I like 'em, but as with all things, in moderation. I voted number 1, but there are limits.
Most of all, I miss the simplicity of the inflatable snow globes. There were cute and simple. For some reason I never see them any more. Just huge assortments of inflatable characters.
Sure. My limits are mainly how much it affects me when I’m inside my house. If it’s not blaring noise, shining light through my windows or setting my roof on fire, I pretty much don’t care.
My neighbors have inflatables but they don’t do any of those things so I’m pretty apathetic about them. I don’t care what they look like because I don’t spend any time looking at them. I suppose we could imagine a scenario where they put up a giant inflatable penis covered in swastikas and I care but I’ll amend my opinion when that happens.
I am bothered by the amount of energy that’s being expended to keep these things inflated. (Ditto large displays of Christmas lights.) It just seems so very wasteful to me that I can’t see past that.
I think they’re gaudy and ugly, and furthermore illustrate that the homeowner was too lazy to string up lights or put up decorations that actually take work, and decided a big turd that you just plug in and turn on was better.
But it’s their property and I don’t care that much, so that’s what I chose in the poll. Not getting one for my house, though, that’s for sure.
A bounce house or a slide or something functional neighborhood kids could use during the holidays would be another matter entirely.
Yes. And my limit is when it negatively affects me or others. It’s really hard to do that with an inanimate object that never comes anywhere near me or my property.
If you’re setting off dynamite in your front yard or hanging neighborhood children from trees, sure, I care. But that’s so far removed from “harmless inanimate object placed in the front yard” that I believe we can ignore it for the purposes of this thread.
A few years ago, friends and I drove past a yard full of sagging inflatable Christmas decorations. We still refer to it as the Christmas massacre.
In that case, back to the tarring and feathering!
Not to single you out, but several folk have posted similar things. Like Channing, I’m dubious. I - and I assume many city/suburban homeowners - put some thought and effort into making my home look nice and in good repair. I do it, not only because I like the way it looks, but because I think it enhances my neighbors’ day-to-day experience - not to mention potentially their home value.
Admittedly, a holiday inflatable is a far cry from a car up on blocks, home in disrepair, unmowed lawn, trash not picked up… But it would surprise me if many folk really didn’t care what they saw every day when they approached and left their home.
I favor the eclectic. I really don’t think I’d care if something were done unusually - a weird paint color, or a statue. But I WOULD prefer that it not be done in a cheap, sloppy manner. I used to live down the street from a house that was painted chartreuse, with a painted black life-ized David statue that made its way around the front yard. I always thought they must be interesting people.
I can’t remember anything I did to my home that I did SOLELY because of how I thought my neighbors would perceive it. But I would think myself an unneighborly asshole if I didn’t at least momentarily consider my neighbors in such things.
Nope, I just don’t think that way. I suppose if my entire block, except for my lot, was reduced to a smoking crater, I’d start to worry.
But someone parked their car on the lawn? Their gutters are overflowing? Their grass is tall enough to house cobras and pumas? They painted their siding chrome? They converted their back yard into a warehouse for beanie babies? Their privacy fence is made of cinder blocks?
“Not what I’d choose to do, but it’s your house, not mine. It’s a free country. More power to ya.”
Maybe it would be different if I had been rich enough to buy my house solely for the view or something. But that is the sort of thing I would never do, and this post explains why.
I don’t pretend to control people. Unless I bought everything I can see from my windows, I would expect that someone else would immediately fuck it up. So I just don’t buy property based on the way other people’s property around that general area looks. I buy property based on its intrinsic value, not the reflected value of other people, who can and in fact always do change.
I think it can be so subjective. I would think we all agree that a big pile of garbage is a big pile of garbage, but there is such a range for so many other things.
I remember back in the 80s, I had a friend who had a hippie mom. They lived in the city, and the mom turned over the yard to indigenous wildflowers. She didn’t like having a lawn that you had to mow. Neighbors complained bitterly. There were petitions brought to the city council. Now, of course, people hire landscape architects to achieve wildflower gardens, and they are generally accepted as being more ecologically sound than lawns. It is good for the bee population. I’m sure there are still people who hate it, though.
For what it’s worth, while it wasn’t a reason that I bought my home, one of the things that I like about the location is that there isn’t much “lawn policing.” Some people have lawns that are showpieces, others have cars up on blocks. It’s also very wooded, so that while I’m not particularly far from my neighbors, there is a lot of green between us, so we don’t have to look at each other’s lawns that much.
Yes. Cars on the lawn make me think of hard working mechanics getting things done, and long grass is just a beautiful view of nature.
Whereas I think attached garages on the front of houses are hideous eyesores. I hate beige, and the beige McMansions, with 25% brick because that’s what the HOA requires, and cheap PVC fences because chain link isn’t allowed in the subdivision. That place would have me moving in no time.
But, and this is important, I’d be kicking myself the whole time that I moved into such a shitty neighborhood, and I wouldn’t go blaming the neighbors or petitioning to make them change their property to my tastes. But that’s why I will never move into an HOA in the first place.
Unless it is a danger to them or others I could care less what they do/put up on their own property.
Cool to find yet another aspect in which I see things so differently than others.
I do agree, however, that I cannot imagine moving into an area with an HOA. Maybe as I age and should circumstances change…
This type of answer is just another reason I admire you so. Such a lovely sentiment.
Tacky, tacky, tacky. Tacky and noisy when inflated. Kind of sad when deflated, as they often are during the day. Hey, there’s Santa, dead on the ground! Nice.
OTOH somebody in my neighborhood had like a 10 foot high Darth Vader inflatable for Halloween. My dog hated that so bad. He thought it was just…wrong. Wrong and scary. He barked at it, wouldn’t pass it, then passed it, then kept looking back over his shoulder at it and barking. It was hilarious. He’s still a bit nervous walking down that street even though it’s gone. So that one was okay.
Actually I figured out why I don’t mid H’ween inflatables. Because it’s just a tacky holiday all around what with its sexy Raggedy Ann costumes and other costumes of poor taste. I guess I could be coaxed into feeling the same about xmas.
Another vote for “Within very broad limits, they can do what they like.”
A family several houses down the street from me loves these things - in one flavor or another they’re on that lawn about a quarter of the year. Tacky as all hell - embarrassing, really. But I celebrate the fact that there’s room in the world for people with tastes as different as theirs and mine to get along just fine.
I voted never acceptable, but of course if people want to use them that’s their prerogative unless there’s an ordinance against it or something. However, all the ones I’ve ever seen (mostly Christmas themed) are left deflated during the day, which makes them look like a pile of garbage in the yard.
New today - dancing stormtrooper helmets projected on their garage door. I didn’t know there was a market, but they appear to be trying to corner it!
Hmmmm. I wonder if I could get away with an inflatable car up on blocks.
Aww, thanks 
I hope you have a lot of wonderful lights (and inflatables) to enjoy where you are!