There are less than 80 sleeps until 25 December and already retailers' thoughts have turned to the ringing tills traditionally associated with the festive season.

Time's running out... Not

Many have started to stock their shelves with tinsel and baubles, but not many have had the nerve to decorate their outsides proclaiming the early arrival of the season of goodwill.

BHS is not so backward in coming forward. The department store has just festooned its Oxford Street branch in lights, and a Christmas shop - complete with Jingle Bells on the soundtrack - has opened for business just inside its doors.

Hoping to get the tills a-ringing

Inside, tourists from the Far East drift in to gaze at the sparkly delights. One, a Japanese woman, is so taken with the decorations that she asks a fellow shopper to take her photo amid the lights and trees.

But outside, some passers-by are pursing their lips in a distinctly disapproving manner.

For Chris Richard, of London, the decorations have gone up too soon. "It has put me off shopping in there," he says as he stalks out of the store.

"I've got around to saying to people 'what would you like for Christmas?' but I won't start shopping until the sales start."

Deborah Clough: "It's too early"

Deborah Clough, of Hertfordshire, agrees. "I hate it, especially when the weather is like this," she says, indicating the still-bright skies over Oxford St.

Her own thoughts do not turn to Christmas shopping until after Halloween.

"I don't think the shops should start pushing it on us until the beginning out November - that would still give two clear months until Christmas."

Everstina and Selina: "We love Christmas"

The festive fancies win the approval of Selina Weekes, a London-based student. In fact they don't go far enough.

"Oooo, fairy lights - pretty!" she coos. "But it's all a bit simple for me. Where's all the tinsel?"

Although she and her sister Everstina love the trappings of Christmas, neither is prepared to shop quite so early.

"I used to start on the 23rd [of December] but now I'm older so I get started a little sooner," says Selina. "But I hate after Christmas because that's when my credit card bills arrive."

Tracey and Ann pause mid-shop

Nearby, Ann Hawkins and her heavily pregnant daughter Tracey Heals, both from north London, stock up decorations and gifts.

Ann admits to being a habitual early-starter when it comes to Christmas shopping, "but Tracey is only organised this year because of her pregnancy".

Having come to Oxford St to pick up a few bits for the baby due next month, the pair say they only added Christmas goodies to the shopping list once inside BHS.

"It's very eye-catching, isn't it?" says Tracey as she browses for gifts for her mother-in-law. "I didn't even realise Christmas stuff would be in the stores, so I decided to get in while I could."

Forget about the first cuckoo of spring. Tell us of your sightings of the first overeager shopkeepers of Christmas - and whether you approve or disapprove, using the form below.

The lights don't ever come down here (it saves all that effort of putting them up again when you could be eating instead!) but they are not switched on until the nights are dark, frosty and christmassy - ie: December. The shops are a little less restrained, but still nothing available in local stores. Vive la France on this one!
Veronica, Meylan, France

It has to be Harrods. On 30 July there were a lot of signs about announcing the opening of Christmas World on 5 August - I walked past the area devoted to Christmas, and while the area was boarded off, staff were decorating the trees on the edge of the department...
Sarah Cuthbert, UK

My personal record for Christmas overkill was set a few years ago when I lived in Birmingham. It was mid-February before the Christmas lights came down, and the first advertising for the following Christmas appeared in mid-September - a grand total of only 7 Christmas-free months out of 12.
Alan, UK

I've seen a few shops sell Christmas stuff for the past month. The best is my local garden centre - they obviously felt slightly embarrassed, as they hid it poorly behind sheets of brown paper. However, the tacky Christmas trees and Toblerone bumper packs were peeking out.
Richard Rackham, UK

My local supermarkets had Christmas aisles set up in September, so my 5-year-old now thinks that Christmas must be days rather than months away. We have had to explain that there is Halloween and Bonfire Night first, followed by another 6 weeks of waiting.
Janet Gladstone, UK

Here in Chicago, lights have been up since halfway through September. Father Christmas needs a Union.
Dave, US

I personally welcome the shops opening their xmas sections at this time of year. It's good to be able to spread the cost over a couple of months and be able to shop with a touch of elbow space. I always aim to have the shopping done by 1 December so I can enjoy my family at xmas time rather than shopping.
Barbara Hancox, England

Christmas is a Christian festival, and the church even states explicitly a period of preparation - it's called Advent and it lasts for at least four weeks. If that's good enough for spiritual preparation, why on earth do we need longer for shopping, one of the most mundane of activities?
Jon, UK

Those people who say that shops start pushing Christmas too early obviously don't have family abroad. If you look at the last posting dates for Christmas, it's usually before the end of October. I've lost count of the times I've seen something appear in November that I would have loved to have bought for my son. Hooray for those shops that think of us long-distance relatives, I say!
Jackie Warren, England

One of the jokers at work put up the chirstmas tree today after we received our first christmas card. It caused such controversy the HR department forced us to remove it!
Anthony Highton, UK

I've no objection to retailers making money, and I'm aware of how the Christmas shopping season helps the economy. But pushing Christmas until everyone is either sick or it or disillusioned can't be good. I lived in the US for a while and they really squeeze the life out of all events - but at least they have Thanksgiving to stop Christmas leaking back into autumn.
Conor Doyle, Ireland

Our local James Pringle Store in the village with the longest name, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch, put up fairy lights and crimbo stuff by their main door last week.
Sharon Jones-Williams, Wales

York's Christmas lights started going up just under two weeks ago. What also annoys me is that as soon as the new year sales finish, all the shops start stocking Easter eggs!
Derek Smith, York

A lot of the shops have had decorations etc for months and I saw a beautiful display in a department store today. It is tradition here in Adelaide to put up your Christmas tree after the annual Christmas Pageant which is at the beginning of November.
Sharon, Australia

It's thanks to shops/companies advertising too early that children do not enjoy the full extent of Xmas. When I was a child it was special because it lasted a couple of weeks - now it lasts 2-3 months. Government and advertising groups should lay down laws of when Xmas advertising can start (I say 1 December).
Matt, UK

As an online toy retailer we see Christmas orders from mid-September onwards. So we have had to publish our Guide to Christmas Shopping and the gift wrap options to support these orders.
Sean Mulhall, UK

It should commence after 5 November. We all spend just as much in the shops, no matter when we start, and I think that too early a foray into the Christmas spirit wears it very thin before we even get into December.
Suzanne Heywood, UK

My first Christmas-themed mailing was from House of Fraser in mid-August. It has definitely put me off shopping there until the January sales. Also, M&S had a Christmas display in their Leeds store but it only stayed up for a week or so. I wonder whether it was people complaining about the unseasonal start that caused it to be removed?
Iain Harrison, UK