Over the last decade, as Halloween has joined Thanksgiving and Christmas in a holiday marketing trifecta, home decor companies have devised ever more-spooky products designed to scare the money out of your cold, bony hands. Some of them, however, are frightfully silly — especially because they can be easily replicated at a far lower cost.
Take, for instance, Grandin Road’s Faux Hay Bales, above. They are made from PVC on a collapsible wire frame for easy storage (although they may not be sturdy enough for all adults to sit on). A 3-foot-long version is 18 inches deep and 14 inches high and costs $69. The 40-inch-long version is 14 inches deep and 16 inches high. That will set you back $89.
By contrast, a 4-by-2-by-2-foot bale of real yellow straw is a mere $7.95 at Stephen’s Hay & Grain in Glendale. Although you will have to pick it up or pay a hefty delivery charge, it does make excellent mulch later. (Plus it’s not that tasty to critters that may really give you a fright.)
Almost as absurd as faux hay: For $16, Pottery Barn will send you its Chalkboard Rock Vase Fillers, below left, a set of four puny poly-resin rocks and a piece of chalk to write scary messages.
For $6, I bought a can of Rust-oleum Chalk Board paint and sprayed rocks of the same size from my yard. I still have three-quarters of the can left. I used a white charcoal pencil from an art supply store to write on them, but a piece of chalk works just as well.
I’m just saying.
–David Keeps, Los Angeles Times, 10/14/2010
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Allee Willis
I know David Keeps and he’s got a good eye, as do you for having the good sense to post this here.
I love the concept of reusable hay. I hate how polished it looks. So completely fake looking.
For any of you in LA or any of you traveling to LA, definitely check out Stats in Pasadena. There’s so much of this decorating stuff it’s scary. You should also definitely be aware of the after-Christmas sale at Stats. store is huge and the sale starts on December 26 at 4 AM. I got there at 4;30 AM one Christmas thinking I would beat the crowds and the line of cars to get into the parking lot was already two blocks long. It took an hour and a half to get into the parking lot and once you get into the store you literally move a couple inches at a time in a single file line of people pushing shopping carts down the hundreds of aisles buying so many cheesy decorations for 60% off it’s insane.
Mark Milligan
It would be fun just to film it. That might be the only way I could actually get through something like that because of my fear of rooms full of caffeine charged super shoppers with carts!