It is mid October. The leaves are changing. The kids are bugging you for that perfect Halloween costume — and God forgive you if you forget the accessories. Your local retailers already have brought out Christmas merchandise. Go ahead, look behind the Halloween costumes and candy bowls that make spooky noises when you stick your hand in them. Christmas trees and lights. Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Hello Kitty stockings. The toy section is already bloated with plastic memories that will be broken in six months.
Halloween is a much bigger deal now than it was when I was a kid. Back in those days, Halloween decorating was a matter of carving a pumpkin and putting up whatever black-and-orange thing you and your siblings brought home from art class. Mom might have worn a witch’s hat when she took you trick-or-treating, but she and Dad certainly did not wear costumes unless they were already, um, unconventional. These days, lots of houses are decked out for Halloween, and a wide variety of adult sized costumes are available practically everywhere. More than Generation X’s embracing of all things kitsch, Halloween is big, big, business.
Nevertheless, Halloween has to compete with what is arguably the biggest holiday in America, Christmas. Thanksgiving almost gets skipped in the retail scheme of things. Now, we aren’t talking about Christmas craft items, which have to be started well ahead of time if they are to be ready in December. We are talking about things that in the old days, we didn’t even start to look at until Black Friday. Some analysts are already predicting a lucrative holiday shopping season.
In fact, some retailers claim they feel pressured to put out the Christmas merchandise ludicrously early. However, some of us traditionalists would rather not think about Christmas until after the Halloween costumes are safely put away. Indeed, that’s still almost 2 months before the big day and 4 weeks before the holiday season even begins.
The funny part is that in the bitter cold of January, when the kids go through their sudden growth spurt or your good jacket meets a horrible accident, a large selection of heavy winter coats will be on clearance. In retail-land, it will already be time to shop for swim suits.
Somehow, they make money doing this.