October 20, 2020

Should You Be Shopping for the Holidays Now? Maybe!

I just got a note from Hourglass Cosmetics inviting me to shop their early Black Friday Sale starting soon because they are concerned about shipping delays in November. Should you be shopping for the holidays now? Maybe!

I haven’t really thought much about it because hey, who’s thinking about the Holidays when COVID, raging fires, hurricanes, and politics are around right? But I thought about it today after getting that e-mail and I remember how hard it was getting things here in New York when our numbers were so high. Amazon Prime was taking a 7 to 10 days to arrive, other retails were sometimes two to three weeks, heck, even recently when I did a TJMaxx order it took nearly a month to arrive.

Our numbers are climbing again in New York due to certain clusters within the city boroughs. This could be a hint as a second wave or it may be isolated. So, should I shop now for the Holidays? Should I wait?

Here’s my thoughts.

I think many, many sales are going to start hitting by the end of this month and the beginning of November. Black Friday will probably pan out a little differently in the fact many sites will probably do week long sales events as they always do but those events will probably hit earlier.

You might find that you don’t even have to do a lot of shopping this year if you’re isolated as you aren’t going to family gatherings, seeing friends, etc…! You might find your gift list a little smaller due to this unless you plan on shipping items out to loved ones.

I THINK I’ll probably start shopping in November versus waiting for Black Friday to hit. The sales will be fast and furious all month long but some people may hold out for Thanksgiving and Black Friday to actually log in and shop. I hope to be done before that made crush begins and hopefully my packages will arrive in time.

I’m a little spoiled at the moments because shipping is pretty normal with most retailers lately especially Amazon which arrives next day in most cases but I realize I shouldn’t take this for granted and best get all my shopping done before the big wave hits.

Do you have a shopping plan for the Holidays this year?

Doing it early or just hoping all your packages will arrive in time?

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Mary B.

    Whether it’s because of ballots in the mail or because of certain politicians deliberately sabotaging the postal service, U.S. mail delivery is ALREADY in a horrible backlog. Priority mail that used to take 3 days now takes a week or more. It’s not just luxuries — people’s paychecks and prescriptions are late. And I just read an article this morning with warnings from the other shippers, UPS and FedEx, that we could be in for “packagegeddon” in November and December.

    Bottom line: yeah, gonna shop and ship early. Also heavy reliance on emailed gift cards for family members to pick out what they want in person, after the holiday rush.

    • Isabella Muse

      Truth! Not only luxuries but just mail in general! Some of my clients mail payments in and it takes like two weeks to get a check from them! It’s not like they are out of state, these are people that live within the area of my office and it takes ages to get a check they mail me! Ugh!

  • MelodyJ

    The Covid-19 numbers have gone up in 30 states. Keep in mind we are still in the first wave. A news program said things are getting worse in Europe and I had to turn the channel because it felt too much like foreshadowing for us. People are thinking about holiday shopping now. As the second wave is projected to hit the US during the holiday season.

    Someone on a message board said they bought $200 worth of beauty and wellness plus healthy food items from T.J. Max to last the next few months. She did this to prepare in case we go back into more extreme lock downs. A friend told me she is considering doing holiday shopping early this year. She does not want to take unnecessary risks. I’m going just keep taking precautions because I can’t afford to shop early.

    As for shipping delays , people are going just have to understand they may not get there gifts on or before Christmas Day or any other special day during this time. It is not fair to except people who have to work in various fields to put their life at risk just so we can have gifts at a very specific time.

    • Isabella Muse

      I’ve been slowly gathering stuff just in case we go back into lockdown. Pantry staples and deep freezer stuff. I’m the type of person that only ever has water in the fridge as we tend to eat out a lot. This taught us a lot about meal prep and cooking and just enjoying meals together at home, just us two. Dinners were always with a lot of friends and stuff and this really gave us quality time to spend together cooking and enjoying time together. Plus I’ve learned that stocking my fridge is important ha….! I’ve started to get a lot of items that won’t spoil easily and storing them in a deep fridge we have in the garage. Plus paper goods, pastas, soups, into the pantry! Who knows how things will look come December!

  • Christina

    I just pick up things here and there as they go on sale. I’ve always had to shop early because half of my family lives in Canada, so in order for them to get their gifts on time, I’d have to shop and ship everything out by the end of November/early December. It didn’t help that they’d always want things that were only available in the US. LOL!

    Sales have been good lately, and I’m not sure how much more discounted things can get for Black Friday. I’ll still check things out later, but I’ve already started shopping.

  • Wendy

    I hate the holidays! Heres my chance to legitimately call them off! Yaaaaaaaayyyy!

    • tj

      With you on the yaaaaaay! I love the holidays but am looking forward to the quietest holidays of my life.

  • Mary Brenner

    I normally live got the holiday season!! I just love it!!!!!! However this year I’m just like scrouge mcduck. I’m not interested in celebrating anything……….all my family lives on the east coast and I’m out in Seattle. No big fun family get together this year. I actually signed up to work on all the holidays this year ….I actually have seniority and could take off thanksgiving and Christmas but I figure I may as well let some of my fellow nurses spend time with their families and I’ll work since I’m just in a funk. I hope with everything in me that 2021 gives us some hope this nightmare will come to an end.

  • Chris

    I am noticing as someone mentioned, that there are already delays with mail order meds. So with that in mind, I am already mail ordering or in person Christmas shopping. I am hosting Thanksgiving to our eldest & youngest son. The eldest is staying in an Air B& B with his wife & grandson. We will be isolating ahead of time. Not like we haven’t done so already! The fastest shipping was Ulta! Ordered Sunday & received on Tuesday! Every time I venture to a mall, I ask myself, why am I here? JCPenney is a sad shell of itself. The racks don’t have the variety they once had. The pajama tops for men are practically non existent in store or online. I may have to visit a a Kohl’s. I got excited when I visited a different supermarket on Sunday after picking up a curbside pickup of liquor and saw they had Bounty napkins! I picked up 2 packages.

    Our contractor has mentioned that for people buying big ticket items like major appliances, there are delays or you may have to settle for a different brand or model. Many are inside & doing either clean ups or tossing or remodeling with new appliances. Fortunately I started doing this pre-pandemic! So glad we replaced our washing machine back in late January! The local library is no longer taking children’s books so now they are going to Goodwill.

    • Isabella Muse

      Speaking about big ticket item the fridge at my Summer home broke down (two years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and had to buy a new one! What an experience. Everything is a month or more wait to get plus the selection is horrible. So yup, your contractor is spot on!

        • Isabella Muse

          you’re going to be so disappointed, not to scare you! We just had to settle because everything was available like November 27-December 15th to ship! Thankfully we got a nice fridge but it wasn’t the exact thing we wanted sadly. They just don’t have the stock and even a purchase online takes two weeks or more to get! Suckssssssssss!

    • MelodyJ

      Did you ever think you would live in a world where you got excited by Bounty napkins? I was talking to friend . She said she has developed a bartering system with family members who live in different areas of town just for every day simple items. Anytime they find something like rubbing alcohol or Lysol multi purpose cleaner they get extra if possible so the other person can have one.