Decorating for the holiday season is one of my favorite parts of the year.
In recent years, I've started slowly putting up Christmas decorations as soon as the Halloween ones are packed away. The longer our beautiful Christmas trees and holiday decorations are up, the longer I can enjoy them. Animal Paper Plates
Each year, we add lots of new pieces to our collection, so the day after Halloween, I headed to craft stores Michaels and Hobby Lobby to get a feel for what's popular this year.
I was surprised to find that one store was an absolute winter wonderland while the other felt lacking in the holiday cheer department.
Even from the Hobby Lobby parking lot, I could see the store entrance was decked out for Christmas.
There were giant Santas and nutcrackers, holiday pillows, and adorable gingerbread figures, all waiting to announce that December was coming.
Walking into Michaels felt not much different than any day when I shop at the craft store.
There were potted poinsettias and a few undecorated wreaths in the entryway, but nothing else that really announced the store had moved into full holiday mode.
Although Hobby Lobby was in its full holiday glory, the store still maintained several aisles of Thanksgiving paper plates, decorations, and crafts.
The selection was plentiful, and I made a mental note to visit again soon to purchase what I needed for my Thanksgiving dinner table.
My local Michaels had moved Thanksgiving-related items, like plates that said "blessed" and autumnal artificial flowers, to the back of the store.
The selection looked pretty picked over, though the items were discounted to 60% off.
Hobby Lobby had about 20 aisles filled with every Christmas decoration you could imagine.
From ornaments to garland to ceramic Christmas trees, I could've spent hours perusing the aisles, looking at all of the beautiful (and plentiful) decor options.
Michaels' selection was about half of what I found at Hobby Lobby.
Although I saw all the usual suspects — artificial trees, ornaments, holiday lighting, and wall art — there just wasn't as much set up at Michaels when I visited.
I counted about 10 aisles of holiday merchandise, about half of what I found at Hobby Lobby.
I love picking out quirky ornaments to give to friends as holiday gifts, and the selection at Hobby Lobby was truly impressive.
I loved looking through the ballerinas, dinosaurs, and scarf-wearing dogs. I felt like each ornament reminded me of someone I knew.
The selection took up an entire aisle and was packed with unique ornaments.
At Michaels, the section with quirky, novelty ornaments was much more threadbare.
Although there were lots of cute ones, from a blown-glass carousel to a food takeout container, the selection wasn't as large as at Hobby Lobby.
Since discovering the @blacksantaexists Instagram account a few years ago, I pay a lot more attention to how much representation Black children see in stores.
Hobby Lobby only had a few Black Santas here and there, and I felt like I really had to hunt for them.
At Michaels, Black Santa was available in just about every form white Santa was available. I found Black versions of the holiday icon everywhere from throw pillows to figurines to ornaments.
In short, if there was a product with a white Santa on it, there was almost always one just like it with a Black Santa.
Hobby Lobby is a Christian-owned store, so it was unsurprising that there were aisles upon aisles of more religious holiday merchandise, from ornaments to nativity scenes.
I found tons of products proclaiming that "Jesus is the reason for the season."
That said, Hobby Lobby has been criticized for not selling Hannukah merchandise. I didn't see any products for sale that recognized winter holidays like Hanukkah.
At Michaels, there was little representation of other winter holidays.
I was shopping with my teenage daughter and she also noted how small the Hannukah section was compared to the Christmas one, adding it "felt like an afterthought."
I buy a creative new nutcracker every holiday season, so I was thrilled to stumble upon Hobby Lobby's nutcracker aisle.
There were more types of nutcrackers than I could've imagined, from cowboys to pastry chefs.
I didn't find any Black nutcrackers at Hobby Lobby, but was pleased to see both Black and white figurines offered up at Michaels.
Like the other decor present in the store, almost every nutcracker for sale came in a range of skin tones.
I was able to find lots of things on my holiday crafting materials list at Hobby Lobby, from Christmassy beads to candy-cane pipe cleaners.
In fact, there were multiple kiosks out at the store filled with every type of holiday crafting material you could imagine.
The selection of holiday craft supplies at Michaels was pretty small.
When I shopped in my local store, I could only find a small section of basic supplies like glittery pipe cleaners and jingle bells.
Maybe the rest just hadn't been put out yet.
In multiple aisles at Hobby Lobby, we found full sections dedicated to decorating a tree — or your entire home — in a certain colorway or theme.
Entire aisles were dedicated to rose-gold holiday decor or items covered in flocked faux snow.
It'd be super simple to walk in here with no plan and walk out with a full-on decorating theme and vision.
Although I did find a few aisles with themed groups of holiday decor items, Michaels' strong suit was not supporting a full theme.
Instead, there were lots of decorations that would better fit into a more loosely decorated home where things aren't perfectly coordinated.
At Hobby Lobby, the Grinch, his dog, and the Whos were front and center.
In fact, I found several different endcaps and aisles dedicated to everything from Grinch baking supplies to Max stuffed animals.
The Mean One was definitely the most prominent animated holiday character present in the store.
Michaels' big character focus this year appears to be the Elf on the Shelf.
In addition to selling scout elves for parents to take home, there was a full section of Elf on the Shelf outfits and accessories, as well as candy and gingerbread houses emblazoned with the character.
Although Michaels was the clear winner for more diverse holiday decorations with its Hannukkah section and array of Santas and nutcrackers, its overall decor selection was still quite small.
On the other hand, Hobby Lobby had over 20 aisles of Christmas and winter decor and I could've spent all day taking in every festive part of its holiday lineup.
Each location of the chain can vary and the store you'll want to visit definitely comes down to your holiday-decorating needs.
Tissue Paper In Gift Bag Still, Hobby Lobby will be my spot if I need ornaments or supplies for a coordinated holiday display.