Co-op has mince pies

[XmasCrackPies]

The back wall is full of Halloween stuff which is to be expected, but bloody mince pies already? 4 days ago it was summer! They stuck them right by the self serve tills so you can just nonchalantly grab a box as you go to pay then scoff the lot in the car.

Looks like I'll continue to be fat this year then as I bloody love them 🥧

Our shop has advent calendars in! People were complaining about the Halloween stuff and I said ‘look left!’ It’s giving me a lot of amusement to be fair😅

Cadbury creme eggs traditionally appear on Boxing Day.

But they need to sell all the shit food to fatten people up so come NYD they can point and laugh and go pssss... wanna buy some vastly overpriced protein enhanced diet meals?

I can happily ignore most of it until around mid December but I do want to get at least one bag of M&S ginger and white chocolate cookies.

I only had a single cookie last year and it was only when I went to buy more that I learned that they were a seasonal special and they'd been replaced with mini egg ones, which I didn't want. I did make my own, that were really good but I just want to buy a few rather than make them.

This is it. People, crazy people are buying them. And yes will buy several replacements before Christmas 😆
It just feels bizarre looking at advent calendars in August

Exactly this. I think it's really annoying how all the seasons overlap and undertake one another now. (ie; hot cross buns in September, Creme eggs in December/January, Christmas cards and Selection boxes in July but no Halloween stuff til August.) It's batshit....

Re what @Forgottenmyphone said· Today 05:48

Is it just Britain? Or do other countries start their Christmas this early too?

I can't speak for all the other countries in the world when it comes to Christmas coming ridiculously early, but I do know this...

My friend's daughter spent 2 and a half years in L.A. California during 2023/2024/2025, and she said people there who had visited the UK in July and August and seen advent calendars, selection boxes, strips of tinsel, and tins of Christmas sweets (Roses/Quality Street etc) were baffled. Like, whaaaa? Dude, it's summer!

In L.A. they will typically start to drip in Christmas stock - decorations, and garlands, and small Christmas trees (up to 3-4ft high,) and tins of sweets, and Christmas cards and the like in mid September, but they will be on the back shelves. Halloween will be all over the store first in early September. As I say, the Christmas stock they have will be pushed to the back...

Around mid October, they will start getting a bit more Christmas stuff in, then pull Christmas further forward a bit, and then get lots more Christmas stuff in from early November, and then pull the Christmas stuff forward much more, and have the places looking proper 'Christmassy...' by mid November.

The people who have been over here from the states say it's so odd to see Christmas shoved in peoples faces from late July, and especially as it's not like we don't have summers here. We have had some cracking long hot summers this past few years - some may say TOO hot - even this weekend it's going to be 27C in some parts of the UK... So why are they shoving Christmas stock out from late July? (This is when I first saw the Christmas chocolates and advent calendars.)

In L.A. they still have deckchairs and beach balls and floats and swimming costumes and little canoes and rubber dinghies for the ocean for sale in July and August. No-one would be buying Christmas stuff then. No-one even has it on their radar until around late September/early October - The Fall! 🍂

.

It's the same thing every year, and the same MN comments. No one is forced to buy them and retailers know what their customers want.

I know it's so exciting I ordered all my Christmas keepers last night for next week's shop. Christmas cake mince pies coffee sachets plus the pumpkin spice coffees for autumn joints of meat goosefat etc etc

I work in a garden centre and we have just put out our Xmas stock. One woman was complaining it's only September. Her trolly was full of Xmas tat!

Christmas is coming! 🎄

So has Lidl, apparently all supermarkets have them though whether they are on display will be determined by delivery schedules and local decisions

Oh I love mince pies at any time of the year. Which is annoying because carbs are not my friend.

Well that's stupid. Complaining about Christmas stock in late August/early September and then buying it. Who on earth would do that?

That makes no sense.

@Zov

you have to remember that many if not most people don’t actually do Halloween, it’s just not a thing unless you have school aged kids. The whole autumn season thing is an American import which hasn’t got appeal in many sectors, I don’t need more tat! The Christmas market is far more important

I respectfully disagree about the UK not being interested in Halloween, and it most certainly is not 'just for the kids.' Some people say Christmas is 'just for the kids' too, which is also not true.

Yes I know so many adults who love Halloween and spooky decor etc, including myself

Yesterday, our Evri delivery person dropped off a package and I went out to thank her. She said to me, “Please don’t tell me that’s the last of your Christmas shopping completed. I’ve heard that twice already this week.”

OMG! Didn't think about putting them in the freezer #gamechanger ....... goes off to get the Sainsburys Bakery ones .....

Currently on my second box of M&S mince pies… it’s been a tough couple of weeks and I’m up for anything that signals change.