Holiday Inflatables

[Misfit Toy]

Do many of you have any? Do you like them and are they durable? Last year I was thinking of getting one, but some kinda looked a bit tacky to me and decided to pass in the end. Depends what you get though. They're not cheap either. Last year when they had those snowglobes with the snow all flying around, those looked great and this year they’re coming out with some 12” ones, which I was hoping to see.

I might get a 12” one for a table centerpiece and if I ever got one of those big inflatables for outside, this is the only one Ive seen that I actually really like, since I love good ol’ Sam:

http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/42000178/Images/1/86786156759.jpg

I’ve never seen him in the stores, so I’d probably have to go the ebay route if I decide to pick him up.

This is the 12" tabletop snowglobe I really like:

http://www.gemmy.com/products/largeImage/10823-78.jpg

[elfworks]

those inflatables are not to my taste, but i am digging your burl ives frosty there!!

xo

[Misfit Toy]

Yea, I’m the same way. That’s why I’ve been so hesitant with them. They, though Sam is one of the nicer ones I've seen, don’t look very good in person, like they do in the pics. Its mostly because I’ve wanted a Sam outside for so long and the only other one I‘ve seen was a reflective lighted 4 foot one that while nice, wasn’t really what I‘ve been looking for. As for the globe, I just saw another picture of the mini snow globe and it just looked like a beach ball with a stuffed animal in it.....

So, they’ll probably be a pass of me. And, I'm sure there will be a ton of new stuff this year anyway, like every year that I'll just "NEED" to have that I like a lot and get tempted by everything I see :D

[SC]

those inflatables are not to my taste, but i am digging your burl ives frosty there!!

xo

I'm with you. I'd rather have twinkley lights.

[sheepsnot]

Sam is my favorite Rudolph character. I think it's the vest.

[caseydbell]

I'm not into those....mainly bacause my mom does not like them

[MarthaK]

I'm not a nut for them, but they are cute in the right environment.
Last year I had Snoopy flying his dog house. Being chased by a Red Baron kite.

This year I found a Santa looking all bug-eyed as he's filling his sleigh at a gas pump. Most folks in my town commute 45-60 miles into work...I had to get it. ;-)

[sheepsnot]

I'd like to see a picture of that. Don't be surprised in Elf Ed writes to say that Santa doesn't use petroleum based products to power his sleigh.

[MarthaK]

I think the gas prices are WHY Santa uses Reindeer. Lord knows, I could sure use a team!

I'm still waiting for him to be shipped, so here's the link to where I got him.

http://www.buyinflatables.com/productid12046-00.htm

[dvdguy]

awesome, but maybe he shouldnt use premium, save a couple of bucks lol

[Christmas Cheers]

I've never really been a fan of the inflatables but with each new type that comes out I find myself inching closer and closer towards buying one. The snow globe ones are impressive.



:merry:

[dvdguy]

the ones that go up & down are cool too

[Ervserver]

I saw one at Kmart last year that was a GIANT inflatable snow globe...not only do I want one I want to sit inside it and let the plastic snow fall on me. :eek:

[HolyNight7]

You see them here alot in Florida. I personally am not crazy over them. They are a big item in Walmart down here.

[Christy Carol]

I am not crazy about them either. Call me weird but I still like the old fashioned plastic lawn decorations. Maybe its cuz I am from the country and we like tacky stuff LOL!! But they remind me of my childhood...I guess they became popular around that time because it seems like everyone had something plastic in their yards. Now days everyone wants those huge inflatable ones and if you get too many in your yard, well its just over powering.

[HolyNight7]

Don't get me wrong I like the plastic ones, like the choir people or nativity but don't over do it. Can you say Tacky?

[MarthaK]

Tacky rules!

Christmas is the one time each year I toss out all advice from Martha Stewart and Southern Living and set up a display with wild, colorful, childish abandon.

Maybe it's a reaction to my repressive upbringing of solid, steady, white mini lights.

I have only a couple of inflatables, though. I mostly do wireframes and plastic blow molds. The inflatables take up a bit of space once the power is off and they deflate. I have two dogs who need yard space and inflatables tend to take a large chunk of yard when they're off.

That being said, I hope to set out an inflatable Bumble this year...if anything is going to look good at 8 ft tall, it's a Bumble!

(My display is called "Edison Christmas" because "Vegas on the Rappahannock" is too hard to remember!)

[sheepsnot]

Remember the Christmas episode of Roseanne where they were trying to outdo each other with tacky yard ornaments? They found some nice Elvis stuff and flamingoes with Santa stockings. It was called White Trash Christmas.

[HolyNight7]

I remember that one. It was a crack up.

[mrshamm]

I prefer lights rather than inflatables. Of course we're not allowed to have either here at our apartment. I'm thinking of getting a lighted wreath to hang on our door.

