Where's the "HO HO HO. IT'S AUGUST!" overlay! Man what a ripoff!

I don't think it's overflow as the one on the left has a sale tag on it.

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity:

Leftover from January's "after-xmas" clearance sale?

People must be buying it......

Otherwise it is simple - if no one bought Christmas stuff this early - stores would not sell it.

You can add Hobby Lobby to the Christmas in August list. I asked the clerk putting up ornaments for directions, but I was sure to state the obvious - "oh, Merry Christmas!" She laughed.

Who exactly agreed that "after Thanksgiving" is the only time Christmas items should be displayed?

Just because it is annoying doesn't mean a business shouldn't sell the merch that people will (for some reason) buy in August. If it annoys you that OMG THE WRAPPING PAPER IS ALREADY HERE, then shake your head, curse the fools who buy it and move along.

You know, when I was a small child, I really looked forward to Christmas. It was one or two days long, it was the only real time I got presents (my birthday is in late December so it's always been lumped in with Xmas) and it was nice.

In my teens the Christmas creep began to get worse and worse, and Christmas went from a nice couple of days to a hellacious month from after Thanksgiving until the actual day, and it was to be feared.

Now it's just silly and stupid and irrelevant.

I was flipping through the channels last night and QVC had a countdown to Christmas going on. ::shudders::
Let me at least get through August before I have to look at Precious Moment Xmas ornaments.

I just go to my moms for wrapping paper....about 15 years ago a distributor was going out of business and i havent bought wrapping paper since.

And i like christmas so i dont mind seeing this crap now, gives me time to peruse before i complate my shopping in October.

Our country has no soul... time to have a beer at lunch and ponder the absurdity of this.

@incognit000

Exactly my thoughts. Just like violent video games and movies have desensitized us to violence, retailers have done the same for Christmas. Too much of a good thing is just that. You wouldn't eat chocolate ice cream morning, noon and night just because you loved it, would you?

It doesn't matter. Eventually, all of the US holidays will be rolled into one day. It shall be called "Annual Holiday". :)

Could it count as Consumerist Christmas Creep if we're conversing concerning creep on Consumerist?

@Dooley: 3 for $10.00 on 3.99 paper isn't a post Christmas sale. As a consummate post Christmas shopper of all my supplies, it's usually 50-75% off. I have enough wrapping paper to wrap a Escalade from shopping the after sales. And yet I buy more each year ;)

yawn...so they have some wrapping paper on the top unreachable shelf at a walgreen's and this is news?

I'm afraid that "Christmas in July" will end up being more than just a saying.

It's worse than I thought - that Enzyte commercial where Smilin' Bob is dressed like Santa was on today.

I think ya'll complain too much.

Who cares!?

i used to/sometimes still work retail, and have two comments about why this stuff is around so early.

1) stores have to order their Christmas merchandise in March/April to ensure it arrives in enough time to be inventoried and put on the shelves. some manufacturers insist on certain ship-dates, which are often in the summertime or early fall.

2) lots of people shop for the holidays year-round to get the best deals and/or are organized enough to have their shopping finished by Thanksgiving. i only managed it one year, but it was glorious.

Unfortunately, people do start this early. I can't believe people stress so much that they have to have a "Grand Plan" to get their houses ready for the Holidays.

The Holiday Grand Plan begins August 31st.

@Christ Sabo:

Who exactly agreed that "after Thanksgiving" is the only time Christmas items should be displayed

I wrote that - and yeah I do think its conventional thought that Christmas starts after Thanksgiving. Just like, sequentially, 4th of July crap starts after Memorial Day... If you asked a bunch of people "When does the Christmas season start" I'd bet most would say after Thanksgiving. Even though the retailers don't follow it.

If it annoys you that OMG THE WRAPPING PAPER IS ALREADY HERE, then shake your head, curse the fools who buy it and move along.

That's exactly what we're doing here - since setting fire to the displays would net more consequences than worth... At least for me.

I am so over Christmas. It went from needing to avoid all stores from Thanksgiving til January 1st. Now it is becoming avoiding all stores August - December?

Americans need to move Thanksgiving up to Canadian Thanksgiving (2nd Monday in October). We hardly ever see Christmas stuff before that, and Christmas' accepted start is November 1, the day after Halloween - gives almost a full month ahead of US Thanksgiving. Still to early for most people, though (not me, I love Christmas, but 2 months is enough).

