It’s a debate that feels as old as the holidays themselves: When is the right time to deck the halls?  

It really depends on who you ask. Retailers seem to put out their holiday decor earlier and earlier every year, but according to Wikipedia, the holiday season doesn’t officially begin until the day after Thanksgiving. (Nod to you traditionalists out there.) 

So, we took it upon ourselves to settle the debate once and for all. 

In addition to when to start untangling and putting up the lights, we surveyed more than 2,000 Americans* to find out more about their holiday decorating habits and favorite kinds of décor. Some of the results may surprise you, so read on! 🎅

The official day of decorating is …

• Despite holiday sales starting as early as August, most of our survey respondents (32%) have dubbed the day after Thanksgiving the “official” day of decorating.
• 1 in 4 choose to deck the halls the first week of December. 
• Surprisingly, only 18% choose to decorate before Thanksgiving. 

Peer pressured to get into the spirit

• However, some seem to cave to peer pressure. More than 60% of those surveyed reported decorating their home earlier than planned if they saw their neighbors decking the halls. 
• 1 in 4 feel the pressure to step their holiday décor game up a notch after noticing their neighbors’ level of holiday spirit.  
• Northeasterners seem to feel more pressure than any other regions with 33% saying they feel “some pressure” to decorate because of their neighbors. 
• 1 in 4 respondents admitted they’ve argued with their partner over holiday décor. 

Real or fake?

• When it comes to the debate over real and artificial Christmas trees, the majority (40%) prefer artificial trees, but 1 in 4 like a mix of both. 
• As for holiday lawn décor, most respondents’ favorite is multi-colored lights (33%), followed by white lights (17%), while character inflatables were voted the least favorite. Sorry, Santa! 

Décor days … or hours? 

• The majority of respondents (28%) said it typically only takes “a couple of hours” to decorate. 
• 22% put them up in a day. 
• Die-hard decoration devotees (17%) said they can spend more than a week to decorate. 

‘Tis the season to spend!

• Respondents spent an average of $180 on holiday décor each year.
• Almost one-third (32%) admit to spending more than $200 each year.  
• Men (Dude!) spend the most with an average of $233, compared to women who spend about $144 each year on holiday décor.  

‘Influenced’ to decorate

• 1 in 3 respondents admit that social media has influenced them to spend more on decorations than normal, with millennials being influenced more than any other generation (52%). 
• Those who admit to spending more on décor because of social media say they’ve spent about $228 more than normal. 

Take-down time

• Nearly half of the respondents said they typically take down their holiday décor after the new year, with 1 in 4 getting to it the week after the holiday. 
• And while 1 in 3 respondents said there is no specific timeline to take everything down, 19% hoped their neighbors would at least get it done by the new year. (So watch out for the neighborhood décor police on patrol after January 1. 😉)  

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* The random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 Americans ages 25+ was commissioned by Offerpad and conducted by market research company OnePoll.