Does Holiday Hype Ever Get on Your Nerves??

Updated on April 25, 2011
B.M. asks from Dallas, TX
19 answers

just curious b/c i have a 2 year old & easter's not THAT big of a deal to me. after all my family's only me, my boy, and my little dog. he's 2 so he wouldn't know one way or another if we did or didn't do anything. no fam to celebrate with, which is okay w/me. :)
i did buy him a basket w/some plastic eggs & a cute $6 outfit & i figure i'll do a little egg hunt in our front yard, but not like a big bbq, church, family dinner thing that most people do. just don't have the family to do it with! lol
anyway, i find myself wanting to run out & get more stuff & try find more stuff to do b/c as it gets closer there's more commericals, more advertisements at stores, and even more posts on here. all ok! but i'm like a marketers dream i guess - i just fall into the hype! this happens to me all the time - any holiday! lol does this ever happen to y'all or i'm justa weirdo falling into the hype?? just wondering, no big deal, but i guess also wondering if anyone else was just chillin for easter sunday and didn't have these massive family traditions & plans?

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A.S.

answers from Sarasota on

I totally relate. If you look at it... there is a big holiday about every month. I think it's a way to get people to spend more money in shops. Plus... most of the stuff has nothing to do with the actual holiday! It's so dumb. Ha ha :)

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

It's ridiculous. You're smart to stay out of it. If you have extra cash to blow--put it in his college fund!

2 moms found this helpful

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G.T.

answers from Modesto on

Due to environmental disturbances in my little world, these next 3 days are not being celebrated the way I would normally celebrate them. But I am taking the time to be thankful that the original occurred.

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K.P.

answers from Seattle on

I am so sick of hearing about holidays! Lol! I was just joking with my husband that they are probably making up a new holiday just to get people to buy more stuff! I am sick of the ads on tv, and the radio. I wish there was break from it all. Just too much for me!

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K.R.

answers from Sherman on

it dont think the holiday hype is really what s buggin you. it sounds like you are less ok with not having gathering around the different holidays than you let on.
you dont have to have a ton of family, or even a designated holiday. just have over your friends and some little ones for your little one to have a special day with.
you my no means HAVE too... but sometimes its FUN to make a big deal out of something, even if its nonsense, like hiding eggs!
Make your own traditions, and make some memories!

1 mom found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Thanksgiving/Christmas gets to me sometimes.
The rest are not so bad because we just don't (refuse to) make big deals out of them.
Most of the time when the rest of the world is going nuts with fussing over this and that, I'm watching a good movie with a bowl of popcorn and I'm perfectly happy not running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. There's no expense, no candy, no decorations (or figuring out where to store them), no clean up, etc.
Holidays are as complicated or easy as you want them to be.

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L.V.

answers from Dallas on

I always think, "if we did this, it would be really cool," for my kids, but then I stop and think about it, and I realize I'm wanting to do it for me, not for them. Other than that, the holiday hype doesn't bother me so much.

Election season, though? I could shoot myself.

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A.S.

answers from Boca Raton on

YES YES YES! I thought I was the only one who felt this way sometimes.

That being said . . . I do encourage you to color eggs and do all the fun little kid things. Before you know he will be grown and won't care a hoot about coloring eggs with you. That's what happened to me! I miss those days so much.

Just try to not pressure yourself. Make it special in your very own way for YOUR family (which is you and your son). That's what works for me.

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B.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

This may sound weird...but it's boring. Here comes another holiday and it just gets tiresome. As soon as one passes there's another one on the horizon with all its decorations, work, etc. bah humbug. lol

Having said that I am taking a very elderly (91) aunt to church and making a lovely supper for my children and grandchildren. I will enjoy their company and sitting down to eat with them, since we don't get to do that as often as we would like.

Hope you have a pleasant day tomorrow with your family too.

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J.B.

answers from Tyler on

Decide what traditions you want for your child/children. Growing up, I had a huge extended family that gathered every Easter and the cousins had a big Easter egg hunt at my grandfather's house. But I didn't have the same for my children. As toddlers, we let them hunt the eggs in our yard and took pictures. As they entered kindergarten, etc., I did less and less of the commercial type stuff, and we emphasized the spiritual part of Easter. Now they do the same for theirs.

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M.R.

answers from Chicago on

OMG! I know where you are coming from! It's like Christmas in our family and extended family. My cousin hosts a group of 30 of us and we all bring something to eat and there is always too much junk food. There is an egg hunt as well.

Not only that, GIFTS are expected to be exchanged. One for great-grandma and grandma and the god parents, plus they all give my kids gifts.

As I'm buying all the groceries for the things I'm passing at this "event" and the gifts I'm thinking the same thing.

Yikes!!

