N/A Outdoor Decorations

mikea

mikea

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
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Feb 12, 2005
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Lake County, IL
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iWin
OK, another newbie homeowner query....

I've been looking at yard decorations for Halloween and Christmas...or...STOP ME BEFORE I BUY AGAIN!

Yeah, I have Christmas stuff which is buried in several of the dusty boxes I moved and have to wade through, but I never had a yard before. Now I got lotsa yard and it's on the major route.

I already picked up this gem for Halloween: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3910321
No. I didn't get it from Wal-Mart. I found my "rare" find on eBay for the same price. I didn't spot it here until after I got it.

I have it inside because I figured there was no reason to tempt fate and have it out in the yard with strong winds and storms coming. Now we have a tornado warning.

It's way cool. It does get to 8-10 feet high (it touched the ceiling inside my living room) and should fit nice in the corner of my yard. I did mark the spot, BTW.

The same company has a Christmas set that prolly works the same way:
http://www.homeandbeyond.com/prod-0177728.html

But I gotta have something airplane. They have a version of this in the hangar that has Santa flying:
http://www.yardinflatables.com/h_floating_witch_plane_halloween_airblown_inflatable.html
just gotta find it.

I think I'll get Snoopy, too:
http://www.yardinflatables.com/c_snoopy_flying_ace_airblown_inflatable.html

I think I'll make a stab at stringing some lights on the eaves of the house and put some lighted designs and my 5 foot Christmas tree in the windows.

I guess that you can pick up one or two or three or four things every season and build a nice collection. What other kinds of decorations are the ones to have?

Anybody have any advice?
 

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Is it just me or does it sound like Mike is gonna have a Griswold style Christmas display by the time he is done.....

Pete
 
My sister found this one for me at Lowes. I plan on picking one up at my local store in the next couple of weeks:

Flying Santa

She says it's huge (It has an 8' wing span), and the propeller spins. Kinda cool.
 
ausrere said:
My sister found this one for me at Lowes. I plan on picking one up at my local store in the next couple of weeks:

Flying Santa

She says it's huge (It has an 8' wing span), and the propeller spins. Kinda cool.
Click to expand...

That's even better than the one that has Santa like the witch one!

Gonna hafta to go for that one!

THANKS!
 
We love halloween and christmas decorations. Before we buy ANYTHING new, the first question to be answered is: Where will we store it. We have 12 boxes of halloween stuff and 17 boxes of christmas stuff, plus the tree and stuff that doesn't fit in boxes. It has become a nightmare.
 
Ken Ibold said:
We love halloween and christmas decorations. Before we buy ANYTHING new, the first question to be answered is: Where will we store it. We have 12 boxes of halloween stuff and 17 boxes of christmas stuff, plus the tree and stuff that doesn't fit in boxes. It has become a nightmare.
Click to expand...

There. I was persuaded to buy a big lighted, plastic pumpkin - about 4 feet tall I said that I'd have to store the thing, but had the argument that I have (will have, once I get the shelves up) lots of room in the storeroom (a bedroom). Uh-huh.

I'm taking it back because I don't like how it looks lit up at night anyway.

The inflatable fits in a box less than a cubic foot in size.
 
Ken Ibold said:
We love halloween and christmas decorations. Before we buy ANYTHING new, the first question to be answered is: Where will we store it. We have 12 boxes of halloween stuff and 17 boxes of christmas stuff, plus the tree and stuff that doesn't fit in boxes. It has become a nightmare.
Click to expand...
I didn't think you guys celebrated Christmas what with the fact there's never any snow on the ground. How's Santa supposed to land his sleigh?
 
I've never liked Halloween. Not even as a kid. Maybe the whole extortion angle turned me off, or the fact that it was a pagan holiday; but more likely I just thought it was dumb. (I didn't care much for candy, either, which may have something to do with it. I've always loved spicy food, even as a little kid.)

Until a few years ago, I used to make one concession to Halloween by handing out candy to the neighborhood kids when they rang the doorbell, but I don't do that anymore, either. Why? Because in my neighborhood, kids progress seamlessly from trick-or-treating age to tire-slashing age. A few years ago, it dawned on me that the kids slashing mine and my neighbors' tires were likely the very miscreants to whom I'd given candy a few years earlier. So the heck with them.

