Remember those “Choose your own adventure” books you had in the 80s? Here’s a mini-version: I couldn’t quite make up my own mind about this topic, so I wrote two blog posts. You get to pick which one you read... (and of course, if you don’t like what you read, you can cheat and go back and read the other one too!)
So you are standing on a sun baked street, wondering where you can get an ice-cream, or a cold beer, or both, when someone hands you an invitation to a Christmas party, this afternoon. Do you
a) think “A Christmas party in the summer? Cool!” and head for the address on the card immediately? If so, click here.
or b) stare dumbfounded at the card, which depicts a snowy scene with a cutesy robin perched on the handle of the spade, then, wiping the sweat from your brow, crumple it into your pocket and head for the nearest air-conditioned bar? If so, click here.
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b) Bah Humbug!
If you’re anything like me, the word Christmas popping up much before mid-October feels all wrong. I grew up in a house where the tree wasn’t bought until the first day of the school holidays, and the decorations and fairy lights weren’t put up until Christmas Eve. This was a breathlessly exciting day for us as children - after all the anticipation, decorating the tree on 24th December seemed to symbolise that the celebrations were properly beginning, and in a few short hours we’d hang up our stockings (actually Dad’s old walking socks) and try desperately to stay awake long enough to see Father Christmas...
These days (she says, trying not to sound old and curmudgeonly), the shops seem to sell decorations earlier and earlier, and last year I stomped out of a high street shop because they were playing carols in October. Decorations and trees are everywhere before the end of November, and the notion of waiting until Christmas Eve seems nothing short of Scrooge-like denial that there’s a MASSIVE festival happening. We then all eat far too much, give and receive heaps of presents we don’t need or want, and complain about our waistlines and hangovers for several weeks afterwards.
So when I came across the phrase “Christmas in July” I was horrified. If Christmas can happen in the summer, there’s no hope at all of holding the whole thing at bay until December - and as everyone knows, once something is around us all the time, it soon ceases to be exciting at all.
My initial research suggested Christmas in July was something cooked up by northern hemisphere emigrants to the southern hemisphere, who, on finding that celebrating Christmas during summertime felt very strange indeed, decided to inaugurate a second Christmas celebration in the southern hemisphere winter, in July, so that eating big roast dinners, lighting fires and candles, exchanging cards depicting robins and snow, and snuggling up in unflatteringly chunky knitted sweaters with reindeer on the chest felt more appropriate. This all makes a lot of sense, really.
However, the version I’ve come across recently on Etsy is altogether a more commercial enterprise, aimed at enticing the super-organised to get ahead with their Christmas shopping (“You too could have the whole lot wrapped and hidden away by the end of the summer holidays!”). The idea has taken off and now there are sales and promotions worldwide, but especially in the USA, to encourage people to buy presents early.
In marketing terms, this is a splendid idea. There are no major public holidays in the summer, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day have been and gone, and there are no national events that might require the buying and giving of presents. Shops traditionally have to ride over this slack time, and use it to prepare for what they hope might be the Christmas rush. So, thinks some clever chap, why not start the Christmas rush early, so that those who can’t stand the idea of fighting for elbow-room alongside everyone else in December, can quietly go about their gift-buying business while everyone else is getting a suntan or food-poisoning from an ill-lit barbecue...
I admit to feeling sceptical about this, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, as I mentioned above, I like Christmas to be really special, and that means keeping it short and concentrated and not starting too early and getting bored by mid-November. My second objection is that I don’t trust my own systems: there’s a pretty strong chance that by December I’ll have forgotten where I put the things I bought in July, and if I go so far as to wrap them up in July as well, when I eventually find them I’ll have to unwrap them all again to remind myself what I’d bought!
But if you like the idea, and of course you’re welcome to your own opinion, head on over to my Etsy shop, Morgan & Pink, where use of the code CIJUK10 will give you a sparkly 10% off everything purchased during July. Just don’t blame me if you’ve lost them again by 24th December...
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| Lilac rosebud & pearl earrings on gold hooks, yours for £20 |
a) Christmas in July? All my dreams come true!
Perhaps like me you know one or two people who have a box tucked away somewhere with a selection of presents in it, bought on a whim from time to time so that they’ll never be short of a gift, even when invited to a children’s birthday party at short notice. I am not one of these people, but I would love to be. And I recently stumbled on a rather clever promotion on Etsy called Christmas in July, which might just help me achieve this, and save money into the bargain!
It may seem a little unseasonal to be considering Christmas while simultaneously planning the summer holidays, but in many ways it makes a lot of sense. Who wants to be the person madly rushing round the high street in the cold gloom of a December afternoon, becoming increasingly frantic at the thought of not finding the perfect gift, especially when it’s cold outside so you’re muffled up in your warmest coat, but the shop assistants are all in t-shirts and have the heating turned up, and every time you get close to the things you actually want to buy you find yourself surrounded by pointy elbows jabbing at your ribs and great big feet stomping on yours, and the carols are blasting away on a loop making you feel less good-willed by the minute...
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| Glass of Pimms, anyone? |
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| Sterling silver initial charm necklace, made to order; email fiona@morganandpink.co.uk for details |
So what are you waiting for? Head on over to Morgan & Pink, and use the code CIJUK10 to take advantage of 10% off at any time in July, and at any other Etsy shops taking part in the promotion (search using the same code). Bring your own carols, mince pies, and elbow room... or Pimms and flip flops if you prefer :-)
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| "It was on a starry night...." Sterling silver star pendant, yours for £18 |
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