Good idea. My problem is that with my family people never knew what to buy me so I just would get piles and piles of DVDs, most of which I never watched.
Crafty ideas seem like a good idea, or at least something small or meaningful.
Personally for my birthday I told people just to take me out to dinner.
]]>I hate to say it, but with Michael's I can understand. You're not just buying an item. You're buying something you'll have to find the time to make. Last winter I decided to make scarves for 3 people and it took me a couple of months to get them done because I work and go to school. And that was just scarves (although I was also just learning). If it was something more involved it would've taken more time.
]]>@brainswarm: Yep, chances are this is the mentality that Michael's has. I used to be the assistant manager of a fabric store (chain store) here in Canada, and we used to be required every year to put the Xmas fabric out at the end of JULY - usually right after inventory.
Working there caused me to be so sick of Xmas, nothing like having it crammed down your throat for half of the year.
]]>My father, who did a huge light display every year, said he started looking around Labor Day for replacement lights, and Halloween for new figurines.
Yeah, Christmas was a huge deal in my family. They went all out.
]]>If it were crafting supplies to make things for Christmas, I could see it, but it was decorations, ornaments, all kinds of crap.
]]>I went to a different craft store and Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving things were out, including what I wanted. But, as numerous posters have said, it takes a while to get projects done and so supplies are good, decorations and gifts are bad!
]]>All that being said, craft stores put out Christmas stuff early because this is the time of year crafters start their holiday projects. I can forgive Michael's. I want to know why the Dollar Tree already has a Christmas wrap display? That, IMO, is the unnecessary Christmas creep. And, as a good Christmas planner, I bought all of my wrap in January for 90% off : )
]]>Yeah, I figured it had to be a cheaper equivalent. My dad was hooked on this type stuff for years, and I never could understand it. I agree with your next comment, though. This year I'm probably going to treat myself extra nice. :-)
]]>@sean77: Copyright in their particular expression of putting stuff on a shelf? OK, I guess. Sounds like you're in law school or just read an article on copyrights though.
The picture is for commentary and critcism of consumer issues and Michael's merchandising choices (this is the most important factor-btw).
The copyright is in a merchandising display which has some/many utilitarian elements, so you have a thin(er) Copyright. Also, since the picture is of other copyrighted materials (the actual items), you also potentially have a compilation or a work that is transformative (it has a different meaning than the original). Consumerist's use will little effect on the market (from a copyright perspective). They're not going to shop at the Consumerist for cheap ceramic gingerbread houses.
So, do the analysis before you throw out the allegations. We're not on Faux News y'know.
]]>I don't think this is a big deal. December 25th was just selected as Jesus' birthday in order to usurp the winter solstice pagan festivals. For all we know, he was actually born in August. I for one, would not want to be caught unawares should Jesus come back on August 27th expecting a huge birthday blowout only to find that nobody had their cheap Chinese crap wrapped and ready.
]]>@brainswarm: You're right. There's a Hobby Lobby around the corner from my home, and I've seen people purchasing Christmas items already.
A lot of people around here start decorating their home the first week of November, so I'm not too surprised.
@battra92: I agree! I'm thinking of making a lot of crafty gifts myself this year because I don't want to go broke buying gifts for everyone.
]]>A co-worker and I were looking around a Costco last week and we spotted Christmas junk too. Give it another ten years, and the time for Christmas will be starting in mid-January. Ten years after that? The Christmas for 2029 will have started in October of 2028. By then everyone will have jet-packs though, so it won't be a big deal.
]]>I may suggest that this year we forgo gifts and use that money to buy a trip to Vegas over the holiday.
]]>Seriously, the sooner we get rid of this stupid lie we tell kids, the better.
The real Christmas celebrations I love. Just take Satan Claus out of it.
]]>@timmus: Christmas creep is due to the need to ship most of the crap from China. I guess in years past ye olde downtown retailer (woolworths,?) would put all his decorations in storage till the next year plus anything which hadn't sold. Now there are no warehousing so everything is blown out cheap at the end of the season and reshipped from China in July.
