KUCHING: We are three weeks away from Christmas and the festive season is already starting to kick in.
As can be seen, local shops, offices, and shopping malls are beautifully-decorated with Christmas trees and all kinds of ornaments.
With the two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s celebration will definitely be different as Christmas parades are allowed thus creating a more festive mood.
In view of this, New Sarawak Tribune went to survey on the sales of Christmas decorations and whether there is a hike in price.
It is found out that there is no rise in the price of Christmas trees this year.
According to Jennifer Lai, sales assistant from SuperSave, a shop that specialises in festive and household products, the price of Christmas trees is only slightly increased.
“Depending on the size, the minimum price for Christmas trees without LED lights is RM 19.99.
“While for Christmas trees with LED lights, the minimum price is RM 104.99, and maximum size Christmas tree with LED lights is priced at RM439.99,” she said.
During the pandemic, she said there was a slight drop in sales of Christmas trees.
“This year we are gradually recovering as more people are coming to buy Christmas trees to decorate their houses or offices,” she said.
She added the Christmas trend for this year is white Christmas trees or flocked fir Christmas trees.
“The trend for this year’s Christmas is neutral and natural. This is the biggest forecasted trend for Christmas 2022. Beautiful neutral colour palettes and natural organics will be popular again this year.
“A walk in the woods, especially if it is snowy, is the inspiration for this year’s neutral Christmas decorations,” she told.
On the most popular Christmas decorations sold at SuperSave, Lai said among them are Christmas garland, candles, Christmas tree ornaments, Christmas wreaths, holiday nomes, swags and Santa Claus figures.
“Angels and stars are known to be the classic choices for Christmas tree toppers, but more modern traditions have experimented with anything from big ribbon bows to elaborate snowflake ornaments,” she said.
Colours for the coming Christmas, she said, will include metallic silver and metallic gold, different shades of green, associated with grass and leaves as natural elements. Space will also be given to pink and soft blue, romantic and rather unusual colours for Christmas décor, but which will be on trend this year.
“Meanwhile, the most common Christmas ornament this year is balls. Ball or bulb ornaments are one of the most common types of Christmas ornaments. They are usually made of glass, plastic, or metal and come in various sizes and colours,” she said.
Meanwhile, Conticssa and Anastasia Santi who are sales assistants at Green Gallery said most of the cost of Christmas trees and decorations remain status quo.
“The cost is unchanged from before,” they said, while adding that the price of the Christmas tree starts from RM 100 and above.
Consumers, they said, would never stop buying Christmas trees despite their costly price.
“Apparently, Christmas trees and ornaments are selling quite fast,” they said.
They also said after two years of no Christmas celebration, people would buy new ones to replace the old ones.
“This would certainly add more joy to the celebration as compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic days,” said the duo.