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R.J.

answers from Salt Lake City on

to be honest it drives me crazy. Easter decorations out directly after valentines day, mixed with St Patricks day- Since when did this all get to be such a big deal? I swear Christmas comes out the day after halloween. Easter is not a big day for us we dont do decorations or anything we have the traditional easter egg hunt and a couple presents but that is it. We are not religious although I have made sure my boys know the meaning behind the religious holidays.

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L.P.

answers from Dallas on

We don't have family here either, they are a minimum of 4 hours away and we don't spend Easter with them. We have 2 boys ages 8 and 5, we will go to church, have lunch and probably go see Hop on Easter as a family. No big dinner to cook, just a calm day. I will do baskets for my boys but I didn't go overboard and got things I needed to get them anyway.

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B.F.

answers from Dallas on

The older you get the more you understand the commercialism of holidays.
If they can convince you that EVERBODY does this or buys that then they win and it doesn't matter that you loose to them. A friend and I walk by the holiday displays in the stores and say ohh, that's pretty, never buying and say wonder what there will be next year. We are the family that had no family around either. We made up most holidays as we went along. Most are as individual as they could be and none cost a bundle. As your life goes along you will make friends with people, most just like you, and you can plan holidays together. We, (my husband, two boys and one of their friends), had our Easter dinner last night. My oldest is home from college and will be going back right after church on Sunday. I know I will have ham for all weekend! Ok, I am cheap and infinitely practical! Most of all I wish you to find a church near you and let them love you into their family.
Blessings!

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S.W.

answers from Minneapolis on

For my family, holidays are a celebration of the change of seasons. In Minnesota, that is a big deal! We don't go all out with spending, but we try to make a celebration out of small things, and create our own traditions.

On Easter, which is a celebration of Spring and rebirth that has been celebrated long before Christianity existed, we color eggs and do an egg hunt, have a simple breakfast, then visit the "baby farm animals" exhibit at the MN Zoo. It's great because it's never crowded there on Easter Sunday morning ;-)

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P.M.

answers from Portland on

Getting sucked in and learning from it is simply part of life. Don't beat yourself up – use each holiday cycle as a way to become clearer about what you DO want, and why. Someday you'll notice that it all just slides right past you, and you won't feel insecure about "not doing enough for your child," and you'll life the life that is most meaningful to you.

Be aware, though, that as long as your son gets to see all that tempting advertising, he'll keep tugging and nagging for more. It's fairly easy to convince kids that they "need" stuff. I actually got rid of the television when my daughter was 8 and I left my first marriage.

The first few months were somewhat difficult ("Oh, Mommy, PUHLEEZ can we get a television? All my friends are watching all these neat shows…"). But after a summer away from most of the friends, and overflowing with lots of interesting and educational activities, my daughter had lost interest in TV. And not having all that insidious advertising niggling at us was so wonderful! I haven't had television since (honestly don't know how I'd find the time for it), and my daughter watches movies but no TV in her home now that she's a mom.

J.S.

answers from Chicago on

We're not Christian, so we don't celebrate Easter. I do get baskets and hide them in the house for my girls, but that is more a spring celebration than anything else. We don't go to any relatives' houses or have anyone over.

Christians talk about the "reason for the season" at Christmas, but Easter is really the BIG holiday. It's what the whole religion is based on. He suffered, died and was buried. On the third day He rose again, in fulfillment of the Scriptures and is seated at the right hand of the Father. See, I still remember my Catholic Mass.

So, don't fall for the hype.

T.K.

answers from Dallas on

I love holidays. I look forward to the next one as soon as one ends. It breaks up the monotony of the everyday and gives us something to look forward to. It's often an excuse to give my kids a little extra treat and make them smile. I don't mind the hype. I counter it with a healthy dose of "Reason for the Season" and am careful to remind everyone what we are celebrating. I have great memories with my brothers from all the holiday traditions my mom had - like trotting out the celery stuffed with cream cheese, and olive and pickle tray. I remember this one particular Christmas ornament that my mom put up year after year. It was a brass merry go round of cherubs. It just wasn't Christmas until she put that out. My dad would leave mini marshmallows on the dinner table and tell us it was Easter bunny poop. I don't know which of the little trinkets I've bought will be a memory for my kids. But, I'm glad to provide them with traditions and memories. I love any excuse to invite my whole family over and feed them.

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C.W.

answers from Dallas on

This if funny. I'm in a similar boat, it's just my 4 year old daughter and me now, no family around. We did all the egg hunting etc. with her friends on Saturday and the weekend before. On Easter Sunday I cleaned the pool, daugher was swimming, then we did yardwork and went out in the afternoon to a restaurant. Not very Easter-like and it was weird working out in the front yard, the whole neighborhood was so quiet, nobody outside... :-)

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