Christmas, though, I've always liked in the religious sense. But I've always been turned off by the commercialization of Christmas. (Last year, though, I did fly a Cub with the window open while wearing a Santa cap on Christmas eve.)

I don't go overboard decorating, although I do put lights in the front windows. I only buy gifts for my immediate family and their children, but I do other things anonymously. Sometimes I put up a tree, sometimes not. I live alone, so there's no pressure.

I do a lot of baking, though. I'm an amateur baker, and a good one by all accounts. But my favorite thing to bake is bread. I haven't purchased bread in years (except for the occasional pack of hot dog rolls for a last-minute barbecue) because I bake all my own; and come the holidays, my family starts placing bread orders with me for the annual Christmas food fests. Fish on Christmas eve, some sort of pasta on Christmas day, various meats and cheeses later on Christmas day, and Brioschi late Christmas night.
​

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It's all good, though. I find the whole baking process very therapeutic, especially with yeast breads. The chemistry and biology of it are so exquisite that in reality, the bread actually controls the baker. All of the baker's creativity is subordinate to the ancient processes that make the bread rise, so every decision is tempered by the biological realities of what's going on in a microscopic community of bacteria. Offend them too much, and your bread will fail.

Sort of like flying, when you think about it. Our mastery of the air depends on our respect for basic, immutable natural laws. Mastery based on humility.

Rich
 
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We have a very big front yard. The driveway is to the south of the house with about 200' of yard on the north. Last Xmas, I found one of my old Elvis lamps (nearly full size bust) in the basement, I covered the light socket with an Elf hat, put a spotlight on it,and a coupla' colored lights around his neck. Well, because we never drive by the house in that direction and enter from the garage, the princess never noticed ol' Elvis in the front yard wishing everybody a Merry Christmas. At least not until the night we hosted her annual work Christmas Party. Some of the guests came down the road and made mention of him. Needless to say, she was not amused. Now I'm banned from putting any decorations without her approval. Especially, if I find them tatseful.
 
mikea said:
What other kinds of decorations are the ones to have?

Anybody have any advice?
Click to expand...

I like to have creche with the baby Jesus, the three wise men, two penguins, scooby-doo, and a flying pterodactyl. If I can find a giant lobster this year, I will be in X-mas heaven! But, hey, I like my Christmas to be the traditional commercial experience that we have turned it into. :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
silver-eagle said:
I didn't think you guys celebrated Christmas what with the fact there's never any snow on the ground. How's Santa supposed to land his sleigh?
Click to expand...

That always bothered me too. I keep having images of the CE185 amphibian video landing in the water with the wheels down. Packages thrown all over the residential area and reindeer torn from their mounts.
 
silver-eagle said:
I didn't think you guys celebrated Christmas what with the fact there's never any snow on the ground. How's Santa supposed to land his sleigh?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't quite say never. Christmas of '89 (IIRC) we had an ice storm followed by several hours of a light snowfall. Very cold and pretty. And rare!
 
vontresc said:
Is it just me or does it sound like Mike is gonna have a Griswold style Christmas display by the time he is done.....

Pete
Click to expand...

I hope not. I have a lot more space to fill than Griswold. I'm not close enough to the active nuke plant to get a direct grid tap.

It occurs to me that I don't even have an extension ladder that will reach. I thought I could rent as needed...*sigh* another expense.

I did take Ken's advice and buy a good step ladder right off...I talked to the Little Giant guy at Expo. I have bad memories so that's unlikely.
 
silver-eagle said:
I didn't think you guys celebrated Christmas what with the fact there's never any snow on the ground. How's Santa supposed to land his sleigh?
Click to expand...

There is nothing than can beat a nice walk in your shorts to see the lights around the neighborhood followed by a night swim in the pool and drinking a eggnog! That is real Christmas. Not that cold junk were you have to wear 12 layers of clothes to prevent frostbite, yuck!
 
Thanks alot Lisa.:D Your Lowes flying Santa idea just cost me $107.31. My wife saw that said we just had to get one. Thanks again.
Ron
 
L10MAN said:
Thanks alot Lisa.:D Your Lowes flying Santa idea just cost me $107.31. My wife saw that said we just had to get one. Thanks again.
Ron
Click to expand...

