Give into the yard blowups! My boys have been asking for a few years every holiday to get one of those giant yard blowup decorations. I finally gave in, and to my surprise, they are fabulous! It’s just been a few days, and I wonder about the durability in the unpredictable; today is fall, tomorrow is summer, and Wednesday may be winter, Michigan weather.
I was fighting the blowup idea so much because yard inflatables are not nostalgic, classic, or, some would say, tasteful. When I finally said I would consider one, my ten-year-old took the task very seriously. He requested to go to a few stores to look at all the possibilities, and to my surprise, he didn’t immediately grab the largest, most colorful one he saw.
I suggested we get Jack the Skelton riding a coffin sleigh. My son returned to me to earth saying, “Mom, we are not spending $150 on a plastic blowup”. I responded, “But there’s Zero, his cute ghost dog we could get also.”
When I could tell I wasn’t convincing him, we went to online research. We found a 10-foot, three-ghost blowup on the almighty Amazon for a fraction of the price. It was amazingly on our doorstep when we woke up the following day. Do Amazon workers ever sleep? Does anyone else feel guilty when the deliveries are so early?
I let my 10-year-old take the lead, and we spent that afternoon together setting up all our Halloween decorations we’ve collected over the years and the new blow-up. He conveniently took a long snack break while I tediously put up a million bats by peeling off the tiny adhesive stickers on each, but seeing his pride and excitement over this yard blow-up changed my mind. I must admit, it looks spectacular, and we have even received compliments from neighbors. I’m lucky the kid has good taste.
In a more practical sense, the blowups take up little space to store and are so easy to set up. I am wondering why I didn’t give in sooner. These decorations may not be nostalgic or classic to me, but they will be someday for my kids, who grow up so fast. My two oldest have taught me; now that one is in college, the other is looking at colleges. Just embrace the magic now while it’s there and they are home with you.
When we woke up the following day, another package was at our door. Amazon people, take a rest! It was a set of blowup pumpkins! I can see how easily people’s yards get taken over by blowup decorations. We have set a firm line that we are stopping at two for now… but there’s always Christmas!
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