchen and for one of my girls for $1 each. I am also working on redoing another Fall wreath that I found at Goodwill recently and have another Fall craft I am working on with corks that my father saves for me.
I don't decorate much for Christmas anymore now that the children are grown and gone. I did for awhile, but between crazy cats, a huge dog and grandkids all needing room to play in a small house, the tree decorations kept being knocked off, the cats were eating the fake greenery swags and then throwing up and I don't do stocking anymore because it was costing way too much to fill them all. I do however put out a few wall hanging that my mom made, change out some pictures on the walls and I may get the Christmas Village out again this year that my mom made years ago that can be played with by the boys.
I love to decorate for the season. But I just don't understated the total amount of things the stores have in them. It is just over whelming. How are you feeling. My legs ache terrible today, but I slept horrible last night. Blah!
DeleteI used to decorate for Halloween with hay bales, Indian corn, pumpkins, gourds...all natural decorations. I used to put up 2 Christmas trees every year, but now I have just one small one. I decided to start downsizing my life about 8 years ago and I have embraced the concept of minimalism. Every year I get rid of more things. My daughter is grown and doesn't care one way or the other about holidays and/or decorations. My husband and I are living on a small income now and even a pumpkin would be considered a luxury purchase. And no you're not an idiot for being alarmed. If you have Netflix, I recommend watching the documentary called Minimalism. There's also a blog called Not Buying Anything that also has some great posts that put consumerism into perspective.
ReplyDeleteI have watched minimalism and thought it was interesting.
DeleteOther than a wreath on my door I don't decorate except for Christmas. Over the years I have cut down my decorations by at least half. Occasionally I'll see a Christmas decoration I like at a thrift store and will buy it. As for Halloween we used to have a trunk filled with costumes. There were 5 of us kids and we would trade the costumes with each other. Each of us wore that ratty old witch dress and hat at least twice! I sewed costumes for Kazi. I made a court jester outfit out of various colours of flannel I got for free. It was such a cute costume. Have not EVER bought a costume at a store. What a waste of money!!
ReplyDeleteYou are just like me. I have never bought a store costume either. Our costumes were worn and re worn and passed down.
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