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Christmas-Creep
Christmas-Creep
Yep, The Easter Candy Is Out Already At Safeway And Kroger
By Laura Northrup on December 7, 2011 9:30 AM
51 Comments
In 2008, we published the first reports of Easter candy in stores on December 31. In 2009, they were spotted on shelves on December 23. Last year, the first appearance crept back to December 16. This year, our first reports came from Safeway and Kroger stores as early as December 2. More »
Nordstrom Once Again Refuses To Put Up Holiday Decorations Before Thanksgiving
By Chris Morran on November 16, 2011 3:00 PM
78 Comments
As more and more stores give into the Christmas Creep, putting trees and wreaths out on the sales floor as early as June and July, Nordstrom continues to buck the trend — not only refusing to put up holiday decorations before Thanksgiving, but also letting the world know about it. More »
Isn't It A Tad Early To Be Selling "Belated" Christmas Cards?
By Ben Popken on November 2, 2011 4:00 PM
24 Comments
Seems to be jumping the gun a bit to already be selling "Belated Christmas" cards, don't you think? More »
Brighten Up Your Halloween With A Little Christmas Creep Of Your Own
By Chris Morran on October 25, 2011 12:00 PM
24 Comments
We here at Consumerist have been writing about Christmas Creep — that phenomenon of Christmas-themed decorations inching earlier and earlier into the calendar year — since the days when it wasn't yet common to see wreaths, trees, and tinsel on sale in September. So we've combined our love of DIY crafts with our not-love for Christmas in July and bring you the one and only Christmas Creep himself! More »
Has Nordstrom Finally Succumbed To The Christmas Creep?
By Chris Morran on October 24, 2011 2:30 PM
16 Comments
For four years, we've been documenting Nordstrom's resistance to that insidious holiday shopping problem known as Christmas Creep. But after all these years of making it clear that it wouldn't be getting into the yuletide spirit until after Thanksgiving, there is some concern the department store might be feeling the creep's siren song. More »
Target's Nightmare Before Christmas
By Laura Northrup on September 30, 2011 11:30 AM
41 Comments
Are you interested in mixing up your Christmas and Halloween traditions this year, but aren't a character in the classic claymation movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas?" Maybe place a bubbling cauldron on the Yule log, or dress up like a chicken while you serve the Christmas goose? Target can help you with that. All in one aisle. More »
Christmas Creep Pops Up Down Under
By Mary Beth Quirk on September 19, 2011 2:15 PM
44 Comments
Even though Australia feels so very far away for must of us in the U.S. (kangaroos!) Christmas Creep exists even Down Under, where, as our reader Natalie notes, it's about 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 hot hot degrees, at Christmas. More »
Walmart Bringing Back Layaway For Holiday Shopping Season
By Chris Morran on September 8, 2011 3:30 PM
41 Comments
Five years after Walmart stopped offering customers the option to put most purchases on layaway, the nation's largest retailer has decided to bring it back for brief run during the 2011 holiday shopping season. Of course, this being Walmart, the holiday shopping season begins in October. More »
Friday Tipster Round-Up: Holiday Creep Edition
August 26, 2011 4:15 PM
45 Comments
Sifting through this week's submissions, it looks like users of the free Consumerist Tipster App had the holidays on their brains. Of course, it appears they didn't have much choice as stores have already begun packing the aisles with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas items. More »
Get Your Christmas Creep Gift Cards At Sam's Club
By Laura Northrup on August 15, 2011 10:00 AM
20 Comments
If you're planning to give a Sam's Club gift card to someone you care about (or someone to whom you're obligated to give a gift) this winter gift-giving season, Sam's Club has you covered. Now. In mid-August. "It's going to be over 100 degrees outside ALL WEEK..and has been the past 2-3 weeks," writes Joel, the blogger who noticed these cards at his local Sam's. "100 degree heat, drought, and Christmas Gift cards. Go Texas?" More »
Pier 1 Kicks Off Christmas Creep Season
By Ben Popken on July 13, 2011 4:00 PM
35 Comments
It may not be a full-fledged instance because it's not in a physical store, but a recent email promo by Pier 1 is at very least a warning shot that Christmas Creep season is upon us. They recently sent around an email featuring a large snowman. It said, "You can now scratch "get an early start on Christmas" off your to-do list. Preview holiday fun before it even gets to our stores." More »
In Which I Suggest A Timeline For Various Holiday Shopping Seasons
By Holiday Cat on December 31, 2010 2:15 PM
14 Comments
If you think they call me Holiday Cat just because I have some things to say about the handful of weeks from Thanksgiving through New Year's, you are mistaken. I'm a feline for all seasons, and as such I have a few suggestions on when stores should start selling various holiday-themed products without setting off holiday creep alarms. More »
Smuggler Hid Cocaine Inside Easter Eggs
By Ben Popken on December 28, 2010 4:00 PM
15 Comments
You know this "Easter Creep" thing is out of control when a coke smuggler thinks Christmas time is the perfect time to start hiding his precious white powder inside Easter Eggs. More »
Forget St. Nicholas - On To St. Valentine's Day!
