Help me fly some freak flags!
August 2, 2015 8:20 PM Subscribe
You know those houses with the seasonal nylon, decorative house flags? The ones with the puppies smelling flowers, or the spring tulip, or Santa in the winter and stacks of books with leaves in the fall that wave in the breeze outside of people's houses? I need some help finding some house flags...
BUT NOT QUITE LIKE THOSE
My husband and I are finally getting ready to move into our new house after doing months of work - hooray! We bought an awesome, old, single family house in the city of Boston and restored the hell out of it. It's going to be one of those forever projects, but after a ton of really hard work, late nights, contractors and ridiculous feats of plumbing and electrical magic, it's ready for us!
Our new house has one of those flag poles on the front side and when I was outside doing some exterior work the other day I noticed that many homes in our 'hood have those obnoxious flags like this out there that change with the seasons and holidays. Since we are moving from down the street I know this is definitely A Thing but I guess never understood why. However, I also never really had a reason to pay real attention until I acquired a flag pole of my own and some lady was chatting me up in the grocery store today and asked me what flag I was getting for "back to school"? (I smiled and chalked it up to her probably guessing it was because of my heinous amount of cleaning supplies I was getting but who knows).
Anyway, unrelated, I had ordered us a flag with our last name's initial on it as a housewarming surprise to quickly be replaced with no flag once settled and the weather fouled, but now I'm wondering if I should have a little fun with this flag business. Since its kind of a running joke in our home that I'm not terribly domestic or crazy decorator, I think it would get some chuckles from my husband, family and friends to have flags that are possibly seasonal, but dark or sarcastic humor and change them up from time to time.
However, where the heck do I find them? Does anyone know of any places/websites?
The closest I could find to anything remotely unfrumpy are These but there have to be others somewhere!
My only constraint is that I don't want anything that could get my house completely egged, graffitied or completely offend the little old ladies of my neighborhood. A few of my new neighbors would enjoy this flag humor for certain because they have silly quirks about their houses (like my neighbor "Ed" who has horse stuff EVERYWHERE). I do like the Grumpy Cat "Not Welcome" flag. I would love to find a puking rainbows flag if one exists.
Thanks!
BUT NOT QUITE LIKE THOSE
My husband and I are finally getting ready to move into our new house after doing months of work - hooray! We bought an awesome, old, single family house in the city of Boston and restored the hell out of it. It's going to be one of those forever projects, but after a ton of really hard work, late nights, contractors and ridiculous feats of plumbing and electrical magic, it's ready for us!
Our new house has one of those flag poles on the front side and when I was outside doing some exterior work the other day I noticed that many homes in our 'hood have those obnoxious flags like this out there that change with the seasons and holidays. Since we are moving from down the street I know this is definitely A Thing but I guess never understood why. However, I also never really had a reason to pay real attention until I acquired a flag pole of my own and some lady was chatting me up in the grocery store today and asked me what flag I was getting for "back to school"? (I smiled and chalked it up to her probably guessing it was because of my heinous amount of cleaning supplies I was getting but who knows).
Anyway, unrelated, I had ordered us a flag with our last name's initial on it as a housewarming surprise to quickly be replaced with no flag once settled and the weather fouled, but now I'm wondering if I should have a little fun with this flag business. Since its kind of a running joke in our home that I'm not terribly domestic or crazy decorator, I think it would get some chuckles from my husband, family and friends to have flags that are possibly seasonal, but dark or sarcastic humor and change them up from time to time.
However, where the heck do I find them? Does anyone know of any places/websites?
The closest I could find to anything remotely unfrumpy are These but there have to be others somewhere!
My only constraint is that I don't want anything that could get my house completely egged, graffitied or completely offend the little old ladies of my neighborhood. A few of my new neighbors would enjoy this flag humor for certain because they have silly quirks about their houses (like my neighbor "Ed" who has horse stuff EVERYWHERE). I do like the Grumpy Cat "Not Welcome" flag. I would love to find a puking rainbows flag if one exists.
Thanks!
Elmer's has a good selection:
Beer flag
Cocktail flag
Earth flag
The Jolly Roger, always a classic
Smiley face
Rainbow flag
Count Dogula
Trick or treat, smell my feet!
