{"id":3412,"date":"2024-12-17T16:37:49","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T15:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/?p=3412"},"modified":"2024-12-17T17:00:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T16:00:48","slug":"no-more-glitter-the-changing-attitudes-to-christmas-decorations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/12\/no-more-glitter-the-changing-attitudes-to-christmas-decorations\/","title":{"rendered":"No More Glitter: The Changing Attitudes To Christmas Decorations:"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEach year, it seems like the festive season starts earlier\u201d. When the\"\"<\/a> consumer specialist and commentator, Kate Hardcastle, made this observation in the US business magazine Forbes on 5<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> November, she also contended that this is mainly due to retailers and\"\"<\/a> brands responding to public demand. For many people, she noted, the traditions associated with this annual holiday period offer a temporary escape from the pressures of daily life, something that businesses are understandably only too \"\"<\/a>happy to provide. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A study of shopping habits undertaken by the user-generated content (UGC) platform, Bazaarvoice, cited by Hardcastle, has shown that by early November, nearly half of UK customers have already begun purchasing Christmas items, with a significant proportion even doing so in October. This means that the retailers, especially the department stores, need to \"\"<\/a>strike a balance as prolonged exposure to the same advertisements, d\u00e9cor and jingles can risk \u201cChristmas fatigue\u201d and the season’s magic wearing off, so to avoid this, they must keep their promotions fresh and dynamic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There’s also no precise consensus as to the appropriate moment for putting up the decorations and the tree. The \"\"<\/a>custom is for this to be done on or close to the first day of Advent, which this year was the 1<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup> December. The UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife switched on the Christmas tree lights outside 10 Downing Street, accompanied by a carol-singing choir, on 2<\/span>nd<\/span><\/sup> December, the same day the tree provided annually by Norway was installed in Trafalgar\"\"<\/a> Square. As BBC News has pointed out, however, there’s considerable variation around the UK: In some homes, the decorations go up straight after Halloween (31<\/span>st<\/span><\/sup> October) or Bonfire Night (5<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> November) whereas others wait until later in December. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When they should be taken down again is even more of a contentious issue. It’s said to bring bad luck if \"\"<\/a>they are left up after \u201cTwelfth Night\u201d, though there’s disagreement as to whether this means the 5<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> or 6<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> January. The English Heritage charity considers it’s\"\"<\/a> perfectly reasonable for the display to remain until Candlemas (this year 2<\/span>nd<\/span><\/sup> February), which, they say, was regarded as the official end of Christmas in medieval England. A few British residents, such as Andy Park of Melksham,Wiltshire and Vicki Morlet of Langwith, Derbyshire, have resolved this problem by never removing their festive adornments.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In these ecologically-conscious times, nonetheless, certain types of decorations are no longer considered acceptable. As the Guardian contributor, Zoe Wood, emphasised on 5<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> October, the European Commission’s 2023 ban on loose glitter, which is basically a microplastic\"\"<\/a> used mainly to add sparkle to items such as decorations and party hats, doesn’t apply in the UK because of Brexit. Indeed, \"\"<\/a>many major UK outlets, such as Morrisons, Waitrose, John Lewis, Boots, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury preceded the EU law by removing glitter from their Christmas offerings in 2022. Hence, campaigners in Britain are now focusing more on tinsel which, like glitter, declares the \u201cGreen Corridor Network\u201d (GCN), poses an equally significant environmental threat.\"\"<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Daniela Bqain, the manager of the Finnish\/Swedish company Stora Enso, a leading provider of renewable products, has explained to Vogue Scandinavia, that tinsel is usually made of fossil-based plastic, principally PVC. It’s not easily recycled and during the long degradation process in landfills, releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. The best way to enjoy the shimmer of tinsel and glitter \"\"<\/a>without the guilt (proclaims GCN) is to choose options such as paper tinsel, fabric garlands or reusable bunting. The \u201cMoral Fibres\u201d correspondent, Wendy Graham, on November 22<\/span>nd<\/span><\/sup> likewise recommended eleven eco-friendly tinsel alternatives that she believes look just as good, if not better, than the PVC plastic ones.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to \u201cvisual capitalist\u201d.com, using information provided on the UN Comtrade database, just a\"\"<\/a> handful of countries dominate the global export of Christmas decorations. China’s 87.6% market share, amounting to over 600,000 metric tonnes in volume, \u201cdwarfs its competitors\u201d, with 80% of its Christmas products being manufactured in Yiwu, a city 175 miles southwest of Shanghai. The Netherlands is a \u201cdistant second\u201d with a mere 3.9% (though Statista puts Cambodia\"\"<\/a> in 2<\/span>nd<\/span><\/sup> place) and Poland third with 0.91%. The majority of these festive items (58%) are imported into the USA, followed by the UK (5.07%), Canada (5.00%) and Germany (2.99%) .<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The \u201cWhich?\u201d consumer protection website advises caution when putting up decorations (and taking them down again). A survey by the National Accident Helpline has indicated that 1 in 50 persons (2.1%) have fallen from their loft while collecting artefacts stored there\"\"<\/a> and another 2.6 million, based on NHS (National Health Service) figures, have slipped <\/span><\/span><\/span>from stools or step ladders while hanging up their baubles and garlands. The Royal Society For The Prevention Of Accidents (RoSPA) estimates that every year, about 1,000 people are injured by their Christmas tree, usually while fixing decorations to the highest branches and another 300 by faulty festive lights. Above all, great care needs to be taken when cooking the turkey. Apparently, around 400,000 get burnt every Christmas.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEach year, it seems like the festive season starts earlier\u201d. When the consumer specialist and commentator, Kate Hardcastle, made this observation in the US business magazine Forbes on 5th November, she also contended that this is mainly due to retailers and brands responding to public demand. For many people, she noted, the traditions associated with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3412"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3442,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412\/revisions\/3442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colindgordon.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}