Burning Question: Premature Decoration?
Ok, Christmas decorations. How soon is too soon to put them up? With stores beginning to display them on Halloween Day (someone even mentioned seeing Valentine’s Day stuff already at Target!) we’re dying to know what everyone thinks about this phenomenon. Are some of you so giddy for the holidays that you’re turning on the Christmas music in October? Are others so miffed by the ever-encroaching seasonal spirit that you go on a decorating strike until the week before Christmas? In short, if you were elected as the official person in charge of picking the exact date for people to start decorating (and no one could deviate), what date would it be?
And while we’re on the subject, how long after the holiday season are lights and seasonal decor permitted to be on display? Is there a two week rule? Do people get a month of leeway? Do tell.
Image courtesy of Inhabitat.
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Officially, I’m with everyone on the day after Thanksgiving rule. But since it’s not unusual to get snow long before Thanksgiving in Minnestoa, that first snowfall is usually the first time I play Christmas music since it just puts me in that mood :-)
If I was the Chief of the Christmas police, I would say you can start decorating the day after Thanksgiving and it must be removed the first weekend of the New Year. Our neighbors keep their Christmas lights on the house the whole year (not lit, mind you) and it sort of bugs me. I don’t know why, but it does.
Here in the UK the tradition is to put up tree and decorations 12 days before Christmas Day and take them all down again 12 days after Christmas Day. That having been said I saw a Christmas tree up at end of November so basically anything goes and it depends how fed up you get with the tree and decorations. Hopefully we will put ours up this weekend though.
i would say you can start as soon as your local chamber of commerce has the citys lights put up or later if you want. and they should be brought down by new years day or earlier if you want.
For me this year, in a new home, that’s a shopping-related question.
I went to my local big-box stores, Target, etc. on 12/2 to pick up some candle tapers and wreaths. They were almost completely sold out. I was shocked! I guess that’s what I get for waiting to buy my decorations till after Black Friday, by which time the stores have already been bombarded? In my area, we had a very nice warm Sunday Thanksgiving weekend, and loads of people took advantage and decorated.
I had great luck at Michael’s today, which had everything in plentiful stock–and on sale! I wanted to get there before this weekend’s rush! Everything outdoors is going up this weekend, because we’re the neighborhood slackers, apparently.
This is always a subject meant for teasing in our household! Dh would gladly start listening to Christmas music in September or October (and often does!), but I won’t allow it in my presence until after we’ve finished Thanksgiving dinner. Same with decorations.
In my family, growing up, it was even later. My sister’s birthday is December 7, and Mom never wanted her to feel overshadowed by Christmas, so the decorations NEVER went up before the 8th. (Or whatever weekend came after.)
As for after Christmas…eh, about New Year’s, but I’m not particularly picky about it. Just lazy. ;)
I saw your post re the faux sheepskin rugs…..the same one in our Ikea costs £24 which is around $33 so you are getting a good price for the rug.
Thanks Janis! Up until 6 months ago they were $19 so they used to be even cheaper (which is when we snagged two of the four). We just love them so much that even the slightly higher price (I think they’re $23 now or something) didn’t deter us. Good to know we’re getting a deal!
xo,
s
My family’s tradition is to put the decorations up on the day after Thanksgiving, but that didn’t always happen. My dad is a pastor and this time of year is one of the busiest! But as early as possible is the goal.
As far as taking them down, we always loved the outdoor lights especially mixed with snow. In PA, it doesn’t usually think about snowing till January so we would leave the lights on the outside of the house sometimes through the first week of February. I know…we were one of “those” neighbors!
Now that I have my own family, we do the Thanksgiving weekend decorating and the 2nd week of January undecorating. But no Christmas music after January 1st, (unless its Sufjan Stevens)! The stores and commercials due us in as far as the music is concerned. Merry Christmas to you all!
I think it’s ok to start listening to Christmas music in mid-November and Christmas decorations are ok to start putting up the first week of December.
I’m moving into a new home in a couple of weeks, so I won’t be doing any Christmas decorations this year :( I have already finished all my shopping AND I’ve uploaded tons of xmas music onto my iPod, so that’s good enough for me :)
At our house, the Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving. Until then, absolutely nothing pertaining to Christmas (other than the creating or purchasing of gifts) may take place until Black Friday. When the long awaited day arrives, we all adventure out to find Christmas gifts other items for the upcoming year. We return home, rest, and then commence Christmassing! The Christmas boxes are dug out, the tree is assembled and then decorated, and we turn Christmas music on (for me, it’s not the Christmas Season until Nat King Coles sings the Christmas song – did you know he introduced it?).
