By Julia Grippe

Some stores start putting out Christmas items as early as June despite the negative comments made by consumers.

The Christmas creep is a marketing and sales phenomenon where stores compete to get the early dollar, which results in the holiday season starting earlier and earlier each year.

Bonnie Knutson, a hospitality business professor at MSU and expert in buying trends and strategic marketing, says people have less money to spend in the current economy, but they are always willing to spend on their children and family.

“If retail stores don’t get their share during the Christmas season, they are going to have to work twice as hard the rest of the year,” said Knutson.

Knutson said that consumers have four emotions: happy, sad, glad or afraid. Consumers buy most when they are happy.

Retail stores tend to push the idea of Christmas because the holiday season is usually a happy time of the year. This results in consumers buying more, said Knutson.

Some stores, such as Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, have made an industry of Christmas 365 days a year, said Knutson.

Even when on vacation in a warm place, Knutson said she always buys a Christmas ornament. People still think about Christmas even in the off-season.

Photo credit -- Julia Grippe

Retail stores are starting to advertise for Christmas more aggressively on the Internet. Knutson said people are doing more research online for what they want to buy so they can get their shopping done faster when physically in the store.

“The less time in the mall, the less time for impulse buying,” Knutson said.

The day after Thanksgiving, or better known as black Friday, is a strategic way to get consumers in their stores and to get the early dollar, Knutson said.

Typically, stores usually open as early as 4 a.m on black Friday but recently some stores are staying open for a full 24 hours. Other stores are even having online specials the day of Thanksgiving, said Knutson.

Erica Johnson, the executive team leader at Target in Okemos, said this year they are being more aggressive by opening at midnight like stores such as Walmart did last year.

Johnson said Christmas ads for Target go out the first week in November, and Christmas merchandise usually goes up right after Halloween decorations come down. Target must condense their Halloween items in order to put Christmas items up.

“We not only want the earliest ad but also the best and most creative ad,” said Johnson.

For craft stores, the holiday season starts even earlier than the end of October. Scott Pertz, store manager at Hobby Lobby in East Lansing, said the Christmas supply comes out as early as June.

“We could have Christmas stuff out year round and it would sell,” said Pertz.

Hobby Lobby receives Christmas shipment in April, and since Christmas is such a large area, they need to start putting it out early in order for the entire shipment to be out in time and look presentable, said Pertz.

Christmas items alone take up 26 aisles in the store, said Pertz.

Pertz said they start with the things people need to make and create crafts such as wreaths and ornament kits and then start putting out decorations and other merchandise.

Photo credit -- Julia Grippe

“If we put Christmas supplies out earlier, we have a better chance of selling it at full price,” said Pertz.

Hobby Lobby gets a negative reaction from its customers when they see Christmas items out in June and keep making negative comments all the way through September, said Pertz.

“They say things such as, ‘I can’t believe you’re putting this out already,’” he said.

He said the people who actually like the Christmas supplies out early don’t say anything at all.

Dale Wilson, a marketing professor at MSU said, “People love to complain.”

When it comes to the holiday season, many people argue that Christmas is commercialized.

Wilson said Christmas is a major holiday and retailers want their share of it.

Many of the MSU marketing students learn about the “cumulative effect,” said Wilson. This theory explains that as you see and hear different advertisements, the effect of those ads builds over time. “The first time you see an ad, it might not work. The third or fourth time, it becomes effective.”

When talking about Christmas advertisements, Wilson said there is an advantage to early advertising and putting out Christmas merchandise early.

“It can be annoying, but it works to have those types of items out early.”

Although a lot of people complain and say negative things, Wilson said he doesn’t think it turns anybody off from buying items from stores that put Christmas supplies out early.

“It’s not like they wont go back to that store,” he said.

One reason stores are more aggressive during the holiday season is because a lot of retail stores don’t make a lot of money until after Thanksgiving.

“The period between Thanksgiving and News Years adds to the profit.”

The holiday season is known as a time for giving and gaining – weight that is.   With food at the center of many family holiday traditions, eating turns into indulging and leads many people to deviate from their normal diets.

Tweaking the holiday menu to be both healthy and appetizing is challenging and adding a vegetarian or a gluten-free relative to the mix complicates the menu even more.

“We eat for a lot of different reasons, and many of those reasons are strongly linked to health. It’s the main reason why all animals eat. But we are also social beings so it is important that we enjoy the wonderful foods and tastes and smells that are around during the holidays,” MSU food science and human nutrition professor Patricia Thurston said.

For supply chain management junior Julia Parks, gluten-free meal items are as common as Christmas cookies at her holiday family gatherings.

