In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to move Thanksgiving back one week to boost retail sales before Christmas in light of the Great Depression.
The public did not like this decision and therefore some started calling the holiday Franksgiving (a combination of Franklin and Thanksgiving).
Thanksgiving was moved up for one because merchants wanted an extra week of selling time before the official Christmas shopping began. The president who moved the Thanksgiving holiday was Franklin Roosevelt.
Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving.
No wait a little longer. I would not do any serious shopping until after thanksgiving. Then you will be able to get some great deals on your Christmas shopping.
It was first called Macy's Christmas Parade because it signified the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
If you are referring to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the last float is always Santa ringing in the official Christmas shopping season.
how has the holiday shopping season affected Thanksgiving traditions?
Why Thursday? Because President Washington wanted it that way. Back in 1789, President George Washington declared Thursday, November 26, to be a national holiday of Thanksgiving. This was the first official American Thanksgiving to be held as a holiday. Thanksgiving was then held every year on the last Thursday of November. (Before that, different colonies, then states, held thanksgiving when they wanted.) In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving would be the second-to-last Thursday of November rather than the last. Why? Because that gave more shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
how has the holiday shopping season affected Thanksgiving traditions?
He changed it from the LAST Thursday to the fourth Thursday in 1939. That really upset a lot of publishers who already had calendars printed showing Thanksgiving on November 30. Retailers were happy because they got an extra week for Christmas sales. From 1863 when Lincoln declared the first National Thanksgiving Day, it was not a national holiday until declared by the President each year. But it had always been the Last Thursday in November. In 1940 and 1941 Roosevelt also declared Thanksgiving on the second-to-last Thursday (I didn't save those calendars, but I think that would have made it on the 21st and 20th). Then in December of 1941 Congress passed legislation setting the date to be the fourth Thursday for all future years.
Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, holiday shopping hours for Office Max are from 6 AM to 12 midnight. This includes Black Friday and Christmas Eve.
While many online retailers offer deals on Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving), the busiest online shopping day takes place on the Monday or Tuesday a week or two before the week of Christmas.
christmas shopping!