Christmas Cards on Sale

Well, I have bought a number of Christmas presents already.

I buy cards, decorations, gifts etc etc all year round.

I expect the charities hope to catch your eye before you’ve bought elsewhere. Their income has been decimated by covid and price increases. I have received two charity catalogues through the post already, which I will buy my cards from as always.

You’d beat the postal strike.

Getting rid of old inventory?

I volunteer at a Barnardo’s charity shop. Christmas cards, calendars and other seasonal goods are now on sale. We are inundated with new goods, most of which are made in China, making it difficult to store the many good quality donated items.

I will also be staying with Summer for quite some time and enjoying it while I can. I’m not a great fan of Christmas but do celebrate it. Plenty of time for that when November comes.

I often used to buy Christmas cards at a seaside RNLI shop in summer. To me it’s understandable that they have them on display at the height of the tourist season. Not much use waiting until November, when they’ll be a lot thinner on the ground.

Patsy70 That's one of the reasons I buy so little from charity shops these days - if I wanted cheap Chinese or Indian stuff I could get it from Amazon. The charity shops near us aren't even worth looking in these days. I used to buy lots of bits of furniture to do up, lamp shades, mirrors, curtains (sometimes for making blinds or cushion covers) and other bits but now they seem to sell loads of imported decorative stuff.

I must have a look next week. I've already got my list sorted and, as with Monica, I've already got quite a stash of presents.
I do think it would be lovely to "do" Christmas in November and December but that really doesn't work for people on a budget.

I saw them in Clinton’s at the weekend.

Our local hospice is advertising theirs to order.

I was charity shop browsing this morning. Several had their Christmas cards on display.

AreWeThereYet. Our little shop does sell good quality donated clothes and bric-à-brac, but the number of new goods that are forced upon us leaves less room to display these reasonably priced items. It also creates so much work for the staff with stock taking etc.

John Lewis offered early access via their app this week to the online booking system for a visit to Santa’s grotto.

My DD1 bought tickets to a Christmas heritage railway event over a month ago.

I think it’s too much, personally. It’s one thing buying presents as you go along to put away, quite another to have festive wrap, cards and decorations wherever you turn in ruddy August. November would be early enough for me.

We bought our pantomime tickets for Christmas 2022 in January.

Local garden centre has Christmas cards and 'festive table ware' on sale today - seems like it's time to put the stockings up!

Meanwhile, I'm off on my Summer hols in a week or so's time. hoping to keep Summer going for at least another fortnight, and then I'll think about Autumn.

Mapleleaf

I saw them in Clinton’s at the weekend.

Our local Clinton’s is always virtually empty of customers every time I go past lately - that’ll presumably be because a Card Factory shop has opened nearby.
Must say I find Clinton’s extremely expensive, so hardly surprising.