One common discussion between Halloween and Thanksgiving in recent years has been the lamentation over ‘Christmas Creep’ – the trend that has resulted in retail stores being in full-on Christmas display mode before Halloween. In fact, Halloween has become *LATE* for many retailers, with stores like Kohls and KMart displaying Christmas themes by mid-September, and Lowes having their whole store converted before October 1st, as evidenced by this picture from Consumerist :

If my family shopping trip to Rochester last week was any indication, the omnipresence of Christmas decorations and early pre-Black Friday sales has successfully started a full-on shopping panic! But just because we are responding to the stimulus doesn’t mean we are happy, according to a Consumer Reports survey reported about at Consumerist. Just check out the results regarding when decorations should change:

That indicates that while more folks have come to accept the appearance of Christmas decoration in the post-Halloween period, few think that pre-Halloween is reasonable and the majority think it should wait until after Thanksgiving. Fortunately there is at least ONE store that agrees! As noted in the top image, Nordstroms continues to respect the tradition of setting up after Thanksgiving.

Others point out that particularly during a recession, having the ability to spread your shopping out more is a financial necessity … and I can certainly understand what that means in terms of the revival of layaway programs, but how that actually translates into the need to have Christmas trees on display before the Fall Foliage season starts is lost on me.

What about you? Assuming you celebrate Christmas, how do you feel about this ‘creep’? And if you celebrate another holiday or none at all, how do you feel about 25% of the year being filled with Christmas decorations and over-hyped sales?

Images Courtesy of Consumerist