Step into any store in November, and you’ll witness Halloween’s swift departure, replaced immediately by colorful lights and twinkly ornaments as autumnal vibes are sidelined for Christmas cheer. Consumers are bombarded with holiday promotions blaring in their faces.
Promoting Christmas early in November is a blatant capitalistic strategy that pushes consumerism with the facade of holiday spirit. We should wait until after Thanksgiving to celebrate or support local businesses if you’re eager for the season to begin.
Considering how much holiday sales account for annual corporation sales, it’s no wonder the season starts so early each year. Holiday purchases contribute nearly 38-40% of annual sales for Bath & Body Works. Although they may blame it on consumers, Bath & Body Works’ marketing strategy explains their $7.4 billion in sales in 2023, an uptake from $6.43 billion in 2020. This early Christmas marketing can contribute to consumer fatigue and unnecessary spending, leading to buyer’s remorse and financial stress.
“The customer drives everything we do as a business,” a Bath & Body Works spokesperson said in an email statement. “Due to customer demand, this year we moved up the release of some of their holiday favorites like Fresh Balsam, Winter Candy Apple and Bright Christmas Morning.”
Extending the holiday season into the fall months can evoke an exhausting sense of obligation to maintain cheer for a longer period. Businesses must come up with new, exciting promotions that can maintain consumer attention spans for several weeks or months leading up to Christmas. For small businesses, celebrating Christmas early is more than just a cash grab. Dana Younger, co-owner of the Blue Genie Art Bazaar, explains the bazaar’s strategy for keeping the market fresh and engaging for attendees, even weeks before December.
“We try really hard to have new things every year,” Younger said. “We look at over 400 artists (and) are always looking for new things that we think our audience will like. … The reality is that we also approach retail from an overload strategy. Even if you walk through here one time (and then) come back a week later and walk through again, I guarantee you’ll see things that you did not see the first time.”
These early celebrations prove useful to small businesses that need to expand their sales window. Unlike large corporations, small businesses don’t have as large an audience to support them during the holiday shopping season. If you still want to celebrate Christmas early, help support your local artists.
“We have become an important part of each of these artists’ economic year,” Younger said. “Being open for long enough to create the most meaningful impact is important to us. … It is a holiday show, but it’s (also) a celebration of the work that these people have been doing all year long. They work in their garages and their backyard studios and the dining room tables to make these things, and we want this celebration to work (and) be robust.”
The early onset of Christmas celebrations might bring an initial spark of joy, but it comes at the cost of fostering consumer fatigue and diluting the true seasonal spirit. By waiting until after Thanksgiving to fully embrace Christmas, we can give due attention to each holiday, reduce financial stress and avoid holiday burnout. If you truly want to indulge in the Christmas spirit, give back to the community by supporting local businesses, and savor the essence of each season as it unfolds.
Lam is a computer science freshman from Mansfield, Texas.