Years back I remember a particular story about Chinese workers making Disney Toys for McDs. A worker asked the writer about what the dog (Goofy) symbolized as the ever reaching media blight had not hit China yet and the man had no frame of reference for the pop culture of the USA...
JN2: "My family-in-law goes nuts over those little village figurines and buildings that go with them." You have to get a thrift store Godzilla toy to put in the display. Or try to find some figurines which could be altered for better effect and sneakily placed into the diorama- I am thinking a flasher in a trench coat, mugger with ski mask and gun, homeless bag lady with shopping cart, drunk wino with paper bag hidden wine bottle, streetwalking hooker, etc. Nothing better than that type of "Unrest Cure" (saki or hh munro) for the collector family. Similar to when my family put multiple, very-realistic and evil-looking plastic bugs in the flowers/garden of the garden nuts who lived next door to us. The hilarity continues if you can keep a straight face as everyone possible is interorgated as who the guilty party is...
]]>I can deal with it at craft stores. At other places it should be criminal. They are taking all the "special" out of Christmas.
I hope Consumerist will post about the corporate free Christmas movement when the time rolls around. Each year our family strives to purchase less and less during the Christmas season. We regift stuff from our homes, hand make items, spend more family time etc... All in an effort to give the finger to the man and once again experience the "special" that mass merchants have stolen over the years. That's our Christmas Magic, dammit! Give it back!
]]>Boo!! I hate, hate, hate Christmas creep (I also don't like Halloween creep either). By the time Christmas rolls around I'm worn out by the Christmas creep and not in the holiday spirit. I actually spend less due to Christmas creep so maybe in the long run its a good thing for me.
]]>I guess the companies figure since the have to put out the holiday craft supplies they might as well put out all of the holiday stuff.
]]>So true! I don't care too much if my lawn chair is made in China. But for chrissake, corporate America, source your cheap Christmas crap from the US, Germany, or hell, Slovenia where Christmas traditions exist. It's about as souring as finding a U.S. flag that's made in China -- it doesn't exactly make me want to fly it.
]]>Ours had this all out in early August too.
]]>I think there is legislation pending in congress to rename Christmas to WalMartmas.
Also,if you want Christmas creep, this store was busy in the spring when I was dragged to it: [www.bronners.com] Yes, it really is as big as they say and is busy all year long.
]]>*Of course, I meant STORES, not stories.
]]>I make a lot of homemade gifts and crafts for Christmas, such as quilts, afghans, etc. If I don't start during the summer, I don't have time to finish. So, as other posters mentioned, it makes sense to have Christmas items at craft stories very early in the year.
]]>Here's a odd story for you:
When I was a kid and watched cartoons, I always wondered why cartoons would run holiday/christmas shows in April-July. Obviously, they were reruns. As I got older, I began to understand why: marketing!
Get kids excited about Christmas and advertise cool toys that they want -- no, NEED! -- and then profit.
Just be glad they aren't inventing a holiday like "Love Day."
]]>I learned about this the hard way once: I needed some Christmas fabric so I wandered into the local place in November/December and it was all gone. Employee told me they put it out by September. Once I thought about it, it made sense because of the lead time needed for crafting items in time for Christmas.
]]>Nothing says "Christmas" like cheap crap from China!
]]>It's actually fun turning on all the displays and having your own little personal christmas inside the store.
I get funny looks sometimes.
]]>This does not explain the crappy ceramic houses, of course.
]]>Granny or not I don't know who is worse-the store or the customer.If you are out on the economy year round thinking about Christmas...GET A LIFE.Get rid of the hypocricy and give gifts year round then-NOT an early Xmas gift either.
]]>I've already started knitting for Christmas, so this is good news for artsy craftsy people.
]]>(Warning: Explicit Lyrics)
]]>We're having a bit of Christmas in August right now. I am purging the house of all the tacky crap and Made in China holiday garbage and giving it all to Goodwill. I'm sure some people will be delirious with joy to find the CHRISTMAS LIGHTHOUSE TEAPOT. And the fake tree. All of it.
I think they are going to name a local thrift shop in my name after the third carload this week.
We were burnt out precisely because it's no longer special. Stores killed the goose that laid the golden egg- year round displays made us quit Christmas.
]]>