Ravens (one of my favorites)
Zombies (good idea, not so great in execution)
posted by Beti at 9:01 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Beer flag
Cocktail flag
Earth flag
The Jolly Roger, always a classic
Smiley face
Rainbow flag
Count Dogula
Trick or treat, smell my feet!
Ravens (one of my favorites)
Zombies (good idea, not so great in execution)
posted by Beti at 9:01 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think you should order a custom flag from Elmer's based on the classic Daffy Duck cartoon, "Duck Amuck" wherein Daffy aquires a "screwball" flag for his tail. Somehow seems even more relevant to Boston.
posted by amanda at 9:17 PM on August 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by amanda at 9:17 PM on August 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
I may have to commission someone on Etsy to make a flag version of this.
It's only 12 x 18 but the Zombie Roger might work.
Anonymous flags
Zombie Outbreak Response Team flags here at the bottom of the page.
In case you are a librarian.
You might browse Etsy's outdoor flag pages.
One of my favorite jabs - Zombies eat brains. You're safe.
posted by Beti at 9:22 PM on August 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's only 12 x 18 but the Zombie Roger might work.
Anonymous flags
Zombie Outbreak Response Team flags here at the bottom of the page.
In case you are a librarian.
You might browse Etsy's outdoor flag pages.
One of my favorite jabs - Zombies eat brains. You're safe.
posted by Beti at 9:22 PM on August 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Aww, the Chewbacchus store is sold out. If drunk sacrilegious wookies are something you'd be interested in, check back. (I am in this parade but have nothing to do with the store. They said on facebook that they were designing new ones.)
posted by artychoke at 9:26 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by artychoke at 9:26 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Going with the Etsy commission idea and your location, this is topical.
posted by dvrmmr at 10:48 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by dvrmmr at 10:48 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Do you sew at all? I'm thinking you could find some single fabric panels and make your own. Spoonflower has some fun stuff. You'd have to talk to them about the best fabric choice.
posted by BoscosMom at 12:05 AM on August 3, 2015
posted by BoscosMom at 12:05 AM on August 3, 2015
wherein Daffy aquires a "screwball" flag for his tail
I love this idea so much I may have to attach a flag pole to my house. If you sew at all, it would be pretty easy to make
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:48 AM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
I love this idea so much I may have to attach a flag pole to my house. If you sew at all, it would be pretty easy to make
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:48 AM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think dvrmmr's suggestion may actually end up getting your house egged on the regular.
A serious but sweet idea - in the Cape Cod town where my cousins lived, for a while there was a tradition that whenever you had a guest staying with you, you flew the flag of your guest's home state (or country, if that was the case) on your outside flagpole; and then sometimes you gave them the flag as a going-away present when they went home. I always thought that was lovely.
An irreverent option: get the third panel of this strip done up as a flag. Only people familiar with the strip would know exactly what it is, and everyone else would see it as "awww, a bunny and a rainbow!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:35 AM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
A serious but sweet idea - in the Cape Cod town where my cousins lived, for a while there was a tradition that whenever you had a guest staying with you, you flew the flag of your guest's home state (or country, if that was the case) on your outside flagpole; and then sometimes you gave them the flag as a going-away present when they went home. I always thought that was lovely.
An irreverent option: get the third panel of this strip done up as a flag. Only people familiar with the strip would know exactly what it is, and everyone else would see it as "awww, a bunny and a rainbow!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:35 AM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
I always thought a whiskey rebellion flag would be a fun conversation piece to fly.
posted by ws at 10:36 AM on August 3, 2015
posted by ws at 10:36 AM on August 3, 2015
Response by poster: Oh my goodness, thank you so much everyone! All of these suggestions are awesome and I'm honestly going to use all of them! I also love the idea of making these flags eventually into a sewing project since I will actually have my own space in our new house where I can set up and use my arts/crafts supplies in their own dedicated work/hobby area! So excited!! :)
posted by floweredfish at 3:06 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by floweredfish at 3:06 PM on August 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I used this one for years ("corporate America" flag).
posted by metasarah at 10:23 AM on August 24, 2015
posted by metasarah at 10:23 AM on August 24, 2015
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