For as long as I can remember, Christmas has always been a holiday celebrated with music, movies and decorations for a longer period of time than other holidays. But in the past few years, I’ve seen this period of celebration extend way longer for entire months before the holiday actually takes place. Not to be a Scrooge, but the celebration has started too early, largely because of social media and consumerism, sadly leaving us with no time to enjoy fall fun.
I fully understand the excitement for a holiday before it happens. I get excited for Christmas too. But when my For You page starts getting flooded with Christmas countdowns in August, the excitement has started too early. And by mid-October, it seems as though every influencer has started decorating their house in lights, tinsel and trees. When everyone starts pushing out Christmas content in the fall, it gets everybody excited to start the holidays all before Halloween even happens. What I want is to be able to go apple picking, or go to a pumpkin patch and not look at my phone and see Christmas advertisements ruining a fall day. And when you see Mariah Carey singing “It’s time” on TikTok on Nov. 1, there is absolutely no avoiding the holiday spirit now.
Don’t get me wrong, Christmas is probably my favorite holiday, but it becomes inescapable while I’m still enjoying fall. And you can’t just put down your phone and avoid the holiday cheer, since stores are all decked out in Christmas decor in October. If you wanted to get some Halloween decorations in October, you should’ve thought of that earlier. Many stores like the craft store chain Michaels, one of which is in Westport, started rolling out their Christmas decor on Oct. 3 this year. And announcements for holiday deals are coming out even earlier, with Target announcing its holiday plans on Sept. 16. And let’s not forget every teenage girl’s favorite, Starbucks, which released a sneak peek at their Christmas merch on Oct. 6, with their holiday menu following on Nov. 6. With big chains pushing the holiday season so early, it’s hard to avoid the spread of Christmas cheer while still trying to decide what to dress up as for Halloween.
Not only do stores commence the early start to the holiday season in this phenomenon, known as “Christmas Creep”, but it also comes from a lot of people who are just getting a step ahead with their holiday shopping. In fact, according to a survey done by Bankrate, 49% of holiday shoppers are starting their shopping before Oct. 31. With people planning to start shopping earlier, and stores pushing out their holidays deals and items so early, I really don’t know if the holiday season starts in September or December anymore.
