Stores are selling Halloween stuff in August. Time has lost all meaning | Dave Schilling
In this comedic opinion piece, Guardian columnist Dave Schilling laments that major US retailers such as Target and CVS are already stocking Halloween costumes, decorations and sweets in August, weeks before Labour Day and months before the holiday itself. He argues this creeping commercialisation, combined with worsening summer heatwaves from the climate crisis, is eroding the traditional boundaries between seasons and holidays, leaving him disoriented and irritated despite genuinely liking Halloween.
Schilling recounts a shopping trip to Target where he found costumes, life-size skeletons, sweets, and even Halloween greeting cards on sale, and describes a friend buying a miniature cauldron from the store's expanding "spooky section." He jokes that the shrinking gap between Independence Day and Halloween could eventually see witches and vampires blending into Fourth of July celebrations, and suggests that as distinct seasons disappear due to climate change, people may end up celebrating whichever holiday they like, whenever they like, with items available to buy year-round online.
- US shops are stocking Halloween goods as early as August
- Columnist blames retail commercialism and climate change for blurred seasons
- He fears holidays will increasingly overlap and lose distinct timing
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Stores in the US are putting out Halloween costumes, decorations and sweets as early as August, well before Labour Day and months ahead of the holiday itself on 31 October. Chains such as Target and CVS are cited as examples of retailers expanding their seasonal displays earlier each year. This piece looks at that trend through the eyes of Guardian columnist Dave Schilling, who writes about culture and society for the paper.
The article is a personal, comedic opinion column rather than a news report. Schilling uses his own shopping trip to reflect on how the gap between holidays and seasons seems to be shrinking, partly because of retail habits and partly because hotter, longer summers linked to climate change are blurring the usual markers of the changing seasons.
Readers do not need any prior knowledge of retail trends or climate science to follow the piece: it is a first-person, humorous take on a familiar consumer experience, using it to make a broader point about how commercial and environmental changes are altering people's sense of time and tradition.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Those sympathetic to Schilling's complaint argue that stretching Halloween marketing back into high summer devalues the specialness of seasonal rituals, pressures shoppers into earlier and more frequent spending, and contributes to a broader sense of disorientation when combined with genuinely shifting climate patterns. They value distinct seasonal rhythms and see retailers' relentless push to shorten the gap between holidays as prioritising commercial calendars over cultural ones, leaving little room for anticipation or the psychological markers that seasons traditionally provide.
The case against
Those defending early Halloween stocking would argue that retailers are simply responding to genuine consumer demand, since many shoppers enjoy planning costumes, decorations and parties well in advance and appreciate having more time and choice to do so without last-minute scrambling. They would note that no one is forced to buy skeletons in August, that businesses have every right to extend a profitable and popular holiday's commercial window, and that people are free to enjoy whichever seasonal traditions they like on their own timeline rather than being bound by arbitrary calendar conventions.