Christmas in July means Halloween (and Thanksgiving) in June

I don't know if you've all heard the phrase "Christmas in July". I have but I have always associated with it differently than the definition found here on Wikipedia: Christmas in July

As to the "Christmas in July" article above, I really don't know much about it and that is not what I am talking about here.

I am talking about a phenomenon that used to exist in the world of periodicals and magazines. I don't know if still exists in this sped up world of easy push button desktop publishing but when I sat down at the end of last December to write down my wishes and goals for the coming year I kept thinking of this marketing preparation concept and how it could relate to increased online sales in my store.

I have been mindful of this marketing preparation because "back in the day" (about 10-15 years ago, lol) in the writing world, this is when print magazines were prepping their holiday features and spreads for the holiday editions. So if you wanted to pitch a Christmas article you needed to be pitching in May because you'd be writing in June for a July article and photo spread deadline. It was the same way with Thanksgiving & Halloween but of course plan even earlier.

I normally don't do much (or any) seasonal specific designs and I usually don't offer them for sale online if I do.

One of my goals on my list concerning my etsy store is to increase my listings and seasonal sales, specifically targeting the three commercially big U.S. holidays in Fall and Winter. AND make and offer seasonal specific jewelry too PLUS all the fun vintage stuff we have been finding to list online as well. (Oh boy do I love the vintage holiday decorations! LOL)

Keeping the "Christmas in July" preparation in mind I planned on designing and making some projects earlier than that to be finished, photographed, inventoried and ready for listing.

Checking the etsy listing length dates was another thing that I had to check and coordinate as I list a shipping deadline for each holiday about 5 business days in advance of each particular holiday. For instance, my shipping deadline for Thanksgiving 2014 (November 27th) is November 20th but the Christmas shipping deadline is a full 7 business days (December 16th) before the actual holiday due to the inevitable "mail crush" that happens to slow up the mail every year. I don't want seasonal listings (unless they are a holiday "overlap" such as Fall/Harvest/Halloween (some) and Thanksgiving) to run past the shipping deadline date. I calculate etsy listing date lengths so that I can tailor my listing end dates to the precise shipping deadline date.

What all this planning and preparation means is that June 15th is my kick off for designing, making, photographing and writing listing copy for the 2014 Holiday season...

If any PCASG member is interested in joining me in this silly adventure of crafting for Fall and Winter in the Summer, please let me know and maybe we could share our progress (or stumbling blocks lol) with each other.

So Happy Halloween in June so to speak :) I'm knee deep in black and orange and pumpkins this afternoon. Hopefully with more pictures and progress updates coming soon :)