# Boxing Day Sales **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 1999, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637 "1999-12-21T22:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigRoryG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@BigRoryG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigRoryG)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/1 "1999-12-21T22:57:00Z")
I’m looking to buy a camera lens while I’m in San José over x-mas. Do the boxing day sales there on Electronics get as crazy as they do here? Anybody know of a good camera store in SJ? Grazi. * * * “C’mon, it’s not even tomorrow yet…” - Rupert If you need a graphic solution, [http:\ alk.to\Piglet](http://talk.to%5CPiglet) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/2 "1999-12-21T23:50:00Z")
Boxing day sales? Not in the U.S. There might be post-Christmas sales. * * * “East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![dlv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dlv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlv)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/3 "1999-12-21T23:53:00Z")
I wa always wondering, where does this name come from? Canadians don’t seem to be that much into boxing. I could better understand “hockey day” or “bobsledding day” or even “snowballing day”. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 1999, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/4 "1999-12-21T23:59:00Z")
I’m not a big shopper (I try to stay out off stores in December) but I don’t think the day after Christmas is a big sale day except for Christmas merchandise (Dancing Santas half price!). My wife works in retail and I’ve heard her recommend to several people to shop before Christmas because the sales are on now. ## With regard to the name of the day – it’s called Boxing Day because we spend it building boxes to put people in who ask one more time why it’s called that! Let’s see. I lathered and I rinsed. But did I repeat? ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/5 "1999-12-22T00:00:00Z")
I also try to stay out **of** stores in December. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/6 "1999-12-22T03:52:00Z")
“Boxing day” comes from the (British) tradition of putting some of the Christmas goodies into boxes the day after the holiday and giving them to the needy. Never caught on in the U.S. In the Bahamas, though, it’s the day of the Junkanoo – and if you can go to an authentic one (I have no idea if they’re still held from 2 a.m. to dawn as is traditional), by all means take the opportunity. * * * “East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/7 "1999-12-22T05:17:00Z")
> [@](#): > > “Boxing day” comes from the (British) tradition of putting some of the Christmas goodies into boxes the day after the holiday and giving them to the needy. I thought it was sending back the gifts you don’t want 🙂 And yes, most stores will have post-Christmas sales. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 1999, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/8 "1999-12-29T15:41:00Z")
The origins of the term are uncertain - check out the “christmas” section of [http://www.snopes.com/](http://www.snopes.com/) ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 1999, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-day-sales/5637/9 "1999-12-29T15:46:00Z")
The mailbag people just answered the question of where boxing day came from. [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mboxingday.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mboxingday.html) As for the OP’s question; we don’t have Boxing Day in the US but there are lots of after-Christmas sales. (Stores want to reduce inventory by December 31 so they don’t have to pay taxes on it.) You should be able to find some good deals but the stores are likely to be fairly busy. * * * “Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.” Dennis Matheson — [dennis@mountaindiver.com](mailto:dennis@mountaindiver.com) Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — [www.mountaindiver.com](http://www.mountaindiver.com)