Christmas, is it coming earlier?

[61653 HTAFC]

Is Christmas coming earlier, I'm not sure... but this annual thread definitely is!

 

[507021]

I'm sure I saw mince pies on sale in my local supermarket the day after Halloween last year.

 

[si404]

I'm sure I saw mince pies on sale in my local supermarket the day after Halloween last year.

That's standard. I'm pretty sure I've seen them as soon as the 'Back to School' stuff disappears, when the big displays of lunchboxes, stationary and uniforms get replaced with smaller displays of Halloween, Christmas and whatever third thing they want to push (normally just general offers).

Arguably the massive increase in Halloween (which has led to a fall in the slightly later Bonfire Night, but that was never quite commercial enough to warrant large allocations of shelf space) in the last couple of decades, has held the all-out-for-Christmas stuff at bay - the small amount of Christmas stuff gets smaller as the Halloween stuff increases through October.

 

[PeterC]

The one thing that annoys me is food explicitly branded for Christmas with use by (not sell by or best before) dates of 23 December or earlier. We may start on the Christmas delicacies on the evening of the 24th but we don't stuff ourselves with mince pies during advent.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The one thing that annoys me is food explicitly branded for Christmas with use by (not sell by or best before) dates of 23 December or earlier. We may start on the Christmas delicacies on the evening of the 24th but we don't stuff ourselves with mince pies during advent.

Haha! I have to admit one thing I do like is in Oct/Nov when the Christmas Puddings first start appearing. They don't have pre-Xmas use-by dates - the ones I buy are normally OK for a year to 18 months. And even better - if you buy them way before Xmas they are pretty cheap - the prices seem to go up by December. I normally try to stock up enough to last the next year. I currently have one left from last year to eat at some point over the summer.

 

[Peter C]

As someone who really enjoys Christmas, I don't have many issues with it starting early. I'd define "early" as late October - early November and "ludicrously early" as Summer or before. I suppose at the end of November, December's just around the corner so people'll want to be getting started with any Christmas shopping which could take a while or other various things.
I suppose if you wanted to be the earliest Christmas celebrator, you could always take your decorations down in early January and then put them all back up the next day

-Peter

 

[Hadders]

I'm sure I saw mince pies on sale in my local supermarket the day after Halloween last year.

First batch of mince pies usually hit the supermarket shelves in September, and have done so for years.