It’s the first half of September, which means that it’s time to celebrate our favorite holiday. No, not Halloween or Thanksgiving: The best holiday of all is Christmas/Halloween Mashup, as the classic animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas taught us all. The demands of seasonal displays mean that Nightmares Before Christmas also appear in the real world. Sometimes it’s even done well. [More]
holiday creep
December Is Now The Usual Time To Start Selling Easter Candy
By 12.29.16
Do you have a craving for Easter candy? Good news! You can start preparing for the holiday, which is on Apr. 16 in 2017, because Easter treats have been on store shelves for over a week now. [More]
Christmas Creep Season Kicks Off Nationwide
By 9.21.16
Every holiday has two seasons: its actual season, and its creep season. The latter is that time of year during which people complain that it’s too soon to be selling decorations, cards, costumes, or other items for that holiday. Even things that aren’t really holidays can creep up, like back-to-school season. Here are some Christmas Creep sightings from across the country, so you’ll know where to pick up an artificial evergreen in mid-September for future reference. [More]
Retailers Are Wearing Us Down: Shoppers Don’t Mind Holiday Creep So Much
By 9.20.16
Holiday Creep, and more specifically Christmas Creep, are common annoyances of modern shopping. When the school supplies disappear from shelves, the Christmas trees and lights appear, making shoppers feel like the holiday season begins earlier and earlier every year. This is becoming more normal, though: some recent survey results show that fewer Americans find Christmas Creep less annoying than in previous years. They’re wearing us down. [More]
It’s That Time Of Year Again: Halloween Creep Season
By 7.19.16
The Fourth of July is over, and barbecue and pool supplies have sold out, so that leaves a large gap in the seasonal sections of all kinds of stores. Naturally, that means it’s time to haul out the Halloween decorations and merchandise, since there’s nothing better than a rack of skeletons and a shelf of pumpkin spice candles to remind you that summer will be over soon. [More]
Forget About Christmas: Let’s Move On To Valentine’s Day And Easter!
By 12.21.15
Yeah, there’s a holiday later this week or something. Retail stores don’t care about that anymore: they’ve got seasonal department shelves to fill, and most people who need garlands and lights have probably already bought ’em. What’s the next holiday? Valentine’s Day? Easter? Yeah, let’s move on to that. [More]
Please Stop Sharing This Photo Of A Nordstrom Anti-Christmas Creep Poster
By 11.10.15
Here in the Consumerist Cave, we’re always amused when a photo or a story makes a complete lap of the newsosphere, and a reader sends it to us having no idea that it originated with us. This week, things are starting to get strange, as social media users are sharing and even legitimate news outlets are posting a small, blurry camera phone photo of a sign posted at Nordstrom about their Christmas decorations policy. A photo that we posted six years ago. [More]
The Santa Bear Horde Is Ready To Devour Us All At Kmart
By 9.16.15
If you love super cute and super affordable Santa teddy bears wearing knitted hats and scarves, and you also love getting way ahead on your Christmas shopping, Kmart is the place to go. Reader Alan snapped this picture of the adorable yet soulless horde, pleading with us all to join them in a shopping frenzy. [More]
Fred Meyer Kicks Off Christmas Decoration Season On Labor Day
By 9.8.15
While Alaska is closer to the North Pole than the rest of the country, that doesn’t mean that the Christmas season starts any earlier there than it does in the Lower 48. Unless, of course, you’re retailer Fred Meyer. Or does the Christmas season start on Labor Day everywhere now? [More]
Get Your Halloween Costumes And Plastic Pumpkins While They’re Still On Shelves
By 7.28.15
Time keeps moving whether we like it or not, and it’s almost the end of July. The patriotic party decorations and inflatable pool rafts have all sold, the school supplies that took their place in stores’ “seasonal” sections are starting to move, and they need something to fill that empty space on the shelf. That’s why we have Halloween in July. [More]
Oh Great, Here’s Another Halloween Candy Display In July
By 7.27.15
Just in case you thought it might be some kind of fluke that Walgreens had their Halloween candy out on July 21, we assure you that Walgreens isn’t alone in this sort of wacky midsummer merchandising. Nope: John sent along this photo taken in a Giant Eagle store of a display of seasonally-themed M&Ms and Snickers bars. [More]
Yes, Here’s A Full Halloween Candy Display At Walgreens
By 7.21.15
Jill knew that her blog readers wouldn’t believe what she had seen, even if she presented them with a photo. At her local Walgreens store, there was a full display of Halloween treats, including candy corn and Snickers pumpkins. Halloween. On July 21. Please, retailers, we’re still uncomfortable at seeing Back-to-School displays in the big-box stores! Don’t do this to us! [More]
Reminder: Hallmark’s Ornament Launch In July Is Not Christmas Creep
By 7.7.15
We take a firm stand against Holiday Creep, which is when retailers start to merchandise and decorate for a given holiday months in advance. The offending holiday is usually, but not always, Christmas. Every year around this time, we hear from exasperated shoppers who walk by a Hallmark gift shop and see their display of new Christmas ornaments, leading our readers to wonder what this world is coming to. Yet Hallmark’s Christmas displays aren’t what they seem. [More]
PayPal Says That The Holiday Shopping Season Began On September 30th
By 10.29.14
Here at Consumerist, we’ve been complaining about Christmas Creep for the better part of a decade, but maybe it’s time to admit defeat. The American public has apparently accepted retailers’ efforts to force the holiday shopping season to begin even earlier. According to PayPal, Americans kicked off the unbridled commerce season sometime in the evening on September 30. [More]
Christmas Trees Now Found Next To The Patio Furniture
By 9.22.14
What season is it? We can’t blame shoppers for being confused when they wander into this seasonal mashup at Menards. When the timing is a little off in a store’s Seasonal section, things get kind of strange. Of course, Christmas stuff out on display in late September is no longer jarring to Consumerist staff. If it’s after Labor Day, Christmas merchandise on the shelves no longer fazes us. With patio furniture, though? [More]
Hallmark’s Ornaments Christmas Creep Up On CVS
By 9.10.14
In our years of posting about the retail menace that is Christmas Creep, we have developed a list of situations that are not eligible to be declared Christmas Creep. For example, craft stores know that you’re starting your Christmas crochet projects in mid-August, and Hallmark always introduces its Christmas ornaments in July. Yet Hallmark has taken its ornament collection to CVS, and reader Victoria is not pleased. [More]
Here’s Hobby Lobby’s Nightmare Before Christmas
By 9.8.14
We complain about holiday mashups and Holiday Creep, but we secretly love “Nightmare Before Christmas” displays, where retail necessity meets art, and cool holiday mashups ensue. Hobby Lobby puts out their Christmas merchandise early, even by craft store standards, and we have gradually grown to enjoy these Halloween trees, even as it’s fundamentally wrong to celebrate the coming of autumn with evergreens. [More]
Now Let’s All Address Stacks Of Thanksgiving Cards
By 9.2.14
Okay, everyone, did you get your Halloween cards addressed two weeks ago like marketers wanted you to? Good! Put those aside for the next seven weeks or so, because it’s time for your next occasion that requires cards: Thanksgiving. [More]
