Christmas Expo Canceled
One of the largest Christmas trade shows, Christmas Expo, has been canceled just a little more than a month before it was scheduled to begin. Scheduled to begin July 16, 2025 in Dallas, the event cancellation was announced by organizers via their Facebook page on June 6th:
Due to the ongoing up and down volatility with tariffs along with general consumer uncertainties, we feel we are unable to deliver the kind of event this year that everyone deserves. We continue hearing from vendors of their difficulties in not only obtaining, but pricing products, and from many consumers who either can’t attend due to financial issues or plan to attend but note that they don’t have the funds to buy new products.
Calling themselves the “original Christmas Decorating event”, Christmas Expo has been active since 2003 and has been a popular gathering for Christmas enthusiasts to connect with vendors and Christmas decorating experts every summer.
The cancellation of the event is indicative of uncertain economic conditions. Many are saying this event is affected severely due to ongoing tariff fluctuations that are affecting both pricing and supply. Some vendors are uncertain if delivery of products from China specifically will be possible in time for traditional selling seasons.
“We have product in containers on the water and moving nowhere,” one seller, who asked not to be identified, said. “We don’t know how much it’s going to cost. It could be as high as 120 percent or more than what we originally agreed to but the dates keep changing as well as the pricing. It’s chaos and we’re going to see a lot of folks go out of business because they either have nothing to sell this year or what they think they are getting is going to be outrageously overpriced to the point where people won’t buy.”
Walmart has already publicly indicated that pricing for most items in their stores are going up due to tariffs.
Artificial Christmas trees, which almost exclusively come from China for most vendors, are expected to rise in price. “A tree that used to cost about $150 is expected to be closer to $300, just because of tariffs alone”, the vendor told us.
Mainstream media outlets have not had much to say outside of an April report from Reuters saying that Chinese Christmas decorations were not selling as usual.
Event organizers indicate they will move forward with plans for another Christmas Expo in 2026, hopefully under more favorable conditions.
