I don't decorate nearly as much as I used to, but I do tend to decorate for Fall and also for Christmas. For some reason, I also sometimes decorate for Valentine's Day and Easter, but not nearly as much as for Fall and Christmas. I have some gel window clings that I purchased several years ago at Dollar Tree and they're really nice quality, so I have no plans to replace them. Other than the windows, I usually will put a large pumpkin out front, but I don't carve it into a Jack O'Lantern, because I want it to last the whole season, not a night or a week. I also usually buy a small pumpkin and some colorful gourds for the table and counter, to make it look more festive. Do you decorate your home for Fall / Autumn? If so, what type of decorations do you use, and where do you buy them? Or, do you make your own?
The only Holiday I decorate for is Christmas, and even then it's just simple stuff. I enjoy holidays in general, but decorating for more than Christmas seems like too much work.
I do decorate when autumn comes around. I love autumn for it's near my birthday. I don't decorate for every holiday or festive times of the year, just for Halloween, Christmas & New Years. For Halloween I've some stuffed animals I put around the apt. to get the mood for Halloween. Nothing outside though, because secretly I buy my favorite candy and I like to eat them up when Halloween is over (LOL). For Christmas I put stuffed animals around of the season, put up or little yarn tree filled with lights from my Aunt and turn it on at night and put presents near my little yarn tree. Then for the New Years we have traditional Japanese things like our kadomatsu for good luck and welcoming the new year to be filled with blessings and good luck! We leave it up for 7 days. It got so expensive, so I make my own with the help of my Mother's friends garden. Luckily the garden has everything I need to make my kadomatsu. We decorate our home with traditional mochi & hoshigami & hanshi. Going to shrines is celebrated locally to in Hawaii. New Years is very important time for Japanese people. We get holy amulets for homes to decorate our homes and for ourselves for protection and other yearly wishes.
I don't really direct for Fall because I am in country and no one sees my decorations. I will put out a pumpkin though. I have a string of jack O'Lantern lights that I sometimes put out. I think that there are a lot of cute Fall decorations though that can be used. I like to decorate when I am in the mood. It makes the holidays more festive.
I have a few fall holiday decorations and intend to pull them out to decorate this year. Last year I did not bother with decorations, but I want to make this year a little more special. I was hoping to be able to buy some more decorations this year, but I do not think I am going to have the money to do it. I will have to see what the budget is like next week.
Haha @Ke Gordon I actually decorate more for myself than for anyone else. It cheers me up to see the decorations. @Rosyrain I'm heading out to the next town over, and will be going right by a new Goodwill store. I just checked, and it looks as if it's open now, so I plan to stop there and see if they have any nice decorations for a decent price. I don't have much money either, but occasionally I will splurge on something that brightens up the place, my mood, or both. @Krissttina Isobe I love hearing about how others spend their holidays, and what their traditions are, thanks for sharing yours!
I used to be really big on decorating for halloween and christmas, but I haven't done so in years because I just don't have people over that often any more, and I've lost interest in it for the most part. Plus all those decorations would take up too much space throughout the rest of the year and were always getting in my way when I needed to get other stuff in and out of the closets. Living in apartments with limited space made this even worse. One of the last times I moved, I parted ways with a lot of junk I had accumulated over the years, from appliances, to decorations, to books and CD's and DVD's, all kinds of spare electronics, etc... and holiday decorations was one of the first things to go. The christmas decorations in particular were the worst because the glitter on some of that stuff would get all over everything else I had stored away. Next time I move, if I happen to be living in an area where we get trick or treaters, I will definitely decorate the front porch/doorway with some pumpkins and stuff for the neighborhood kids, because that was always my favorite holiday growing up. But christmas I would generally pass on.
Right now I decorated cheaply by buying mini pumpkins at my local market for 50 cents each. I bought three of them and put cute Halloween stickers on them. I was able to make things look festive for under $2. Decorating doesn't have to break the bank!
Wow, I've never seen mini pumpkins for that price. Even the mini ones cost at least 3x that. I just went looking for my window clings, and I have no idea where I put them. I know I did something with them several months back, but I can't for the life of me remember if I put them in one of the plastic/rubber storage containers, or if I donated them. I think I might have donated some of the extras, because I did have way too many, but I can't imagine that I got rid of them all. I guess I'll have to set aside some time to go through the storage containers to see where they are, because I'm not going to buy new ones.
We actually have no Halloween tradition here but lately it is coming to fore with the trick-or-treating in some villages. And we are getting a hint that some kids in the neighborhood are going to visit us in their scary costumes by the end of the month. This makes us think of decorating for Halloween. Well, everyone agreed immediately and they all have their suggestions. Probably we will just make a scary coffin to drive away those imps, hahahaaa.
I decorate the house for Halloween. We buy 4 pumpkins, and each person gets to pick the face of their jack o lantern. My husband is great at carving the pumpkins. We buy a bale of hay and set up pumpkin man on the front lawn. He's made from an old set of coveralls, rain boots, old work gloves and the jack o lantern for a head. He's stuffed with old towels. We add some ghosts and witch decorations in the window and garden as well. Halloween is such a fun holiday. I think next to Christmas it's my kids' favourite holiday.