Our Black Friday tradition began as a way to fill in the “Thanksmas” gap after Grandma died. We always went down to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving and brought our Christmas gifts for the family over there. Generally on Thanksgiving day (after we had watched the Macy’s day parade and had the Thanksgiving meal) we would celebrate Christmas – hence the creation of “Thanksmas.”
{By the way I thoroughly enjoy your blog and can’t wait to meet your little one! I also relish your excitement at having “a bun in the oven.”}
Oh, this is one of the things that really grinds my gears! I totally believe in waiting at least until the day after Thanksgiving to start Christmas decorations, then taking everything down sometime shortly after New Year’s. It irritates the heck out of me when stores start decorating exclusively for Christmas at the beginning of November!! I really respect what Nordstrom did about their holiday decor: http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/nordstrom-vs-christmas.
For some reason that last link didn’t work, so here’s another: http://consumerist.com/2009/11/nordstrom-continues-to-oppose-christmas-creep.html.
Christmas – goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and comes down after January 6th (Epiphany) and defintitely by January 15th
Valentine’s – up by January 15, down February 15
St. Patrick’s – up late February, down March 18
Easter – March 18 until the week after Easter (could be 2 weeks; could be a month)
Memorial Day/July 4th – May 15th til…..sometime in mid-August. Both sides of the family have strong military backgrounds, so we’re good with flags and such all summer through Labor Day (overlapping the Back to School).
Back to School – August 15th until Labor Day weekend. Usually the only month we have a “bare” house :)
Halloween – after my mom’s birthday (September 18); usually around Oct. 1 until Nov. 1(my mother-in-law’s birthday).
Thanksgiving – some fall-ish stuff is up from Halloween, so swap out jack-o-lanterns for uncarved pumpkins and we’re good; comes down the day after Thanksgiving.
I forgot to mention the we generally keep the decorations up ’til New Years or around the 14th of January. :)
I think no Christmas lights should be lit until the day after Thanksgiving and they should be turned off (ideally, taken down)on January 1st. I’m willing to be lenient and give until the end of the first week of January, though! :)
I saw Christmas trees for sale in August at our local Hobby Lobby. Waaaay too early.
Putting the outside lights UP before Thanksgiving is totally fine, if you have an unseasonably warm November day. They just shouldn’t be turned ON until Thanksgiving night or the day after.
“Un-decorating” should happen the first or second weekend after the new year.
And Christmas music 24 hours a day needs to stop. We have a radio station here that starts doing that on October 31. Two months is way too much. If they have to do it, I would say between Thanksgiving and Christmas would be appropriate.
I believe Christmas trees and decorations should go up no earlier than the day after Thanksgiving. I am of the “Respect the Turkey” mentality. I am ok with leaving the tree up through the New Year, but we usually take it down a week after Christmas.
It drives me betty when I see Christmas trees go up in the mall at the beginning of October, and it seems to be getting earlier every year. For example, I had my first Christmas tree spotting at the end of July this year. That should be illegal…
I generally do Black Friday – Epiphany so I guess any time within that range would be what I would enforce if I were in charge of Christmas decorations.
I also like to focus more on winter seasonal decorations that don’t feel like they have to come down right away after the holiday is over.
We got our tree this year the day after Thanksgiving, but I was listening to Christmas music a week or two before that. I try not to out-do the music part, since my fiance thinks it can be a bit cheesy, but the decorations are up all December long!
If I were in charge of all Xmas decorations, I would set them the weekend after Thanksgiving and take them off the first weekend of January. No reason to have twinkling lights – or snow methinks – after New Years’ Eve.
The day after Thanksgiving until just after new years day is acceptable in my book!
I will admit I was one of the criminals who never took down my icicle lights last year (I was just being grinch-y/lazy!) It was a really bad year (losing the family business, starting a new one and all…) But I didn’t leave them on! The only day they may have gotten used was Super Bowl Sunday since we have a huge bash each year! And they are just white icicles… no red/green! Is that OK?
