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Sleigh it ain’t so!
Christmas enthusiasts are losing their holiday spirit due to the lack of giant Santa decor this season.
It seems as though the time to start shopping for holiday decor gets earlier every year, and as Christmas approaches and big-ticket items still aren’t available, devotees are starting to panic.
The Home Depot’s holiday catalog debuted in early August — and almost immediately sold out of some of the big decorations by early afternoon the day of launch, Fast Company reported.
Home Depot’s holiday decor has a bit of a cult following, particularly for the giant Halloween and Christmas decorations.
The popular 8.4-foot Santa, complete with an LED lantern, as well as the 9-foot ornament-shaped arch with 300 glimmering LED bulbs, both sold out quickly, even though Christmas was months away at that point.
Landon Richard from Louisiana starts planning for Christmas as early as March, when Home Depot insiders gather in Las Vegas to check out the supersized holiday decorations — and this year, Richard decided he wanted an 8.5-foot-tall reindeer, a large posing Santa and a large red-and-gold sleigh.
“When I saw the picture with the Santa and the sleigh, I thought, ‘Oh yeah. This year I want to get both,’” he told the Wall Street Journal.
But when the giant decorations still weren’t available on the Home Depot website by September, Richard knew something odd was afoot.
The rumors started swirling that the giant decor won’t be available this year, and collectors had to make other plans.
“Willing to trade a brand new 9 ft. Giant-Sized LED Santa’s Sleigh with Reindeers for 8ft. Santa, located in St. Louis, MO.,” one person wrote on Facebook, adding that they’d be willing to drive three hours, according to WSJ.
Derek Weeks was also desperately scouring social media for a reindeer when he heard they wouldn’t be released this year.
The 44-year-old photographer found a classifieds listing for a reindeer to go with his Santa. It was located about five hours away from his home in Enterprise, Alabama, but he went for it anyway.
“I thought about it for a few minutes and realized it may be the only chance I had,” he said.
After messaging the seller, he put down a deposit to hold the reindeer until he could make the trip, buying the giant decoration for $300.
Home Depot’s US holiday decor merchant, Aubrey Horowitz, told WSJ that items that are photographed at the big Las Vegas event, and then leaked online, aren’t always on sale in the US — some are planned specifically for other countries.
Store executives have claimed that over half of the items they purchase to sell come from within the US, but many fans still speculated that tariffs are the reason behind the missing giant decor/
According to WSJ, some of the biggest decorations — like the beloved giant skeleton, reindeer and Santa — are manufactured by Seasonal Visions International (SVI), which imports many products from China and alerted customers earlier this year that tariffs led to some policy changes.
Horowitz, meanwhile, noted that tariffs “would not be the sole reason as to why we would change our assortment and strategy.”
“The number one focus from my perspective is, we have to offer the best value and the best quality products.”
