I May Need Intervention...

Anyone else notice how stores are selling holiday items earlier and earlier each year? I don't recall seeing artificial trees or isles bellowing holiday greetings until after Thanksgiving as a child. I have a theory though- the direct correlation of early holiday accoutrement sales, and the growing obesity epidemic sweeping the nation is no coincidence.

I’ll admit it. I frequent Target stores. Sometimes, I put in the same amount of hours as the store manager, but in shopping. Just last month, nearly a quarter of the store was roped off for frenzied back-to-school shoppers. Trust me, if you need pencil sharpener anywhere near this time of year, you may want to consider your kitchen knives as a safer alternative.

The minute schools were back in session all the Target stores plowed their back-to-school sections to make way for Halloween delights. The floor to ceiling bags of sugary bliss, filled with mini bites of candy bar goodness; trick-or treat canisters lined up neatly beckoning to be filled with the fruits of labor of going door-to-door. Shelves overflowing many, many weeks before the season had even changed. Do parents really prepare this soon in advance for Halloween with success?

Let’s be truthful here. How many people actually make it to Halloween night, without eating half of their candy stash?

I’m not an impulsive shopper. I’m not the one who grocers strategically bait their check out lines with candy, gum, and snacks for. I purchase my gum by the 6-six pack from a different isle in the back of the store, just because it’s cheaper. But when it comes to Halloween candy…it's a whole new bucket of worms. Stores are now heavily armed in all corners of the building, so that you’re completely surrounded, and must eventually surrender to the candy artillery (not to mention their low prices that you swear will be higher in a few weeks).

Every year, I promise myself not to succumb to the candy pressures until closer to Halloween. But stores like Target marketing them sooner every year is making it tough. Throw in a $1 off Sunday coupon, and it's all over. I now own more pounds of individually wrapped chocolates than I do fruit. And the candy probably won't even last a week. At least now I can show my daughter how a bag of healthy grapes in our fridge can slowly turn into raisins! The frantic scene of me digging through cabinets for leftover restaurant mints as trick-or-treaters come banging down my door, has become a tradition in our house; one that I am obviously not going to break this year. My flabby mid-section is praying those shiny, pre-gift wrapped boxes of Russell Stover are kept off the shelves just a few more weeks.