When is it acceptable to start putting up Christmas decorations?
One of the biggest signs that Christmas time is truly here is when the decorations begin to go up, though some see ‘Christmas creep’, whereby shops appear to put up their festive displays earlier and earlier every year, as unwelcome.
For the British public, the second half of November is the median answer for the earliest acceptable time for Christmas decorations and displays to begin appearing in shops.
Four in ten Britons (40%), though, believe this should wait until December, including 7% who don’t think it’s acceptable for Christmas displays to appear until the second week of December, or later. At the other end of the scale, one in five (20%) believe it’s ok for displays to go up in early November, while 4% believe it’s ok for them to go up even earlier than this.
Answers regarding Christmas-themed adverts are similar, with the median Briton again seeing the second half of November as the earliest acceptable time of year for such ads to appear, though the public tend to feel that radio stations and shops should hold off from playing Christmas music until at least the first week of December.
The public are grinchiest when it comes to decorations in people’s own homes, with just 14% of Britons believing it’s acceptable to put decorations up before the first week of December. The beginning of the last month of the year is the point at which 42% feel is the right time for decorations to be raised.
One in seven Britons (15%), though, don’t feel it’s acceptable for people to put their decorations up until at least the third week of December.
Younger Britons are more accepting of decking their own halls early, with 26% of 18-34 year olds saying it’s ok to put decorations up at home before the start of December, compared to just 4% of over 65s. While 26% of over 65s believe you should wait until at least 15 December to put your decorations up, this is true of just 8% of 18-34 year olds.
When do Britons put their Christmas decorations up?
Britons tend to follow the ‘acceptable’ rule when it comes to putting their own decorations up, although 14% of people say their household do not put any up.
One in ten Britons (10%) say they typically put their decorations up in November, while 35% deck their halls out in the first week of December, followed by 22% usually doing so the following week. One in six Britons (16%) wait until at least 15 December to start making their home look festive.
Which Christmas decorations do Britons put up?
The focal point of Christmas decorations in nearly all cases is the tree itself. While some argue in favour of having a natural fir tree, just 18% of those who put decorations up have a real tree, with 76% instead putting up an artificial Christmas tree.
As to what other decorations go up, Christmas tree lights and baubles are the most common, with more than eight in ten decorators (83-84%) including them as part of their festive displays. Around six in ten (62%) put up Christmassy ornaments, while half (49-51%) include tinsel, a wreath and indoor lights (not on a tree) as part of their decorations.
More than a third of British Christmas decorators (36-37%) put up a garland or stockings over the festive period, while outdoor lights and candles are staples for 30-31% of decorated households.
Just 20% incorporate a nativity scene as part of their decorations, though this is more than the 7% who include mistletoe or the 4% who put up fake snow.
When do Britons take their Christmas decorations down?
Just as putting Christmas decorations up signals the start of the holiday, taking them down is the sign that festivities have come to an end.
Most (56%) of those who put up decorations take them down during the brief period between New Year’s and Twelfth Night (5 January), though 22% say they typically pull it all down before the new year begins.
While Twelfth Night has often been seen as the ‘deadline’ for taking decorations down, with modern superstition seeing it as bad luck to leave them up afterwards, one in five Britons (21%) say they typically take their decorations down on 6 January or later. Luckily, this falls within the medieval tradition that decorations should be left up until Candlemas (2 February).
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