It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – or not…

After Guy Fawkes Night, Christmas is the next hotly anticipated seasonal occasion for consumers and retail businesses alike. But when does Christmas officially start?

We’re an opinionated bunch at Velvet, so it’s no surprise that we each have differing views on this question. It is after all a very personal thing, and Christmas means something different to all of us. Some of us get excited as soon as the leaves start to colour and drop, while for others it’s when John Lewis launches its ATL Christmas campaign. And for those less of festive cheer, it takes until the turkey is almost in the oven for Christmas to have officially landed.

So with the Quality Street tubs priced at only £4 in Waitrose (£3.60 if you’re a MyWaitrose card holder!) and the Christmas ads almost upon us, here’s a small snapshot from each of the Velvet team on when Christmas officially starts for them and why.

#whenxmasbegins

First up, Tasha…

I love Christmas: spending precious time with family and friends, the purchasing and wrapping of gifts, Christmas stockings, the excuse to eat chocolate first thing every day of December (yes I do still buy myself an advent calendar), putting up the Christmas tree, wrapping up for evening walks, listening to the trashy and classic Christmas hits – the whole sch-bang.

I first get excited about Christmas in October. My birthday lands on the 27th December and in my eyes represents the end of the festive celebrations, so you could say I compensate for this by starting to get excited about Christmas really early.

As soon as the weather starts to change and the evenings turn a little crisp my mind turns to Christmas. I have to say diving into a tub of Quality Street with the jewel-like wrappers also gets me excited about the festivities to come – who can honestly say they can buy a tub of chocolates and keep them in the cupboard untouched for almost two months!? And really it all just spirals on from there.

Tasha’s second Christmas