Maybe it was a terrible mixup or an employee prank. We’ll probably never know why a poster advertising Christmas stamps suddenly appeared in the window at reader Chris’s local post office in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but we’re kind of relieved to know that it was not part of a massive Christmas Creep marketing push. [More]
christmas creep
Planning Ahead: USPS Advertises Christmas Stamps In June
By 6.24.14
We’ve chronicled the financial problems of the U.S. Postal Service, and it’s great that they’re seeking out new revenue sources. This prominently-placed poster in reader Chris’s local post office encourages postal customers to prepare early and buy their Christmas stamps now. In June. For Christmas cards. Cards for that holiday that doesn’t happen for another six months. [More]
Sears Reminds Customers: Only 199 Shopping Days Until Christmas
By 6.9.14
Reader Andy sent us this e-mail he received from Sears as an example of Christmas Creep. He was confused that the retailer has already started its holiday marketing. A look through the Consumerist archives leads to a different perspective. It indicates that maybe Sears has figured out when the major gift-giving holidays actually are. [More]
Why Does Christmas Creep Bother People So Much?
By 11.4.13
People rant about it, stick up their noses and generally disparage the phenomenon we here at Consumerist call Christmas Creep — the inevitable sliding of the holiday season until it runs into and often runs over Halloween, Thanksgiving and sometimes even summer fun — but what’s behind that grumpiness? [More]
City Turns Out To Decorate For Christmas Early So Boy With Cancer Can Enjoy The Holiday
By 10.29.13
Usually here at Consumerist HQ we’re totally anti-Christmas Creep — we rant and rave about Halloween and Thanksgiving getting ignored just so stores can break out the holly as early as possible. But when it’s an entire town turning out to decorate to make sure that a 13-year-old boy with cancer gets to celebrate the holiday, well, that’s an entirely different matter. [More]
Even We Grudgingly Admire This Christmas/Halloween Mashup Wreath
By 10.23.13
Yes, we spend much of the fall whining about Christmas creep, Halloween creep, and retailers’ methods of mashing up the holidays so that one could, in theory, hand out candy canes to trick-or-treaters. We admire eye-catching displays when we see them, though, and this one from a small local pet store is just so wonderful. [More]
We Will Pretend These Nightmares Before Christmas Are Intentional
By 10.9.13
Maybe this “Nightmare Before Christmas” holiday mashup thing is becoming more popular in retail decor. It’s starting to grow on us, we have to admit. Maybe this should continue to be a thing, like Hobby Lobby’s Halloween trees. [More]
Harris Teeter Prepares Christmas Wonderland In Early October
By 10.7.13
“90 degrees out. Harris Teeter fully decorated for Christmas. Attached is just a small sampling of what I saw today there,” read reader Robert’s hysterical dispatch from the grocery store. “Santa hats and Christmas stockings at every register! Too soon!!!” [More]
Lowe’s Idea Of Fall Essentials: Christmas Trees
By 9.25.13
“All for Fall,” say the signs on the seasonal displays at Dave’s local Lowe’s. Well, he lives in Florida, so it’s not like he needs fireplaces or leaf blowers. But last weekend he was horrified to see…in mid-September…Christmas trees. [More]
Christmas Creeps Up On This Kohl’s Store
By 9.18.13
Merry Kohl’smas! Reader Chris sent along this photo that his friend took last week in the department store of perpetual markdowns. America’s children have barely scuffed their new back-to-school shoes and most people haven’t even thought about what they want to be for Halloween, but you can buy a full complement of Christmas decorations at Kohl’s. [More]
Kmart Forgets It’s Still Summer, Begins Airing Holiday Ad
By 9.10.13
Perhaps Kmart panicked after having a nightmare that it was November and had forgotten to put together a holiday ad campaign, or maybe some prankster at Sears changed a Kmart marketing exec’s desk calendar. Why else would the beleaguered retailer start airing a holiday shopping ad while it’s still summer? [More]
Have A Very Hyundai Christmas, In Late August
By 8.30.13
Maybe they sent out the wrong mailing at the wrong time. Maybe they’re planning way ahead. Or maybe Gabriel’s local Hyundai dealership is putting whatever random crap gets people to open messages from them in the subject lines of their e-mails. In Gabriel’s case, it worked. He opened it. [More]
Christmas Creep Now Staging Aural Invasion With Carols Piping Merrily Over Eatery Speakers
By 8.26.13
The red-and-green forces of Christmas Creep have evolved: Unseasonal decorations and trees? That’s elves’ play. The new battle in the war for your holiday dollars is being waged on an aural front, by way of Christmas Carols piped merrily over the speakers at various Manhattan Pret a Manger locations. [More]
Costco Snowman Laughs At Your Feeble Attempt To Buy Beach Supplies During Beach Season
By 8.21.13
Despite the moans and groans of children heading back to school, or that perpetually pessimistic Facebook friend you haven’t seen in 17 years but yet still you haven’t hidden her cranky statuses from your newsfeed (self-torture is weird), summer is not over, people. [More]
Oh, For Gobble’s Sake, Thanksgiving Decorations Are Out Already
By 8.20.13
If you’re the kind of person who likes to start getting their Thanksgiving table ready several months in advance, you’re in luck. Just stop by reader Shaun’s local Stop and Shop grocery store and you can start sticking ceramic turkeys anywhere in your house that you please. [More]
Groupon Bends Time To Its Will By Proclaiming “It’s Already December In Some Time Zones”
By 7.18.13
There’s Christmas Creep, and then there’s a whole new phenomenon Groupon is introducing that would probably set Albert Einstein a-sputtering in disbelief. The thing is, there is one reality (for most of us), and in this plane of existence, it could be a different time or a different date, but it is most certainly July everywhere right now…. wait, right? [More]
Now February and April Also Have Black Fridays
By 7.12.13
Traditionally, “Black Friday” refers to the day after Thanksgiving and the semi-official kickoff of the winter holiday shopping season in the United States. In modern times, however, traditions are meaningless and retailers have decided to just throw Black Friday sales whenever they want. Like July 12. Or even February. [More]
Okay, Great, So Black Friday Is July 12 Now
By 7.11.13
Last November, we humbly proposed moving the all-American orgy of consumerism known as Black Friday back a week so retail employees and dedicated shoppers might get to enjoy their Thanksgiving and spend some of the holiday with their families. Target has taken our idea a little too far, and seems to think that Black Friday is tomorrow, July 12. [More]