“It’s actually easier eating gluten-free during the holidays than it is when I’m at school,” Parks said.  “Whenever I’m at home it’s easy because for my entire life my mom has cooked this way with everything gluten free.  And even if we go to other family members they usually know, too.”

Parks has Celiac Sprue disease, an intolerance to gluten where ingesting gluten deteriorates her intestines so nutrients cannot be absorbed.

“My grandma had the same disease, so I was tested for it in kindergarten because I couldn’t build muscle. I was really skinny with a stomach that stuck out really far and I was getting sick all the time,” she said.

The genetic disease leads to muscle wasting and forces Parks and others with the disease to follow a strict diet completely abstaining from gluten, an ingredient in everything, from soy sauce to Starbursts.

“More people are being diagnosed with Celiac in recent years and even more people are being found to have a sensitivity to gluten,” Thurston said.

Fortunately many of Parks’ holiday traditions do not involve gluten.

“The main dishes are usually gluten-free, but the desserts are not, but my mom or other family members who are cooking will usually make one special dessert for me,” she said.

While her family makes their holiday food as accommodating as possible for Parks, the holidays also become a showcase of some of the unhealthy foods Parks avoids because they contain gluten.

“It is really hard for certain things like basic sugar cookies with frosting and white cupcakes that I see around a lot during the holidays,” Parks said.

While Parks does miss out on certain menu items there are many that can be substituted to replace what she misses in the ones that contain gluten.  Most of the main dishes at Park’s holiday gatherings are gluten-free salads, potatoes, meat and vegetables.  Parks says it is easy to eat those things at home because she is assured gluten is not an ingredient while elsewhere it could be incorporated as a binding agent.

“My mom is a great cook she makes elaborate things.  At Christmas time she makes tons of batches of cookies—she would make like five or six and two of them would be gluten-free macaroons, but when I was little I would always want to eat the other ones, but I understand how sick it would make me,” Parks said.

According to Thurston, even when a person with Celiac Spur disease feels like they are doing well, splurging could potentially ruin their progress and cause greater health problems.  With more people being diagnosed with disease in recent years people have been responding better.

“There is now a gluten-free bakery my family orders from during the holidays, and it’s not just holidays restaurants are developing gluten menus or additions to menus.  I was surprised when I went to PF Chang’s they had a gluten-free dessert I could eat and Chili’s had a gluten-free menu,” Parks said.

Maintaining usual eating habits throughout the holiday season is as difficult as it is important.  While turning down homemade treats from persistent family members can be difficult, declining the foods they offer is essential when maintaining usual non-holiday season diets.

James Madison junior Kristy Sparks, a vegetarian, similarly struggles remaining healthy and meat free throughout the holidays.

“I personally don’t like meat; I’ve never been a fan. I feel better physically and emotionally when I don’t eat it, but every year the holidays are really hard,” Sparks said.

Sparks’ family is accommodating to her vegetarian lifestyle.  With two family members also being vegetarians, she is not the only one around the table avoiding the turkey.

“The vegetarians in my family just mostly eat the sides because one year we had a tofu turkey but we didn’t like it,” Sparks said.

Sparks and her vegetarian relatives have no problem participating fully in the holiday feast, with the exception of specific unforeseen challenges.

“The stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving and this year my cousin Jackie put bacon in it, so I was so bummed I couldn’t eat it.  She just married into the family so she didn’t know about us vegetarians,” Sparks said.

With numerous meat-oriented holidays, including Thanksgiving, vegetarians like Sparks learn to improvise while being careful to not make up for their lack of meat in sweets. Although plant based diets do offer multiple health benefits including a reduction in saturated fat intake, vegetarians have to be careful to not overeat other unhealthy foods instead, Thurston said.

Whether gluten-free or vegetarian, the holidays make sticking to pre-season diets a difficult task. However, taking the focus off of food allows you to enjoy the season regardless of what is on your plate.

“Instead of sitting down on the couch after a large meal we will go for a family walk, especially if it’s a sunny day, and remember the holidays are really all about family and friends, not just food,” Thurston said.

Check out one of Julie’s favorite gluten-free dishes:

Julia Parks’ Favorite Gluten-Free Macaroons

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

4 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Directions:

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Beat egg whites and salt until stiff.

3) Add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until sugar is dissolved into egg whites.

4) Combine the coconut and vanilla extracts with the egg whites and sugar, but do not beat.

5) Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop by teaspoonful onto paper.

6) Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

7) Allow cookies to cool before removing from sheet and enjoying.