It's Time To Start Shopping For Christmas Decorations! Oh, Wait...
There's no better way to show your support for the war on Christmas Creep than to strap a bottle rocket to a reindeer ornament, or maybe point a Roman candle at a Santa lawn figure. Now you can do just that, by combining all the explosive fury of July 4th with the heartwarming frivolity of Christmas, thanks to Tuesday Morning.
Jook, who took this photo quickly as his wife hurried away to more seasonally appropriate merchandise, asked, "Why don't stores have any concept of seasons?"
We can almost give Tuesday Morning a pass because they're a closeout retailer—note the Thanksgiving stuff mixed in there behind Santa—although it still seems a little too early (or too late?) to load up the shelves with Christmas merchandise. But what's Hallmark's excuse?
A., who sent us the link to the above page, writes, "I saw the sign on my local Hallmark store, but didn't have my camera to take a picture."
Update: Here's Hallmark's excuse!
I understand your complaint, I hear you, we've gotten the Christmas in July question before. And since you asked what Hallmark's excuse is I thought I'd share it with you, because we actually do have one.
We've been holding Ornament Premiere in July for 15+ years so I can tell you that we're not putting things out earlier each year (even if sometimes it seems like it), the date of this event has been in place for awhile. The premiere event is mainly for ornament collectors, and yes, there are a lot of them, that shop year round.
They would be really happy if put out the next year's ornaments on December 26, but we wait until July. We know the majority of people aren't ornament shopping in July, but for those that are—again there are quite a lot of them—well that's our excuse.
Deidre
Public Relations
Hallmark
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Comments:
I don't quite understand where the first picture was taken. Both pictures are from different submitters, is the first one from a Hallmark store also?
I live in MN and in the Mall of America they have like three Christmas stores... 365 days a year of just Christmas crap, so the simple fact is that while annoying, they must be selling the stuff, They are not trying to impress us with their Christmas ornament collection. Of course in the Mall of America they also have two entire store that just sell socks... I don't know what that means about our culture but I don't think it can be good...
@l951b951: Nevermind. Tuesday Morning. I've never heard of it, and read over it as "when" the picture was taken instead of "where".
Literacy FTL.
Look here, Hallmark. If even craft stores think it's too early for Christmas then it is too early for Christmas.
I was trying to figure out a gift for a wedding I'm going to this weekend. My mom suggested I get a nice life-long present. So, I decided on a Sedar plate and a Menorah. These items are specific to holidays, like Christmas, that come once a year. Judaica stores have these items year round. Granted, these can be some very expensive hand made items, but, I would imagine, someone else might want to purchase an expensive memorable present associated with Christmas too. I know that most of the items they are selling do not have the same meaning as a Sedar plate, but perhaps a tree ornament could have this same meaning or the star on top of the tree. What do others think?
Hallmark's ornament premiere is ALWAYS in July. This isn't new.
Of course in the Mall of America they also have two entire store that just sell socks...
@Paul Carr: You know, every reason I can think of that would explain a store staying in business just selling socks can not extend to there being two of these stores in the same mall. I can't do it.
I can see it working for one of them if they sell the unusual stuff like those socks that promote circulation, socks with individual toes, socks with the toe and/or heel part missing, socks that kill odors and germs, etc. But I just can't see needing two of those.
@l951b951: I HAVE heard of it and shopped there and I make that mental error myself when I see it in writing. :)
It's a great place, they sell closeouts and overstocks of "home" merchandise. (I got a brand-new Kitchen Aid stand mixer there for ONE THIRD OF RETAIL! Boo-ya!) But yeah, since it's closeout, you get weird seasonal stuff at weird times. (Like when you can buy holiday ziploc baggies in June at Big Lots.)
@Rectilinear Propagation: ooooh, good guideline!
I'm still whipping out "Elf" tonight, though. Hallmark has made it Christmas in June!
@jnrcorp: maaaaaaaybe. But they're Hallmark ornaments.
Incidentally, one of my parents' favorite wedding presents was a Christmas tree skirt and a dozen ornaments that one of their college friends, who was way broke, spent lots of effort selecting to be meaningful and stuff. When they decorated their first tree as a married couple that first year, they already had a dozen ornaments so it didn't look quite so sad and lonely. (They both come from families where ornaments are bought/made/acquired over time with specific meaning, rather than matchy ornaments.) I think this is a great idea for a wedding present on a budget, even 35 years later. My parents still mention it like every year, anyway!
