​It seems Holiday decorations grace the shelves of stores earlier and earlier, and while it used to be that Black Friday kicked off the start of the holiday shopping season, that just might be a thing of the past.

48 percent of shoppers polled by Bankratesay they plan to start shopping by Halloween this year.

The Holidays are typically the happiest time of year: families are gathering, old friends are coming into town, and everyone’s favorite part: scrambling to buy last-minute gifts.

“Like middle of December,” said one woman when asked when she starts buying gifts. “Last minute.”

Not everyone likes to sit on these alleged deals though. One woman posting on our Facebook page said she starts the Day after Christmas! Another said she also keeps her eye out all year, waiting for a good deal. But some say, they aren’t thinking about Christmas all year long: they want to enjoy the holidays as they come.

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​”You gotta get through the other holidays first,” one shopper told us. “Gotta get through halloween first, then thanksgiving, and then once after thanksgiving I count how many nieces and nephews I have and we get done.”

This buying frenzy isn’t because we live in a country of planners. Victoria Veda, VP of Communications for Michigan Retailers Association, says we have a short Holiday season to thank for it.

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“Early October and mid October shopping is definitely going to be a permanent fixture,” Veda said.

She says it helps spread out the financial burden the Holidays place on families. And because we only have 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, the shopping season feels especially rushed.

But don’t worry: if you’re a fellow Holiday shopping procrastinator, Victoria has an easy solution for you.

“Shop local and brick and mortar is going to give people the opportunity to avoid those shopping delays and a lot of that out-of-stock online thing,” she said.

Not to mention if you’re in the giving spirit, it’s a chance to support a small business.

“We do encourage shoppers to push just one of their out-of-state online purchases into Michigan-based retailers,” Veda said. “One shift like that could create more than 15,000 jobs in the state of Michigan.”

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