I found Christmas at Costco on August 27th. Not a rumor, not a teaser in the Costco app. An actual nine-foot snowman, standing about forty feet from the sunscreen.
At this rate, the holiday aisle is going to keep creeping backward until it lands right next to the Easter egg coloring kits, and I’ve made peace with it. Costco doesn’t care what month it is. Costco cares about pallet space, and right now that pallet space is full of twinkle lights.
So I did what any responsible member would do and walked every inch of it. Twice. Here’s what’s new for 2026, what I’d actually buy, and the two things I’d walk right past.
It’s a great value, almost every time. The pricing is not the problem. The problem is you. (OK, and me.) Everything is oversized, everything is pre-lit, and everything looks incredible under warehouse lighting at 10 in the morning. You have to pace yourself. Nobody needs the nine-foot snowman AND the seven-foot potted tree AND the star arch in the same trip. Pick one statement piece, fill in with the small stuff, and get out before the cart wins.
Bias first: I’m a real tree guy. Every year, no exceptions, until somebody invents a fake tree that smells like a real one. Then we’ll talk.
That said, if I ever went over to the dark side, this is the one. Seven and a half feet, flocked, micro LED lights with a twinkle function. Yes, flocking sheds. You will find white flakes in the carpet in March. I still think it’s a better look than the plain green trees stacked right next to it.
It was $299.99 when I saw it, item #1784931. Costco also had a “Radiant” micro LED tree at $449.99 (item #1739980), but $150 more for the same twinkle didn’t move me. If you’re a fake tree household, flocked is where I’d land.
Nine feet tall. On skis. Pop-up, so it packs down for the off season, with twinkle lights built in. This is not a decoration. It’s a statement piece, and I mean that as a compliment.
The catch is simple: you need a big yard. On a townhome patio this thing would look like a hostage situation. On a proper lawn with the lights on at dusk, it’s going to be the house every kid on the block points at. Fun, full stop.
It was running $199.99 at my warehouse, item #1851635. It showed up in late August and then again in early September, so this isn’t a one-pallet fluke. Costco is committed to the snowman.
I’m going to say this plainly: these are super tacky. Giant candy canes that change color, lining your walkway like the runway at the North Pole. And that is exactly why they’re a must buy.
Some decorations are trying to be tasteful. These are not. They know what they are, and there is something freeing about that. Line the front path, set them to cycle, and let the neighbors judge. (They’ll have their own set by Thanksgiving.)
$49.99 for the set when I checked, item #1929678. Of everything in this article, this is the one I’d grab first.
We’re a Sylvania household, so I didn’t spend long agonizing over this one. I haven’t used this exact set yet, but Stay-Lit is the line that keeps the rest of the string lit when one bulb dies, which is the entire game with Christmas lights. Nobody wants to spend December 23rd on a ladder hunting for the one dead bulb with a flashlight in their mouth.
C9 is the big classic bulb, the kind that says “my parents’ house in 1988” in the best possible way. At $19.99 a string, item #1600434, this looks like a solid value to me. There’s also a Color Action version at $29.99 (item #1784846) that runs patterns, if you want your roofline to have a personality.
This one is going in the cart. It’s a little lit-up village with 24 doors, and every day in December gets its own reveal. It’s the kind of thing that lives on the kitchen counter and starts a fight over who gets to open the door that morning.
Costco had two advent calendars this year. The other is a plush ornament version at $29.99 (item #1929682), which is cute, but the village is the one that still looks like decor when it’s been sitting out for a month. It was $34.99, item #1851689. The extra five bucks buys you lights, and lights win.
Three deer, two trees, all lit. My first instinct was the front porch, but this set works better inside. It’d make a great table centerpiece for the whole season, or if you’re building out a village, the deer slide right in as the local wildlife.
At $59.99 for five pieces (item #1929668), it’s about twelve bucks a piece for something you’ll pull out every year. Just measure your table first. Everything from Costco is 20 percent bigger than you remember by the time you get it home.
The sleeper of the aisle. Kirkland’s gift wrap is double-sided, so you get two patterns per roll, and there is so much of it that one pack lasts our house at least three seasons. We do not buy this every year. We physically cannot use it fast enough.
That’s my only warning: do not buy two. You will not run out. Your grandchildren will inherit gift wrap.
It was $14.99 when I picked it up, item #1487739. Right next to it Costco had Hallmark recyclable gift bags at $17.99 (item #1600426) and a Design Studio tag-and-sticker set at $12.99 (item #1851647), if you want the full wrapping station in one trip.
An arch. Shaped like a star. Covered in twinkle lights. $379.99 when I saw it, item #1784949.
I’m skipping it. It is pretty, I’ll give it that. But for that money, the snowman above gives you more yard for less cash, and the arch is the kind of piece you’d have to build your whole display around. It’s a commitment, and most of us are not ready for that level of commitment with a lawn ornament. If you already have the big yard and the big budget and you were going to build a walk-through entrance anyway, fine. Everybody else, keep walking.
Costco had three of these: Snoopy on a tree, Holiday Stitch, and a Mickey or Minnie, all at $64.99 apiece (items #1851596, #1929670, #1929691). They’re nicely done, hand-painted-looking resin, and there are people who collect Jim Shore the way other people collect Funko Pops.
I’m not one of them. Sixty-five dollars for a statue that sits on a shelf for five weeks is a hard skip for me. If you’re a collector, you already knew about these and you’re already in line. If you’re not, that money goes a lot further on lights.
The candy cane pathway lights and the LED village advent calendar. Total damage under $90, and both get used every single day of December. Then I walk right past the Christmas mugs (4-pack, $14.99, item #1901757), because we are fully mugged out in this house and I suspect you are too.
Also on the floor and worth a look if you’re building out a display: the 7′ LED potted tree ($169.99, #1851488), LED cone trees ($59.99, #1851645), a 4.5′ whimsical pre-lit tree ($69.99, #1929667), a 48″ red glitter bow with lights ($99.99, #1851620), an LED glass candle set of 5 ($43.99, #1929699), wooden holiday icons with LED ($26.99, #1851592), and the Disney or Peanuts holiday lantern ($54.99, #1851523). I haven’t lived with any of those, so I’ll leave the verdicts to you.
One caveat on all of the above: I wrote this in mid-September. Whatever the sticker says the day you read this, it probably isn’t what I saw, and half of it may already be gone. Costco Christmas usually sells out well before Christmas, and that’s on purpose.
So, when did Christmas show up at YOUR warehouse this year? And more importantly, has anyone actually bought the snowman? I need to know how it stores.
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