[HolyNight7]

Are you not even allowed to put lights in your window? At our apartment complex we can put lights in our windows outside our door, on our little patio or lawn area. I've seen people do it. Our apartments kinda look like town houses. We have our own separate entrance.

[mrshamm]

We each have our seperate entrances but we're not allowed to have outdoor lights except for on a doorhanger. We're allowed to have the small lighted angels and such in our window but nothing very elaborate. We're gonna have battery operated candles in our windows. I hate it that we're not allowed to have icicle lights on our front porches...oh well.

[Ervserver]

well well your landlords aren't very festive :(

[HolyNight7]

Yea what Ervserver said. :eek:

[mrshamm]

our apartment complex is owned by a management company that I am starting to believe is run by Mr. Scrooge.

[Ervserver]

they need a visit by some spirits

[HolyNight7]

That sucks. I guess some are overly cautious.

[sheepsnot]

Our apartment complex has a competition every year and some folks go all out, fitting a housefull of ornaments and lights on a eight foot wide balcony! I love it. The streetlights are victorian and have big globes on top. At Christmas they put colored bulbs in them, which is really festive and also makes the street pretty dark.

[HolyNight7]

That sounds real festive.

[Ervserver]

sounds nice, someone in charge there has the spirit.

[dvdguy]

the apartment complex we were in let you do anything. The guy at the end put in a little patio area

[mrshamm]

We talked to a few of our neighbors and we're going to get a petition started to request that the management allow us to hang Christmas lights. even if we all have to hang the same kind, we'd like to be able to have something make our complex look festive. I was looking at the lease and in the outdoor decorations it says:

"To preserve the beauty of our community, no communtiy members are authorized to hang outdoor decorations."

Granted our apartments are pretty but they are so uniform it's scary. We all even have the same color patio furniture.

[Ervserver]

ghee I thought holiday decorations ARE beauty

[dvdguy]

do you all blink in unison too (simpsons reference)

[mrshamm]

lol no, we don't blink in unison. Another scary thing is you have to let the office know if you're going to be coming home after 2AM so they can authorize your entry code to open the gates. If you don't have your code authorized you'd better hope one of your neighbors is home so you can call and get them to buzz open the front gates for you...lol.

[Ervserver]

Living like that would put a damper on my freedoms. I prefer to come n go as I please and decorate as much as I want to. I lived in a apartment for 5 years and they didn't want us to decorate either but we did anyway to some extent

[dominick]

Good luck with your petition. Last year living in an apartment, we were allowed to decorate to our hearts' content.

In response to the topic, I kind of like the inflatables. I have one small 4' snowman we got real cheap on clearance last year... not sure if I want to put it up or not. The snowglobes are cool, I really like that tabletop misfit Rudolf one. Those actually require a bit of maintenance, though. The "snow" rubbing the globe builds a static charge, and it ends up clumping. I think someone said that all you have to do is open it up and spray some anti static cling spray in there. The ULTIMATE in awesome Christmas tacky inflatables has to be the new thing they have this year: 8' moving musical carousels. I love seeing them but I'd be hesitant to buy one (at around $150).

-Tony

[sheepsnot]

It sems like most of us are in apartments or just got out of one. Our allows liberal decorating. Folks go all out. Yu can't drill into the building, but you can decorate your windows.

[Ervserver]

I'm starting to see more and more of the inflatables around town, I saw a 8ft pumpkin near my house. Seems like the air pumps run continually. I thought they were a inflate continually
once type of thing and maybe have to blow a little air into them now an then.

[dominick]

Nope, they run non-stop. They're not really much of a pump, though. They're not much more than an amped up computer fan on most of them.

[Ervserver]

I'm thinking of some type of heat proof Santa popup that I could stick in the chimney on my house. It would pop up everytime the furnace kicks on and spews exhaust out the chimney

[HouseElf]

I see a lot of them around here, but (sorry!) I really do not like them. To each his own!
:snowball:

[Ms_Speedy_Elf]

Don't get me wrong I like the plastic ones, like the choir people or nativity but don't over do it. Can you say Tacky?

I agree.I would like to get the full nativity in blow mold's/plastic lawn art and thats basically it. To be honest I really don't see that many blow mold's that I even begin to find attractive.Don't really care for the inflatiable's either.

[MsChristmas]

We dont have any. We live in a townhouse and have a small yard. I think too many of them in a small yard look a little cluttered but like other people have said to each is their own and I have seen yards that look really nice with them also! Just depends on how they are presented I suppose!

:tree:

[OleStNyck]

there is a house by me with a medium sized front yard and they have to have at least 30 if not more or those things. I'll get a good pick this year

this is the best pic i could get of it. I'll get a better one this year

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f33/Nyck1118/12-27-07102.jpg