Editor's note: All opinions, columns and letters reflect the views of the individual writer and not necessarily those of the IDS or its staffers.
I did a lot of shopping this summer. I try not to linger in stores too long, lest I buy something I don’t need, but in late July, I began to notice a trend: autumnal food items, hygiene products and decor started to haunt the shelves before real Halloween ghosts could even move in.
Kroger has been carrying Entenmann’s pumpkin and apple cider donuts for months. They have a fridge stocked a mile high with jugs of apple cider. I even spotted a pumpkin-flavored Pop-Tart on a shopping trip recently. It all seems quite dissonant with the heat wave we’re experiencing.
And that isn’t even to mention the Halloween decor. An article from 2023 says Michael’s put out its Halloween products July 7, and Home Depot launched online Halloween merchandise sales July 13. The trend has only continued, because my own email account was flooded in August of this year by Old Navy emails advertising sales on fall styles.
If the abundance of “getting ready for fall” videos on my YouTube page is any indication, this feeds into an attitude: the manufactured excitement that comes along with these shiny new fall and Halloween products. This virtually endless list of products is a shopping guide for people who want to get a jump start on the Halloween season.
But I say, why jump? Why not enjoy summer while it is still here to be enjoyed?
It is kind of a chicken or egg situation: in this case, the demand for more holiday products and the early rollout.
It seems the extended holiday season began with the COVID-19 pandemic.Whereas before, people decorated their homes in the weeks of October leading up to Halloween, now they begin in September, or even August. People were stuck at home with nothing to do and needed something to look forward to. Turning to decorating early made sense. One explanation for the continued trend is the attitude just stuck. Now, stores are replying to the early demand by stocking holiday merchandise earlier.
On social media, I’ve seen many videos and posts yearning for fall. Pictures abound of red, yellow and orange leaves in rain puddles, jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, scary movies, apple cider and all things associated with autumn.
One trend in recent years takes the early celebrations even further. “Summerween” comes from an episode of the TV series “Gravity Falls,” in which a small town likes to celebrate Halloween twice a year, once in the summer and once in the fall. Really, it is a thinly veiled excuse to have a Halloween episode in a show whose entire run takes place over one summer, but it is a well-executed and funny concept.
On social media, celebrating Summerween looks like cookouts with watermelon jack-o-lanterns, candy corn-colored popsicles and strawberries dipped in white chocolate with ghost faces drawn on them. All of the fun of summer with Halloween theming.
Missing fall is a valid feeling. It’s only natural to look forward to the changing of seasons and arrival of holidays.
Where the harm comes is when we miss fall so much, we forget to enjoy the current moment. We spend so much time preparing for fall, thinking about fall, that we start living in the future, not the present.
Stores perpetuate that mindset by filling their shelves with fall-themed products.
In my mind, when I start seeing stores stock holiday merchandise like plastic spiders and Halloween candy, it tends to force my mind to fast forward. As soon as I see it, I think I might as well accept the fact that my summer is over, when in fact, it’s still hot and sunny outside and the IU Outdoor Pool is still open. It becomes a cycle that perpetuates itself.
It is time to find a balance. Look forward to fall but live in the moment at the same time. For many of us, Bloomington and IU’s campus are temporary homes. We only have so much time here. Let’s enjoy it while we can.
Sasha Burton (she/her) is an elementary education major with minors in Spanish and English.
