Stop Rushing the Holidays

Tony Johnson
7 hours ago
6 min read

Every year, the holidays arrive earlier. Time flies as you get older, they say.

The pumpkins aren't even cold and Christmas is everywhere - overnight the aisles flipped from orange and brown to red and green.

The skeletons and witches didn't even get a chance to breathe before Santa and the Elves evicted them, and in some case, we hadn't even finished handing out the last Milky Way bars before it happened.

So just like that, it was Christmas.

Thanksgiving was barely mentioned as the transitioned happened - and when it was, it was only in the context of black Friday sales. We’ve reached a strange place where you can’t find Halloween in October because Christmas has already moved in.

And this is coming from someone who loves it when October rolls around - it heralds annual traditions for our family such as Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios, Fall Fun at Hunsader Farms, and ICE at Gaylord Palms

Emotions run high during the holiday season, and that is a chance for businesses to tap into that and build loyalty.
In recent years the holidays transition sooner and sooner from a retail perspective, meaning that often customers can't find what they need, when they need it.
Pacing the holiday season can actually increase revenue by giving more opportunities for engagement and promotion.

The Temptation to Rush

For retailers, restaurants, and entertainment venues, the pressure is real. Consumers plan earlier, supply chains are stretched, and early holiday shopping boosts sales numbers. On paper, it makes perfect sense.

But experience isn’t driven by spreadsheets; it is driven by emotion and understanding.

When we rush through one season to get to the next, we sacrifice anticipation, nostalgia, and connection - the very things that make holidays memorable. Halloween is supposed to be spooky fun, not a brief stop on the way to Black Friday. Thanksgiving is often rated as the favorite holiday of the year rather than just a moment between shopping events.

When we rush, everything becomes flat and forgettable.

91% of Americans will celebrate thanksgiving this year, and 90% agree that its all about who you are with.

The CX Cost of Holiday Overlap

From a customer experience standpoint, this isn’t just annoying, it’s operationally flawed. When our customers, guests, and consumers think about the holidays, we want them to associate those emotional connections with our businesses to engender loyalty.

Here is where rushing the holidays can hurt connection most:

It creates friction. Guests looking for Halloween items on October 20th shouldn’t feel like they’re late to the party. When customer expectations don't match what they find, satisfaction drops.
It kills anticipation. The thrill of each holiday depends on pacing. If everything happens at once, nothing feels special and there is no time to enjoy it.
It muddles emotion. Every season has a sensory and emotional fingerprint - the colors, smells, sounds, and feelings. When they are blended, nothing has impact.
It exhausts your teams. Employees lose the rhythm of the year, too. Constant resets without reflection wear down engagement and energy from employees.

The Business Opportunity in Patience

Here’s the twist: slowing down can actually drive more revenue and loyalty.

When you celebrate each holiday in its moment, guests come back again and again. A killer Halloween activation can flow into a cozy Thanksgiving event, which sets up a magical holiday + New Year finale. Each moment builds anticipation for the next, instead of replacing it.

This is the time to build emotional transitions from season to season, while giving everyone time to enjoy it and to get what they need when they need it.

Your team can be storytellers and magic makers throughout the fall and winter to create emotional stickiness with your brand, products, and people. This will help your customers and employees feel less fatigue and more joy during the holidays.

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Pacing Matters

When we talk about pacing in hospitality, we mean timing the moments so guests can enjoy the full experience, not feel rushed from appetizer to check (or start to conclusion). The same goes for the calendar.

Let each season breathe. It gives people a reason to come back, not move on.
Keep what customers expect available. For example, if it’s mid-October, Halloween candy shouldn’t be sold out.
Design the emotional transition: spooky to cozy to festive to new beginnings, not all at once.
Anticipation creates loyalty. When guests know you will deliver each holiday (and at the right moment), they trust your rhythm.

Slowing Down Can Still Drive Growth

Here’s the irony: slowing down doesn’t kill business. It builds it.

When you celebrate each holiday with care, you give customers a reason to return multiple times. Halloween pop-ups, Thanksgiving menus, holiday lights, New Years self improvement - each one is its own chapter in the story of the season.

How to Find the Sweet Spot

Here’s how great brands balance demand with experience:

Understand that slowing down can drive growth. When you celebrate each holiday with care, you give customers a reason to return multiple times.
Honor the current season. Make every display, music selection, menu, and message feel intentional.
Personalize the holidays. Ensure you understand what customers want throughout the seasons and deliver through empathy, technology, and training.
Build emotional transitions. Move guests through the holidays with subtle sensory shifts in lighting, music, scents, and tone.
Keep inventory relevant. If it’s October, have Halloween products in stock. Don’t force guests to compete with Christmas. Understand what they need, when they need it, and stock it at the right times.

Crafting Experience Rich Moments

There’s nothing wrong with loving the holidays - most of us do - but rushing them takes something away from this season many of us look forward to. And that's bad business and even worse experience.

I personally get excited when I see the calendar hit October 1st - it means a cavalcade of fun from fall decorations to our annual Cookie Day to the fun of Christmas. Even as individuals we tend to rush things, so this is a great opportunity to take a moment to slow down and enjoy the moment.

Remember, customers aren’t just buying things, they’re buying memories. They want to feel in the season, not rushed through it. And in a world where things continue to accelerate, this is a chance to give folks a moment to breath and enjoy.

The holiday experience isn't built on transactions, it is build on emotion and moments of connection. When guests walk into a restaurant or store decorated for just the right season, it creates a moment of warmth (and a good rush of oxytocin) that drives a sense of comfort, nostalgia, and belonging. They will appreciate how you made them feel.

The data backs it up:

Deloitte reports that 58 percent of shoppers say holiday shopping is stressful, which means brands that create calm, clear, intentional experiences stand out.
iHeartMedia found that 98 percent of holiday music listeners feel more in the spirit when they hear seasonal music.
Three out of four of those same listeners say they are more likely to buy from a brand they hear advertised during holiday programming.
CMSWire notes that nostalgia and tradition are some of the strongest emotional drivers in customer experience.

It's not about how early you start, it's about how well you execute and how deeply your customers feel it. That's how you build repeat customers.

For hospitality and service brands, this is the playbook. Remember, you’re not just selling a stay, a meal, a shirt, or a display, you are crafting how someone feels. That means each season deserves its own distinct emotional identity. Customers will appreciate that and will feel that your brand "gets them." That is a powerful way to grow repeat customers and advocates in the competitive market.

When you rush past Halloween into holiday lights without giving each its moment to shine, you lose a chance to build relationships and risk weakening the emotional connections that drives loyalty.

Ultimately this comes down to your brand's ability to create moments for customers that they will value and that will bring them back again and again.

As always, it is about people and anticipating what they will need and delivering experiences that feel personalized and relevant.

Putting people at the center of everything you do - with a dash of patience - is how you will turn transactions into traditions.

Tony Johnson

* Written by a real human, not A.I.

Tony is an award winning speaker and author on the topics of sales growth, customer experience, and leadership. Tony speaks to thousands annually and has been featured on ABC News and Fox News. He is available for business planning, motivational keynotes, leadership workshops, and employee service skills training.

Tony is the founder of Ignite Your Service + Consulting and the Co-Managing Partner, Co-Owner, and Chief Experience Officer for 4xi Global.

Tony is available to help with your Customer Experience and Employee Engagement Strategies, inspirational keynote talks, team training and development, and executive leadership coaching.

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