More »
By Laura Northrup on December 24, 2010 10:30 AM
12 Comments
Are you tired of Christmas, and ready to start planning your Valentine's Day party? Brian writes that the midwestern grocer Dahl's is ready to help you, since they've already put out their display of Valentine's Day-themed plates and napkins. We can all eat our chocolate eggs off them before December slips away. More »
American Family Association Calls Off Boycott On Dick's Sporting Goods Over 'Christmas'
By Chris Morran on November 19, 2010 6:08 PM
212 Comments
My how things change overnight. Yesterday, we told you about the far-from-loony folks at the American Family Association who had called for their members to boycott Dick's Sporting Goods because the retail chain used the word "holiday" instead of "Christmas" for its November and December sales circulars. Now the AFA has announced that it's called off the boycott because Dick's will be using that word after all. More »
Sears Pushes Last-Minute Holiday Gift Panic Up To Mid-November
By Laura Northrup on November 19, 2010 9:00 AM
29 Comments
Here's the latest variation on Christmas Creep: Last-Minute Gift Panic Creep. This photo was taken on November 14th at Sears. Sears began its holiday displays back in July, so it would make sense that they've also pushed up last-minute gift panic. More »
American Family Association Calls For Boycott On Dick's Sporting Goods For Not Using The Word "Christmas"
By Chris Morran on November 18, 2010 4:30 PM
249 Comments
UPDATE: The AFA has called off the boycott after Dick's decided to use the word "Christmas" after all. More »
Starbucks Celebrates Election Day By Hauling Out Holiday Menu And Cups
By Laura Northrup on November 4, 2010 9:00 AM
36 Comments
Tuesday was Election day, so in the universe that Starbucks inhabits, that means it's time to bring out the full holiday menu and red-and-green cups. While you'll never catch me whining about the availability of peppermint mochas, this is an important bit of consumer information which helps prove mathematically that Christmas Creep may be coming to an end. Maybe. More »
How Long Will You Wait To Do Your Holiday Shopping?
By Chris Morran on November 1, 2010 11:40 AM
50 Comments
Like it or not, we're now officially into the Holiday shopping season. While some stores haven't given into the Christmas Creep instinct to turn their sales floors into mini North Poles, plenty of people are already going to be out looking to check names and items off their gift lists. More »
Will You Be Spending More Or Less This Holiday Season?
By Chris Morran on October 28, 2010 11:15 AM
69 Comments
After Halloween comes and goes on Sunday, Holiday shopping season will be upon us (whether you want it to be or not). So it's good timing that our analytical siblings at Consumer Reports has released the results of its Holiday shopping survey for 2010. Once again, a large portion of Americans say they intend on spending less this season than they did last year, but that number continues to decrease while the percentage of people increasing their Holiday budgets is on the rise. More »




