Stores all over the country are preparing for the quick arrival of the holiday season. We began to see Halloween items show up in mid August, and now Thanksgiving and Christmas are sneaking onto shelves of grocery, convenience and clothing stores.
The popular donut chain Krispy Kreme led the fall trend by releasing its fall menu on Aug. 7. Starbucks followed close behind, releasing their options on Aug. 24 including the fan-favorite Pumpkin Spice Latte and new Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea Latte.
With August considered a summer month, many people begin to question why the holiday season begins so early. Especially, when we live in a place that doesn’t experience the fall season in its full swing.
Summertime is for summer activities and events such as the Fourth of July and celebrating the end of school. Seeing autumn come up in mid August takes away from the last bit of summer fun people have before the cold weather starts.
“I don’t want to think about school and fall before I have to. Besides it’s too early to start celebrating Christmas because Halloween hasn’t even passed yet! They played Mariah Carie at homecoming come on!” said Al Kuznetsov (12).
Many others agree and believe that starting the season early kills the vibe later on. If you begin celebrating Halloween in August, or Christmas in November, the excitement surrounding the holidays will fade right around the time they actually begin.
“It bothers me a lot, you need to wait for the other holidays before you start one. In July?! It’s a little ridiculous, why celebrate Christmas in the summer? It ruins the vibe” says Rachel Sleeth (12).
It’s definitely shocking seeing Christmas decorations hit stores before the weather has yet to hit below 70 degrees. So while people set up Halloween decorations and carve pumpkins, stores are setting up raindeers and fairy lights.
“It’s three months early, I think it’s stupid, it’s not focusing on the holiday thats coming up and it throws me off” said Erin Kwun (12).
Commercial hype of the holidays also causes people to begin to romanticize the season very early on. Excitement for the summer begins in winter, fall in the summer, winter in the fall and so on.
Due to this people get bored of seasons very quickly and constantly hope for events that haven’t arrived yet rather than focus on enjoying the season that is currently occurring.
On the other hand, some don’t see this as a problem. In fact, they see it as a positive because of the extra excitement early planning gives.
“It adds to the hype, I don’t really mind it, but when I do see it I’m like ‘woah’” said Shane Eicholtz. (12)
Senior Fran McVerry agrees, “I love Christmas music and decorations so I love when those come early!”
Early planning also gives people extra time to figure out what they want to do during the holidays. Stores being stocked early helps customers get their gift shopping out of the way and plan their outfits and decorations.
Others just simply enjoy the environment of the holidays, and hope to hold onto it as long as possible. It is the most wonderful time of the year after all.
At the end of the day, there’s no right or wrong way to celebrate as long as people do what makes them happy.