Damn. I better drive up to Kenosha (my nearest Lowes. I guess the one in Gurnee isn't finished yet.) and get one while I can.
 
L10MAN said:
Thanks alot Lisa.:D Your Lowes flying Santa idea just cost me $107.31. My wife saw that said we just had to get one. Thanks again.
Ron
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You're welcome.. you guys just make sure you leave me one! :D I gotta go get one when I get home.
 
ausrere said:
My sister found this one for me at Lowes. I plan on picking one up at my local store in the next couple of weeks:

Flying Santa

She says it's huge (It has an 8' wing span), and the propeller spins. Kinda cool.
Click to expand...

mikea said:
That's even better than the one that has Santa like the witch one!

Gonna hafta to go for that one!

THANKS!
Click to expand...

L10MAN said:
Thanks alot Lisa.:D Your Lowes flying Santa idea just cost me $107.31. My wife saw that said we just had to get one. Thanks again.
Ron
Click to expand...

ausrere said:
You're welcome.. you guys just make sure you leave me one! :D I gotta go get one when I get home.
Click to expand...

KennyFlys said:
You decorate your home with bugs?
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I started to order online and did some research for a discount code. It turns out you can a get 10% off everything Lowes coupon for recent moves at http://lowesmoving.com It takes a few days to arrive via email. If you're in a hurry you buy one on eBay for $5. Either way, it's worth $10 on the Santa alone.

Also, Home Depot will accept the Lowes coupon, even if you used it!

Oh! And Lowes.com has free shipping on orders over $49 through 1/4/08.
 
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I instaleld my pumpkin/ghost. I had run into the neighbor at Home Depot while I was buying extension cords and sockets and such. I told them I had the official neighborhood pumpkin.

When I got back I set up the cords and dragged out the pumpkin just as the neighbors arrived home to see it.

We marveled and chose a good spot. It ran well. Winds were light. I took a break.

Then I read the instructions again and went back to tie it down. Now the winds were gusty. The thing was tossing all over the place as I tried to orient it and stake it down by myself.

Three of the plastic stakes, including the ones for the two air pumps snapped when I pushed them into the ground, some repeatedly. One tiedown rope clip is bent and sprung open. One pump separated from the fabric. The ghost inside went limp and showed no signs of ever working properly again. :mad:

I got down on the grass and resealed the pump in the fabric. I figured out that I have to power cycle the thing for the ghost pump to run long enough to inflate the ghost to a baseline level. Then it can go up and down as the pump cycles.

When fully extended, the thing hits an overhead tree branch. I was able to hold one branch back with a bungee cord, but I'll have to cut a dead branch tomorrow in the daylight.

I cannae win.

The good news is that the thing is visible from 1/4 mile down the road in both directions. It looks pretty cool.

But I think I limit myself to only the Santa airplane. These things don't appear to be too robust. :dunno:
 
Ok..I still haven't made it by Lowes to buy the Santa Airplane yet. BUT, I found another cool one today online. It's Santa in a helicopter with spinning rotor and tail rotor with Santa's head moving as well. You can see a video of it on this ebay listing where it's got a Buy it Now price of $94.95.

I looked around and found two other listing for it cheaper though. One for $88.39 here, then I found this one for $68.44. I HAD to order that one. Now I have to decide if I want to pick up the other one too.
 
ausrere said:
Ok..I still haven't made it by Lowes to buy the Santa Airplane yet. BUT, I found another cool one today online. It's Santa in a helicopter with spinning rotor and tail rotor with Santa's head moving as well. You can see a video of it on this ebay listing where it's got a Buy it Now price of $94.95.

I looked around and found two other listing for it cheaper though. One for $88.39 here, then I found this one for $68.44. I HAD to order that one. Now I have to decide if I want to pick up the other one too.
Click to expand...

That company, Chrishna Creations is the one that made my pumpkin/ghost. I don't think the quality is good enough for to last more a season or two. Mine split a seam and last night I had to reseat the air pump.

It dose look like they use a better blower on the Santa, though.

I've bought from Home and Beyond with no problems.
 
