Don't Let the Grinch Steal Your Christmas Decor

If you are on the hunt for good holiday decor this season, make sure you’re shopping around. We’re all for getting high quality decor, but we’re not for paying more unnecessarily.

Have you ever heard people talk about how it’s smart to shop for holiday decor after the season is over because it goes on sale? That is true, but not only that, some stores will actually increase their prices over what they sell for during the rest of the year, making items more expensive, because they know people are shopping for decor this time of year. This is especially seen with sellers on Amazon and Walmart.

While we can’t go back in time and take note of the regular price of these kinds of items to see if we’re being overcharged, we can still shop smarter and find savings on decor where we can.

Doing a little bit of research goes a long way when it comes to shopping for decor. Sometimes products come from the same place and is distributed to different brands with their logos on it so they can upsell it for whatever they want - this is called white labeling.

We are not saying that West Elm and Target are getting their ornaments from the same distributor, but this is a great example of where you can save on holiday decor. These ornaments look exactly the same, and have the same dimensions. They are both glass, and come in a set of 9 yet the one from West Elm is being sold for $39 per box, and the one from Target is $3.50. Unless the West Elm ornaments come with elves who will make all our gifts this year, there is no reason why anyone should pay 10x the price for these ornaments, in our humble opinion of course.

Before you add to cart and check out, try searching up the title of the items you’re looking for in Google, Amazon etc. to see if another, less expensive, version of them comes up from another location. With the example above we searched “white & iridescent ornament set” to find this cheaper alternative to West Elm.

If the store lists the brand name of the item, similar to how the Target listing says the ornaments are made by "Wondershop” then you can Google the brand itself to see if they offer additional deals, discounts or better pricing. Third party sites like Amazon and Walmart allow sellers to list products on their sites for a fee, so they will often increase their prices on those sites to make up for the fees. Sometimes you can find a better deal going straight to the supplier.

Another way to search for other sellers of an item, specifically when shopping on Amazon, is to the Other Sellers on Amazon section to see if any other sellers of the same item have a better price, faster shipping, or other bonuses. Usually Amazon prioritizes the least expensive seller as the main offer they show you but sometimes there are better prices available if you check the seller list.

When buying decor online always search the reviews to see how people felt about the quality of the item. It’s also helpful to see if they have posted any photos or videos of the item so you can see what it looks like when it’s not being professionally photographed. Sometimes you do get what you pay for and going the less expensive route may not make sense for some decor if the quality is low.

Lastly, check for bundle deals, coupons and rebate offers. Rakuten is a great cash back and promotion code extension that will search for applicable promotion codes when you’re shopping on any site. They will also provide you with cash back when shopping on any of their listed partner sites - and they pretty much partner with everyone.

All the tips we’ve shared can be used for anything, not just holiday decor. Just because we are a maximalist publication doesn’t mean we want you to throw your money away for no reason. We fully support you spending it, just spend it in a smart way. 

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