:)
Well I’m one of those weird people who would love stores to have a year round Christmas section. Just walking around looking at the decorations, and listening to the music gives me an instant mood boost, no matter if its July or December. As for me personally, the decor gets pulled out the week of Thanksgiving. Usually we put it all up the day after, but our wedding anniversary falls that week too, so it just depends.
As far as taking it down, I do that in phases, anything specifically Christmas, the tree, stockings, santas, get put away the first week of January. Snowmen, and the glitzy fun stuff stays out until the end of January when I put up Valentines stuff.
We don’t do anything until Thanksgiving day. That is when we put up our outside lights and the Christmas tree and lights. Then we wait until right before Christmas to put the orniments on the tree (we celebrate advent before Christmas) and then we keep the decorations up until Christmas season is over…usually the beginning of February. I love Christmas so I don’t care if our stuff is up longer than everyone else!
I think decorations shouldn’t go up until the day after Thanksgiving at the earliest and should be taken down by New Years Day.
I say the day after Thanksgiving is a good time to start the decorating-that is how our household goes-well at least for Christmas music and movies! :)
I would say taking the decorations down by the week after New Years…
The true question is: When to open stockings? Before you open presents as a warm up or After presents as the cool down? Its been an ongoing battle in our house :)
When our oldest two children were babes, I never put up ANY Christmas decorations until Christmas Eve. The kids would come down in the morning and suddenly everything was Christmasy! It made the day really special, but it was extremely exhausting for me. I never seemed to get more than 1 or 2 hours of sleep on Christmas Eve, so I was not very cheery on Christmas Day. Ugh.
Now the twins are old enough to want to help decorate, so even though we still have babies that pull off ornaments, rip down garlands, etc., I let the kids help. We put the tree up on December 1st (NO SOONER!) and gradually add other decorations in over the next couple of weeks. Everything comes down on New Year’s Day, though I’m a little more flexible on this date. Things that aren’t specific to Christmas (like snowmen, snowflakes, and the like) are permitted to stay up until the end of February.
I think christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving. And, since I love white lights outside, I think they can stay up well into the winter. They’re so pretty on a dark snowy night!
Good question! My preference would be for everyone to enjoy the Thanksgiving long weekend focused on family, food, and football – not frenzied Christmas shopping that weekend. So I say the weekend after the Thanksgiving weekend is the earliest that Christmas decorations should go up. And I think New Year’s is a natural expiration date.
I think the day after Thanksgiving rule is a good one. Our local radio stations start the 24-hour Christmas music before that, but I hold off until afterward. This year, I did have to watch “Elf” on Thanksgiving evening. It’s hard to void yourself of Christmas cheer when everyone else is setting the mood around you.
I’d rather be the police of Christmas decorations on one’s home. I love looking at lights, but some people go a bit overboard. I don’t like people mixing lights (i.e., a different color on each object in the yard). Multi-colored strands are fine – we go retro with the big bulb strands – but not a strand of blue, one of green, etc. I guess there are a lot of “Griswalds” out there :).
Decorations go up the evening of and day after Thanksgiving. Decorations come down Jan 1st or 2nd.
I think putting the outside lights on the house can start the weekend after Thanksgiving – everyone has the time off. That doesn’t mean they must be turned on until a bit later in December, say the 5th or so. Inside decorations can be pulled out and sorted through and the tree purchased (or assembled) within the first 10 days of December. Then go for it! Enjoy the season until January 1… and then it’s time to let it go. Start the new year with a clean palate!
Holiday decorations go up sometime in the weekend after Thanksgiving (or in case of travel, sometime during the week after Turkey Day).
And, they should come down sometime in early January. See Christmas trees in windows, on porches, etc., doesn’t really bother me until about the 25th of January.
-K
As to the stores, our local big-box-supercenter-of-walls-and-everything-else put up their trees and started their holiday music on Nov. 1st. I do believe the employees revolted as three days later, all had come down and ceased.
-K
In our family, Thanksgiving is kind of the official start to the holiday season. We break out the Christmas music and listen to it that morning while we are preparing for dinner. Decor comes a bit later, maybe second weekend of December.
Taking the stuff down I try to wait until Jan. 6, since that is the Feast of the Epiphany celebrating the day the magi came and gave baby Jesus their gifts. Seems like everyone else takes down Christmas stuff by New Year, so I do it earlier if I think I’m sticking out like a sore thumb. It’s kind of a let down.
