Plan to Do Your Holiday Shopping at Costco? Here's Why You Need to Start Now

Although we've barely kicked off the fall season, many retailers are already putting up holiday displays and pushing seasonal items like Christmas lights and candy canes. And Costco has definitely jumped on that bandwagon. Head over to your local warehouse club store, and you'll see loads of options, from Christmas trees to wrapping paper to gourmet chocolate that makes a great gift for the person you never know what to buy.

You may be of the opinion that it's too soon to do your holiday shopping. After all, the leaves haven't even changed color in some parts of the country! Doesn't that mean it's too early to be focusing on Christmas?

But actually, if your plan is to do a lot of holiday shopping at Costco, then starting in October is a smart move. Here's why.

Costco items could sell out or become unavailable

Costco does a great job of rotating its inventory on a seasonal basis. But because of this, you should only expect Costco to carry holiday items for a limited period. And if you wait too long to shop, you might miss out on the things you want.

Also, while Costco's warehouse club stores are enormous and can hold lots of inventory, many people have a Costco membership. And they're aware that Costco shopping frees up money for a savings account. So if you wait too long to make your holiday purchases, whether it's gift wrap, toys, or electronics, you might end up losing the opportunity to scoop up those bargain buys.

Now that said, Costco inventory can vary from store to store. So if your local store runs out of something you want, you can always head to customer service and see if they can track that item down at another location. Or, you can see if it's available online. 

But generally speaking, holiday items can sell out at Costco. So if you have a very specific shopping list, you may want to tackle it in October.

Make sure you can afford your holiday purchases now

Doing your holiday shopping at Costco now could help you avoid a scenario where you're unable to find the things you want. The pitfall of this plan, though, is that it's mid-October, which means Christmas is a good two months away. And if you're someone who was planning to save a lot for holiday purchases from mid-October through mid-December, then you may not have the money now to buy the things on your list.

Now, you might say to yourself, "Well, okay, I'll just use a credit card and pay it off in a couple of months." But if you don't manage to pay off that balance, you could end up accruing a lot of interest. So a better bet is to make sure you're able to pay for your purchases on the spot. And if you can't, don't shop yet. It's not worth landing in debt.

The idea of a $100 pre-lit Christmas tree might sound appealing. Or maybe you need an eight-count of candy cane walkway lights for $54. Either way, you may want to scoop up those Costco items while they're still available. But if you can't afford to be buying things for the holidays yet, don't sweat it. You're better off saving up and working with whatever inventory is left by the time you have the money.