Category — Christmas
Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia Pet: The Holiday Gift From Your Weird Uncle
San Francisco-based Joseph Enterprises, the company behind the Chia Pet, will be spending almost $9 million dollars on advertising this year alone. Yet from the months of January to September of this year, they’ve only spent $5,000 dollars. This is because almost all of the advertising happens during the holiday season, and likewise, 90% of Chia sales occur during the holidays. They’re like the Jesus of the kitschy seed planter pottery world – big in December, ignored the rest of the year.
They were first introduced in 1981 and have continued to cling to the public consciousness despite being branded as just a fad product. Joseph Enterprises does a good job of keeping the public interested with new forms each year. For example, this year they have characters from the films “Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda” on top of their regular line of kittens and hippos and elephants.
Check out the timeline of all the different types of Chia pet:
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December 23, 2008 1 Comment
Tough Economic Times May Be Helping Craft Sales
Many holiday gift givers are trying to save money by making their own gifts this year, or buying handmade gifts from others. Scrapbooks, jewelery, homemade soap, various knitted bits, etc. As a result craft stores are seeing a boom in sales. Sales of handmade crafts on eBay climbed 34 percent; and the online craft marketplace, Etsy, has been breaking records for the past 2 months. Last month, artists sold $10.8 million of goods on the site, compared to $4.2 million in November 2007.
The big craft chains are seeing profits too. The Michaels Stores chain has been selling record numbers of craft supplies and things used to make jewelry, baked goods, scrapbooks and decorated clothing. It’s going to be a Bedazzled Christmas.
Meanwhile, during this craft boom, the nation’s overall retail sales in November fell 7.4 percent from the same time last year.
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December 23, 2008 Comments Off
WTF For Christmas: Hitchcock’s “The Birds”-Themed Barbie Doll
Just in time for Christmas, you can get your darling daughter or niece a special collectors edition Barbie commemorating a classic film. This particular one portrays a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’, when wealthy socialite Melanie Daniels is brutally attacked by bloodthirsty crows who are hell-bent on killing the human race, kids will love it. She even has the classy green suit from the movie.
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December 17, 2008 Comments Off