Ken Ibold said:
I started to buy one. Then I noticed the prop spins the wrong way. I couldn't get past that.
Click to expand...
Was there a paragraph in Section 7 describing the proper operation of the propeller? Perhaps it was made in China and they design them to function opposite of ours.









:)
 
ausrere said:
Ok..I still haven't made it by Lowes to buy the Santa Airplane yet. BUT, I found another cool one today online. It's Santa in a helicopter with spinning rotor and tail rotor with Santa's head moving as well. You can see a video of it on this ebay listing where it's got a Buy it Now price of $94.95.
Click to expand...
Okay, I have two questions...
  1. Which one of you having read Lisa's post bought the thing?
  2. How in the haywire did the seller come up with THAT user name??!?!
    (I'm not sure I can repeat it here!)
 
Ok... I'm well on my way to having a Santa Air Force in my front yard. I bought the Santa Helicopter online for 65.00. When I made it by Lowes, they were out of the airplane. So, last Wednesday I ordered one online. THEN, my mother showed up for Thanksgiving with another one for me as a gift. Anyone want to buy a new-in-the-box Santa Airplane when the first one I ordered gets here?? :rofl:

We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving putting them up. We had a lot of fun with it. My sister had the bright idea of putting down a runway, complete with runway lights, for Santa to be taking off of. Here's a few pics (and yes, I know there is a tree at the end of the runway...it's the only place we could put it and it still be seen from the road :rolleyes:). It's hard to see the runway lights in the pics, but they are the rope lights from Lowes. Looks really cool at night. I have a little mini wind sock I need to put up near then runway too. :D

The last pic is my little 2 year old niece.. she spent the weekend wanting to go see Santa in the "Helicotter". I think we have future rotorhead there. lol
 

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I have never and will never decorate my house and or yard for a stupid holiday.
 
ausrere said:
Ok... I'm well on my way to having a Santa Air Force in my front yard. I bought the Santa Helicopter online for 65.00. When I made it by Lowes, they were out of the airplane. So, last Wednesday I ordered one online. THEN, my mother showed up for Thanksgiving with another one for me as a gift. Anyone want to buy a new-in-the-box Santa Airplane when the first one I ordered gets here?? :rofl:
Click to expand...

Lisa, I'LL TAKE THE OTHER Santa airplane. Per my usual, I waited too long and none of the local Lowes have it. I have a 10% off coupon, too. *sigh*

PM me an email or snail mail address and I'll Pay Pal you (or send you a check).

ausrere said:
We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving putting them up. We had a lot of fun with it. My sister had the bright idea of putting down a runway, complete with runway lights, for Santa to be taking off of. Here's a few pics (and yes, I know there is a tree at the end of the runway...it's the only place we could put it and it still be seen from the road :rolleyes:). It's hard to see the runway lights in the pics, but they are the rope lights from Lowes. Looks really cool at night. I have a little mini wind sock I need to put up near then runway too. :D

The last pic is my little 2 year old niece.. she spent the weekend wanting to go see Santa in the "Helicotter". I think we have future rotorhead there. lol
Click to expand...

The neighbors wanted me to put a runway on the roof. I'll have to see if I can make something like yours.

Every year one of the neighbors, anonymously, lines our street with milk bottle lanterns to guide in Santa. I've been saving plastic bottles and I don't know why. :D
 
mikea said:
Lisa, I'LL TAKE THE OTHER Santa airplane. Per my usual, I waited too long and none of the local Lowes have it. I have a 10% off coupon, too. *sigh*

PM me an email or snail mail address and I'll Pay Pal you (or send you a check).
Click to expand...

PM on the way.

The neighbors wanted me to put a runway on the roof. I'll have to see if I can make something like yours.

Every year one of the neighbors, anonymously, lines our street with milk bottle lanterns to guide in Santa. I've been saving plastic bottles and I don't know why. :D
Click to expand...

We used that weed stop material you usually put in a flower bed. The lights were 18' long, so we cut two 18' long strips of the weed stop material and staked it down side by side. Lined each side with a rope light, then used white duct tape and made the center stripe and numbers. It rained here for the last two days, and the whole thing has stood up to it very well. At night, the lights from the airplane and the rope lights make the tape kind of glow...which has a pretty cool effect of lighting up the numbers. lol
 
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