An Expanding Market: Inflatable Holiday Decorations

Sales of bigger-than-life inflatable Christmas decorations are growing.... and growing, and growing. A Dec. 20 Wall Street Journal article on "over-the-top" holiday lawn displays noted that inflatables were the fastest-growing category of seasonal decorations, with $500 million in sales last year. The Journal said that was up from $100 million in 2003, based on data from market researchers Mintel International.

One major contributor to the inflatable outdoor decoration industry is Charles "Chick" Beaulieu, the owner of a Fairfax, Va., Shell station whose holiday displays we wrote about back before Thanksgiving. The Motley Yule praised Chick then for actually decorating for Thanksgiving when many other business were already decking the halls for a different holiday.

But that does not mean that Chick does not go all out for Christmas too, as he has for 21 years. These two images will give you some idea of what Chick has in store for drivers passing his gas station at Route 50 and Jermantown Road these days....






Last week's Wall Street Journal story mentioned that the increasing popularity of inflatable decorations like these has inspired a wave of vandalism and thievery. Indeed newspaper crime reports across the country seem to be filled with items about such crimes -- from Wichita Falls, Texas, to Queen Creek, Ariz., to Colerain Township, Ohio, to Forest Acres, Wis.

Unpopular as these decorations are with some, columnist Robert Paul Reyes may be alone in thinking that "going medieval" on a big inflatable Frosty the Snowman is understandable, if not justifiable. But Reyes makes his bias on the subject perfectly clear in the kicker of his column. "Merry Christmas to all my readers," he writes, "except those with inflatable decorations."