People used to say that you should wait until after Thanksgiving to start decorating for Christmas. There was this unspoken rule among everyone that decorating in November itself was debatable, but even earlier than that is immediately a no. Yet, this year we did not even make it halfway through October before it was out with Halloween and in with all things Santa, candy canes, and snowflakes. The ‘Christmas Creep’ has always been around, but it is becoming even more of a problem.
So what is the ‘Christmas Creep’? For those of you who have never heard this term, let me start off by saying: no, it is not a legend used to make children behave for the holiday season – but it is just as scary. The ‘Christmas Creep’ refers to retailers gradually moving the Christmas season earlier and earlier as a way to raise their sales and profits made on holiday decor. This brings up the question: when does early become a little – or in this case a lot – too early?
With holiday shopping accounting for 30% of all retail sales, companies such as Target, Costco, and Amazon have a large increase in profits around the holiday season. By gradually making the start of their holiday season earlier and earlier, they are trying to maximize their profits even more. In 2021, With sales happening early, people can begin to feel pressured to buy more from these stores, and it just adds to the overall stress that surrounds the holidays.
Personally, I am all for people decorating in November if they want, but October – and for some stores even the end of September – is just too soon for me. This just feels like we have less time to focus on that specific holiday. When you are preparing for Halloween and trying to find a costume or a scary movie, seeing smiling elves and snowmen kind of ruins the vibe. It also rushes the holidays and leaves little room to really enjoy them. Decorating can be stressful enough when it comes to just one holiday, but retailers cramming them together and cycling through them even faster makes things a lot more difficult.
The thing is, this does not only happen with Christmas. Did anyone else notice that fall seemed to come early this year? The season did not even start until September 22, yet Starbucks released the Pumpkin Spice Latte – basically the epitome of fall- on August 30. With companies bringing up the start of their holiday season earlier each year, it won’t be long before we are getting ready for the holidays in July.
