To wonder why does Christmas start so early in the UK and are you happy with that

[TheFateofOphelia]

I was in John Lewis yesterday and a huge part of the ground floor was taken up with Christmas trees and decorations. My heart sank because, much as I enjoy the festive season, I want it to start mid Nov not end of August as it does in supermarkets.

Anyday now they'll be blasting out "Do they know it's Christmas." The what shall we do with Uncle Stanley on Christmas Day threads are popping up on MN. Do you like it starting in Autumn or will you join my pointless 'Let's keep Christmas in December' campaign?

@suburburban
It's me.. I buy all the specialised Christmas cards.. sister, brother etc.. I spent £38 in card factory the other day! :-)

Wow

It's all the other shops, I had to pop in to Bargain Madness at dinner time and it just felt so odd seeing the Xmas decorations I bought last year already! It's like having my life wished away. More and more people are putting decs up early, someone on my cul.de sac puts theirs up beginning Nov!

It gets earlier every year. Not so long ago it was after Bonfire Night. Now garden centres and supermarkets full of xmas stuff. Three months is wayOTT.
I dont bother looking. Start planning in November. It is so commercialised now and people spend so much more than in the past .Has this happened because of retailers bombarding us or tv adverts?Who knows?

@Endorewitch I have been going to see the Christmas display at a particular garden centre at the beginning of October for 40 years, so October is nothing new. But other retailers have jumped on the bandwagon, so decorations especially are seen in more places.

Personally I have not yet seen a supermarket full of Christmas stuff as the shelves are full of things for Halloween. I have only seen a tiny section dedicated to Christmas which is easily avoided, but the creep is starting to happen and will escalate once the Halloween stuff is out of the way.

I think it’s only as commercialised as we allow it to be for us as individuals. Some certainly throw money at Christmas and IMO go OTT, having replaced the true meaning of Christmas with something for social media and there has always been those where quantity is more important than quality, but I don’t think the majority of people behave in that manner. Give me a tree, some twinkling lights, warmth, family and a small number of considered gifts and I am happy.

Honestly doesn't bother me. However I'm one of those that'll get bits when it all comes out. For me it takes the mental load off. I live rurally and some shops don't do home delivery I.e Aldi, Home Bargains, the Range and the like. So when I'm in town for MOT or medical appointments I'll visit those shops to get the things I know we like. I don't know when I'll next be going into town so it saves the rush in December or a special trip. Also at the end of summer I'll start writing down things the kids are into, might need over the next six months and stocking filler ideas. Then when family and friends ask in November the list is there for ideas.

Trying to juggle a job, two voluntary commitments (one of which I run singlehandedly) and raise two small kids, for me it's less stressful to spread Christmas out. Everything bought goes under our bed and doesn't come back out until needing to be wrapped a couple of nights before. I don't over buy as I have my list and then in December we have plenty of time to do experiences or stay in and have family time without the rush of the shops.

Everyone is different and some people need the separation which I can appreciate.

Yes, I love it!

We were in Barcelona on the 23rd of December. People buying presents, shops gift wrapping parcels, ready to be given, people carrying home a whole ham ready for Christmas Eve the next day.

Shops sparkly, with free sweets and drinks, the low key Christmas market, beautiful Christmas lights.

Relaxed!

@Whatshesaid96 that is how I like to do things. I can’t stand having to and I am not able to rush around at the last minute. I don’t want Christmas to be manic as for me, that sucks the joy out of things. Being organised and starting early makes sure that December is calm, relaxed and fun and spent doing things I want to do, rather than having to dash around shopping especially for things I could have bought in advance.

Absolutely, my voluntary work also ramps up around Christmas timewise so I like being able to give 100% to that. The children I help don't get as privileged Christmas as my own do so I like to make it as special as possible for them. If that means I'm buying from September for my own family then I'm fully giving my head space to others who need it. It means I'm giving my spare time to my family than dashing around shops.

Sounds so lovely 😍 I plan to visit Barcelona in January but I will be in either Malaga or Madrid in December!

I ignore it when I don’t feel in the mood for it.

I don't like it. Autumn is my favourite season, but it's like the emphasis goes from summer to Christmas. I have to plug Christmas at work, as I make bespoke pieces that take 3 months to make, but I don't like to think about Christmas myself until Dec. And I don't like that on Boxing Day the shops have put Easter eggs out - for me Christmas goes on until past new year, I want to still be buying chocolate oranges at that point

I agree 100%. What is wrong with being able to focus on autumn for a bit - falling leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, Bonfire Night - before seeing cardboard Santas and fake snow scenes everywhere?

Driving through my village earlier on and the Christmas lights are attached to the lamp posts 🤦🏼‍♀️

To be fair, that was a time constraint thing when I worked for the electricity company. They won't be lit until later on, but we had so much work planned in, we would put them up when we could. We had multiple sites to do around the county, as well as the usual work with street lighting/over head lines etc. We literally couldn't have put up every towns lights on November 29th.

I suppose. I find it depressing because I'm always sick and miserable during December so it kind of reminds me of what I have to look forward to. Christmas magazine in Sainsburys earlier on too.

£38 on Christmas cards?? What do you spend on presents @cornflakecrunchie ??

Some individual cards (as opposed to a boxful) can be £3-5 each typically. So I can see that £38 easily being just 10 cards for immediate family e.g. parents, siblings, DC. If you want special cards like pop up ones etc, you're talking £8-10 each.

Personally I give few cards, mostly just a few people at work & in my team plus immediate family, so I do what I consider as going to town on them & paying £5-8 on a box of about a dozen really nice ones, then maybe about the same on a box with twice the number of OK charity cards. Always have a few left over, so use those up every 3-4 years & not buy any that year.

I like to enjoy each season as it comes rather than rushing through everything to get to the next thing. I like Halloween and have no interest in anything Christmas related until that’s over and even then, I’m in no rush. I can understand people spreading the cost of gifts and booking tickets for events that will sell out (a little behind the scenes planning is good) but I don’t want to see shops being taken over by massive Christmas displays so early in the year. I think it dilutes the magic as you’re sick of looking at it by the time December arrives so I try to avoid it all until we are about halfway through November as the OP said. I always find it amusing that people who are putting up their decorations early and posting nonsense like “100 sleeps to go” are the ones who post on the 26th or 27th Dec that they’ve taken their Christmas tree down and it’s good to get the house back to normal - this when it is actually Christmas! Utter madness.

Yep, awful to see stuff in the shops so early, but my theory is that they will eventually be a whole year ahead of themselves in their orgasmic commercialisation sales meetings and things will be back where they should be!

Not happy ! Far too early. Should start properly in December. 1 month is long enough. Getting bloody silly

I get that some people start thinking about Christmas early and buying a few things BUT we don’t need every flipping shop/advert/craft fair/event being about Christmas from October onwards.
I am getting to the point not where I really dislike Christmas and the run up to it until literally a week before. It is all so commercialised now, it’s awful.
I love the Autumn and wish we could just enjoy it (and not it being about Halloween which again is just a commercialised American event) instead of focusing on bloody Christmas!

Totally agree

I have got the bug. I am controlling myself until after Halloween, I have made a sneaky list.

1 - Who knows?

2 - No I am not AT ALL happy about it.

Should start after November 5th at the earliest.