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!):
This is my standard wedding present for children of our friends (the Christian ones, anyway): A big fabric-covered storage box or trunk (HomeGoods, people!), preferably in a red or burgundy or gold solid or print, packed full of a "Christmas Starter Set." A whole mess of handpicked special ornaments (including ones with the couple's first names on if you can find them), cloth embroidered napkins, a pretty candle-holder, Spode Christmas dessert plates, whatever I see on sale or at the big outlet complexes with a Christmas theme. You can look for bargains after the holidays at nice stores like Nordstrom, and store the goodies to give at the appropriate time. The recipients seem to LOVE this gift, and I enjoy putting it together.
@Easton21: Woo hoo! There goes the 'Slow News Day??' square on today's round of Consumerist Bingo. Now I need an 'I make everything I need out of things I find in my yard, you lazy bastards', a 'sheeple' and a blame-the-op.
Um... I kind of hate to admit it, but I like the Christmas Creep. I love Christmas. I can't help it!
@ajlei: No, not cool. We just hit our first 100+ degree day. I don't want to see winter decorations in the store, we still need lawn supplies and pool toys!!
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!):
I love it. I got two sets of those plastic storage things where all the lids fit all sizes of the tubs - the difference is vertical, not horizontal. Like the ones they used to have on TV.
It's always crowded and cluttered, but full of win.
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I'm watching some saved programs on my DVR, and a couple are reruns of "The Office" from the holidays. So first holiday commercials, and now this post. I'm so confused.
That's a good idea for a present.
The Hallmark things are meant to be collectible; it's not like grabbing a box of those glass things at the dollar store just so the tree won't be naked. I get my Christmas stuff at the flea market. You can get it year round, and some of it is really nice. Also dirt cheap.
There is only one year round Christmas store allowed. That would be Bronner's.
Everyone else needs to recognize the season and put the Christmas stuff away when it's 95 degrees and sunny.
Granted, Tuesday Morning is a closeout store as mentioned in the article, but that doesn't change the fact that there was a whole other aisle of Christmas things. Really, can't even they wait a few months?
Actually I think it would be a fun video to use bottle rockets to launch xmas decorations at other xmas decorations.
@HogwartsAlum: It's a great place for gift wrap -- wrap, bags, tissue paper, ribbon, all that stuff. Not as cheap as post-holiday clearance, usually, but if you just need half a dozen gift bags at a random time and the tissue paper to stuff them, cheaper than Target!
Actually it IS a good time to shop for Christmas deco. You are very likely to get some good deal. Not as good as Dec. 26th, tho.
People who buy this plastic junk from China are dumb enough to not realize that Jesus was a liberal Jew who taught to GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THE POOR! Not Wal-mart, Hallmark, Target, etc...
Just stupid.
Dammit! I knew I should have gotten my Halloween stuff in March! Now it's too late!
*sob*
This kinda crap makes me hate Christmas..
@ajlei: I love Christmas too, even in July. When I was a kid, we went to the beach every summer, and there was a Christmas store nearby. It was a tradition to go there and pick out one ornament each. Those ornaments always stood out, because they weren't lumped in with all of the other ornaments and decorations at Christmas time - they were a special summer treat. (I just looked up the store and it's still open in the Outer Banks.)
I'm an avid thrifter and dumpster-diver, and it seems like at least 50% of what you find at places like the Goodwill outlet is Christmas garbage. Fake trees, tree stands, broken lights, fake-handpainted Santas and snowmen, etc. And I never see anyone buying it. It all ends up in the landfill. To me it's less about saving money and more about saving space. Even in the future when we have to mine the landfills for raw materials, nobody's going to want a resin Santa.
The only Christmas stuff allowed for sale is craft related stuff. If you're going to knit someone a sweater for Christmas or make a batch of ornaments, you need to start now. That's fair enough.
But pre-made crap at this time of year? Ewwwwwww.
@jnrcorp: When you said Seder Plate and Christmas I got confused. But upon re-reading the sentences I noticed the "like Christmas" and "Judaica stores" phrases, so I realized you weren't saying that Seder plates are for Christmas.
I do like your mom's idea of a life-long gift. I'll keep it mind for my next big event I attend.
I don't get why this is so unusual. They sell old, tired junk all year.
Slow news day I suppose...