Is the paper actually any cheaper buying it this early out?

I do have to say that the Christmas wrapping paper at Walgreens (the Color Studio stuff produced by Hallmark) is high-quality and very reasonable, even in season. Lots of good sales. I remember it being only $1.99 last season though because I bought about 12 rolls on the 26th.

@Christ Sabo: If it annoys you that OMG THE WRAPPING PAPER IS ALREADY HERE, then shake your head, curse the fools who buy it and move along.

Or, gripe here, and avoid going to your local retailer and shooting up the place.

Granted, at that point, you need some professional help, but it does do very good to voice frustrations.

Finally!!

Enough with Christmas creep stories, I want to read people's chicken little comments about the future of our economy after the collapse of the mighty Columbian Bank and Trust of Topeka, Kansas.

I've already put out the milk and cookies for Santa. Too early?

some of the box-container things that are holding the wrapping paper look like they're black with orange lettering...maybe halloween wrapping paper was supposed to go there and they ran out?

for whatever excuse they have, it's still more disappointing/embarrassing that Christmas as become such a consumer driven holiday

@alice_bunnie: Thanks for the link; that "Holiday Grand Plan" website is one of the most deranged things I've ever seen. My Holiday Grand Plan consists of putting up some lights, buying some presents, and wrapping them sometime before December 25.

Skip the paper, use fabric to wrap presents, and then reuse for years!

I worked at JCPenneys in high school, and this is just the way things are. "Back-to-school" stocks reached the store in May, the sale started in June- some of the local schools were still in school; Christmas stock came in during the middle of August and displays were made almost immediately.

Just because a business has things on the shelves, does NOT mean people are buying it.

Visit a Radio Shack for proof.

Oh, also, craft stores have an excuse for rolling out at least SOME of the christmas crap early. Crafts take time, and if someone who's really into it wants to be ready, they've got to buy their plaster Santas well in advance.

I worked for walgreens for over a year and finally got to understand why this happens. They do order all of their holiday for the whole year almost a year in advance. Then, it gets delivered about six months before it's needed! When I asked why this was the policy I was told,

"God if I know! I've been complaining about it for ten years!"

This was the head store manager. I guess it's some higher-ups idea of a joke?
Also, the paper is not on sale. With the exception of an occasional weekly coupon for a few pennies off it is full priced until a week after christmas. Then all holiday items are dropped to 50% off. A few weeks later everything left goes down to 75% off for one week. Then it's removed or returned to a shelf at full price!

My birthday is right before Christmas, and I always got steamrolled as a kid. Now, two of my kids have September birthdays, and the holiday is starting to encroach on them, too.

Maybe twenty years from now, Christmas stuff will go out so early, it's actually on time for a while.

The most annoying thing about these early Christmas displays is this website's need to document them. Does The Consumerist not understand the concept of supply and demand or is there just a lack of interesting consumer-related things to write about this month?

@no.no.notorious: Halloween wrapping paper? Um, I'm a Wiccan and I still don't do Halloween gifts, please don't give the stores more ideas.

Consumers for Christ!
Consumers for Christ!
Consumers for Christ!
Consumers for Christ!
Consumers for Christ!

When does the Saturnalia stuff come out on display? I was hoping to get my shopping done early this year.

Ohhh, dear GOD no

I buy my Christmas decorations and sometimes wrapping paper at the flea market. It's there all year, usually.

Good. I've got to get some Christmas gifts wrapped soon so that when I get up to Ohio, I can offload them in my under the bell luggage and not have to ship them.

Just so you know, as a former Walgreens employee (ah, high school), the stuff on the tippity top shelf isn't for sale. It just goes there to be transferred down later, because the stock rooms are usually itsy and too messy for crushable stuff like wrapping paper. I guarantee in the seasonal aisle of that store, all the summer stuff is being priced to move and there is halloween candy on the top of the shelves, ready to be pulled down when they get the signal from corporate.

Yesterday my mother-in-law asked me what my kids want for Christmas. My response was that we are going to concentrate on celebrating Christmas, not consumerism. Let's all try to remember that when we are spending hundreds of dollars on stuff our kids/family members don't need. I'm sure I'll forget by Thanksgiving, though...

@MikeF74: Here you go...

[s86.photobucket.com]

GASP!

Why is this here? Slow news day? No one checking receipts at Best Buy? C'mon, you have really begun to scrape the bottom of the barrel. This used to be a useful site.