# Giant Skeleton Christmas Decorations **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 2, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502 "2024-01-02T15:04:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/1 "2024-01-02T15:04:42Z")
Last year a lot of people didn’t want to take down those 12 foot high giant skeletons, so they left them up all year, even though they look extra-creepy when they’re not Halloween decorations. But this year I’ve noticed at least three cases of people decorating those giant skeletons for Christmas, as a sort of “Nightmare Before Christmas” thing, with Santa hats and with strings of colored lights wrapped around the bones. Apparently this is going on all over the place. > **[Home Depot's $300 giant skeleton is now Christmas decor - Insider | Scary...](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/advertising-references--418342252893492163/)** > > Jan 5, 2021 - To avoid storing the massive 13-foot Halloween skeletons, some plan to leave them up all winter by adding Santa hats, Christmas lights, and presents. [https://www.axios.com/2023/08/30/halloween-decorations-12-foot-skeleton](https://www.axios.com/2023/08/30/halloween-decorations-12-foot-skeleton) > **[Why are people using 12-foot skeletons as Christmas decorations?](https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/atlanta-winter-guide/why-are-people-using-12-foot-skeletons-as-christmas-decorations/Q25RYYPSWFFQXBQ3TYPYUQ2YYA/)** > > Since 2020, people have been using 12-foot skeletons as both Halloween and Christmas decorations. It's a trend years in the making, and it's all because of social media. > [@](#): > > Social media-lovers have been buying up the 12-foot lawn ornaments in droves to decorate for Christmas. University of Wyoming sociology professor [Jenni Tabler offered CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/us/skeleton-home-depot-skelly-halloween-decoration-trend-cec) some insight on the trend. > > “I think for me as a sociologist, I find it very heartening that we can all rally over some of the small joys in life,” she told CNN. “And the enormous skeleton is one of those fascinating small joys.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/2 "2024-01-02T15:06:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Last year a lot of people didn’t want to take down those 12 foot high giant skeletons, so they left them up all year, even though they look extra-creepy when they’re not Halloween decorations. At least it’s not porn. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/3 "2024-01-02T15:09:57Z")
Yep, my neighbor has been leaving the skeleton up after Halloween and dressing up in a Santa suit the last few years. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/4 "2024-01-02T15:12:09Z")
My wife and I have talked about getting one but storage during the off season is an issue. She suggested we leave it out year round and decorate it according to the season. It can be a Valentine’s Day skeleton, a St. Patrick’s Day skeleton, a 4th of July skeleton, etc., etc. It’s a tempting idea. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/5 "2024-01-02T15:13:30Z")
Sounds cromulent to me. > **[A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/plea-resurrect-christmas-tradition-telling-ghost-stories-180967553/)** > > Though the practice is now more associated with Halloween, spooking out your family is well within the Christmas spirit ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/6 "2024-01-02T15:43:04Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Sounds cromulent to me. That’s an interesting article, and explains something I just learned about this weekend. Bram Stoker’s short horror story _The Squaw_ first appeared in the Christmas magazine _Holly Leaves; The Christmas Number of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News_ in 1893. I thouight it was pretty inappropriate material for a Christmas story. (I could allow Doyle to get away with publishing the first Sherlock Holmes story, _A Study in Scarlet_, in a Beeton’s Christmas Annual because it was a detective story more than a murder story. But Stoker’s piece is a gory horror story.) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/7 "2024-01-02T17:25:15Z")
There is a “skeleton for all seasons” just down the street from me. It started off in just the bare bones(haha) configuration. He(?) has morphed over the last two months, first with a Santa mask and giant turkey drumstick and now Mr. Giant Bones is sporting a nice outfit. [![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ABLVV85ySwSMovAq8zeu5Z6gn4vrmfgDuf_ZcmcLO2utEvMe4Fl98ghyA4sWBbuQJegp2_UwalUjWw8FZWt2cSvQzdqQA_xnhD_5qYotKC3N09pSYfqp4YoG=w600-h315-p-k "New item by Dave Carter") ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/LYFUjTGsU7GbHCBTA) I’m curious to see if he sticks around for Valentines day…with maybe a heart in the chest cavity and holding a box of chocolates. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/8 "2024-01-02T17:36:38Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I’m curious to see if he sticks around for Valentines day…with maybe a heart in the chest cavity and holding a box of chocolates. Just add a baculum. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/9 "2024-01-02T18:11:19Z")
One yard I pass by on my commute goes all-out with the Halloween decorations every year, and converted the whole thing into a Christmas display by the simple expedient of adding a twelve-foot-tall Jack Skellington to all of the other twelve-foot-tall skeletons. When I passed by there today, though, everything was taken down except for a single unremarkable life-size Santa (which I don’t think was even up there, before Christmas). Another yard which goes big on the Halloween decorations (usually something different every year) also goes big on completely different Christmas decorations: Usually a couple of those white plywood cutout deer, but about 20’ tall. Though, since they do something different for Halloween every year, they probably don’t worry too much about storage. My favorite was one year, they had a roller coaster rail coming off of their roof, with a car crashed at the bottom where the rails ended, full of skeletons. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/10 "2024-01-02T18:59:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Another yard which goes big on the Halloween decorations (usually something different every year) also goes big on completely different Christmas decorations: A house near where I work goes HUGE on both Halloween and Christmas decorations – they’ve designed them so they can be used for both holidays! There are boards with LED lights that are bats and suchlike for Halloween and the next month change into candy canes. There are boxes that are orange and purple for Halloween but become red and green lights for Christmas. And they have a set of figures from _Nightmare Before Christmas_ that don’t change in any way between the holidays – they fit both. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/11 "2024-01-02T19:05:38Z")
That would be a pretty cocky move. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-skeleton-christmas-decorations/995502/12 "2024-02-13T23:49:50Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > There is a “skeleton for all seasons” just down the street from me. I’m curious to see if he sticks around for Valentines day. Yep, still around, and sporting a new look today: [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53527720046_79ed219b51_z.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53527720046_79ed219b51_z.jpg)