Growing up, the rule in my house is that holiday decorations needed to stay within the month of December ONLY. I seem to stick with that now that I’m on my own, too. I don’t feel right having up Christmas stockings during Thanksgiving or New Year’s Eve. Everything this year went up December 1, and will probably come down December 26.
It’s just how we roll.
Oh, and good luck with the demo this weekend! Can’t wait to see how the new bathroom turns out!
~Heather
Holiday decorating season should be from the day after Thanksgiving until mid-January. Retail stores having Christmas up in September…not cool in my opinion.
I agree with the Thanksgiving weekend start time, not a moment before!!! But, no one has mentioned that the Twelve Days of Christmas don’t actually start until after Christmas day. I would say decorations should be taken down after Epiphany on January 6, within that week, probably before the 14th. I personally have begun to hate the holidays because of decorations going out in stores SOOOO early. It’s annoying and ridiculous!!
We’re up in Canada, so in our family, Nov 12 is the earliest decorations can go up inside. (It’s a quiet sign of respect for our vetrans.)
We try to get the lights on the house around then too, they don’t get turned on until December 1st though. If we wait until Devember to put the lights up outside, we normally FREEZE out there!!
When we first moved to Michigan, we laughed at our neighbor who put lights all over his farmhouse and yard in October. Then, when we waited until the end of November and had to do it in the ice and snow, we realized why the neighbor puts up his decorations early. ;)
We put our up first weekend of Dec, take ‘em down first weekend after New Years Day.
My policies are derived directly from my mother – Christmas decorations go up the day after Thanksgiving and come down the day after Epiphany. Sometimes we’d take our wooden lawn displays down closer to Jan. 1st, but the nativity always stayed out long enough for the wise men to arrive.
I don’t care when other people start doing it….and I’m not bothered by stores putting up decor early. Yes, we all know they’re doing it to heighten sales, but really, I don’t see the point in getting offended. It’s much more pleasant to walk through stores with decorations, anyways.
For my home, I like putting decorations up in the first week of December. Thanksgiving is a super big holiday for my family, so I would never want to overshadow it with Christmas.
Another vote for the day after Thanksgiving or anytime after. I don’t understand why stores are full of Christmas decorations 2 weeks before Halloween. Can’t we just enjoy each holiday as they come? I enjoy Thanksgiving as its own holiday and it can be overshadowed by the stores jumping on to Christmas long before its time.
I prefer to wait until early December, in fact I just broke out all my decorations this morning. By New Years I am sick of it all, so I try to pack it all up New Years Day if there is nothing going on.
I think anything before December 1 is toooo early, and everything to be down by Jan 1!
My youngest son’s birthday is December 15, so we wait until after his birthday to put up Christmas decorations. That being said, our family also celebrates Advent, so we have our Advent calendar and wreath out already. Then we leave the decorations up until Epiphany (January 6).
I like to to decorate the day after thanksgiving (or the day of!) and I put everything away on New Years day! This is my favorite holiday to deocorate for!
I’m a firm believer that Christmas decor should not go up until after Thanksgiving, and I also think it’s strange to keep lights up past New Years Day. Why continue celebrating last year’s holiday? When Christmas music starts playing before Thanksgiving, I get out of the spirit before I’m even in it. One holiday at a time, please! :)
This year, I knew we’d be out of town three weekends in a row in late November, early December so I started decorating inside on November 15. I got a lot of flack for it from friends, but it lifted my spirits and now I’m glad that all I have to do is come home and turn on the tree! All we have left to do is decorate the outside of the house. As for taking decorations down, I’d say the week after New Year’s (at least turn the lights off if it’s too cold or you’re too lazy to take them down).
Can’t wait to see your Christmas color scheme!
In my family, we never put up the tree until after December 15th, because that was my birthday and my mom didn’t want it to be to Christmassy. So, that is still how I do it, but will do other decorations before that. Never before Thanksgiving though! Also, my mother is German, and her family would put up the tree on Christmas Eve, so that’s where our “later” influence came from.
It has always been a tradition to put the tree up on Thanksgiving. I think it just gave us kids something to do and kept us out of our parents hair while they were cleaning up and watching football. LOL
Nevertheless, it’s a tradition that we’ve instilled in our household.
And we always take everything down on New Years Day. It seems like it’s long enough to feel like all the worth was worth it, but not too long to overstay it’s welcome!