Retailers may profit from Summerween, but it reveals our deeper longing for lasting joy.
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What the Rise of Summerween Really Tells Us about Our Search for Meaning
What the Rise of Summerween Really Tells Us about Our Search for Meaning
Author, Speaker, Bible Teacher, and Counselor
Updated
Jul 21, 2025
No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. If you’ve noticed an increase in Halloween decorations showing up in stores, there is a reason for it. Retailers, such as Michaels, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Walmart, are pushing out more decor to jump on the latest “Summerween” trend- an unofficial holiday that blends summer activities with Halloween themes and decorations. According to a report on Axios, “The Summerween concept originated with a 2012 episode of Disney Channel's 'Gravity Falls,' but has grown in recent years because of social media.” Parade provides further details:
“Summerween has a few different meanings. For some, it’s a specific day of celebrating Halloween early—usually on either June 22… For others, it’s referring to a season—how they describe an extended period of time in the warmer months while they’re either stocking up on spooky decor and shopping new Halloween collections that drop in the summer…”
However you choose to define it, the trend is generating significant business. The National Retail Federation reported that the percentage of consumers shopping for Halloween before October increased from 32% in 2014 to 47% in 2024.
Trends like these and many others show us not only the influence that social media has on what captures our attention and focus, but they also reveal a peek into the deeper longings of the heart. Could the pursuit of what seems innocent, like participation in the trend of Summerween, actually reveal insight into the actual state of our hearts? A node to our need for joy, purpose, and eternal hope.
A Desire To Escape and False Fulfillment
Escapism is when a person uses an activity or behavior to escape life’s realities. One might participate in the latest trends because they seem fun or entertaining. Yet do we stop to consider how the pursuit of such novelties can subtly distract us from what truly matters? Does the rush of participating in the latest craze provide a false sense of meaning? Temporary, fleeting fulfillment? Think about it, have you ever experienced feeling a sense of emptiness, despite your best efforts to find fulfillment? Could it be because we are looking to escape, searching for satisfaction in the wrong places, like the people of God in Jeremiah 2:13:
“For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” (NLT)
During this period in Judah, the most reliable source of water was a natural spring. It was clear. It was consistent. It was dependable. It was refreshing. However, instead of relying on the natural sources, they began digging out cisterns, pits covered with plastic to collect rainwater. This required a great amount of effort to build. Unfortunately, over time, the cisterns would develop cracks. As a result, even if they collected the rainwater, it would just leak right back out.
Similarly, when we chase these trends, or anything outside of Christ, for that matter, it may feel satisfying in the moment, but it will soon leave us feeling empty. In essence, we are creating our own “cisterns”. Just as quickly as these trends can peak, they can also fade, leaving us on the search once again. As the fountain of living water, or a flowing spring, God is the source of everlasting life.
-Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters ( Isaiah 55:1a ESV)
-Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:10-14) NASB1995
-On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, (D)out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. (John 7:37-39)
Steven Smith, in his commentary on Jeremiah 2:13, said it like this, “...if we forget how we have been loved by God, we will certainly look for something else to fill that void.”
The True Source of Joy
What is it that makes participating in something like Summerween seem so exciting? Is it the decor, the parties, the laughter shared with friends? The chance to escape reality for a little while. Perhaps. However, when we pause to reflect on what these moments really are, we see that they are temporary diversions. Solomon in Ecclesiastes describes this as “chasing after the wind.” Always reaching but never truly satisfied. But Jesus offers us something that is deeper and far more lasting.
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” - John 15:11.
Joy that is full. Complete. The Greek word plēroō literally means to be ‘fill to the full’. Can you imagine how our perspectives, pursuits, and passions would change if we recognized the gift that we have already been given? True joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It is a result of finding purpose or fulfillment in participating in quick trends, but of a life rooted and intentional abiding in Christ.
Though sometimes associated with gladness or happiness, biblical joy “is a delight of the mind arising from the consideration of a present or assured possession of a future good.[1]” More than emotion, it is a state of being—a calm delight. When we embrace true joy, we’re able to find contentment and peace in knowing that we are chosen, loved, and secure in our Savior. “The joy of the Lord was God’s goal for His people, and they were to find in Him the subject, the source, and the object of their joy. God’s people were never supposed to find their joy in anything that in any way opposed the Lord.”[2]
Our Eternal Hope
“Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone.” - Psalm 33:22
Apart from Jesus, there is no true hope. The trends we chase may offer a distraction or temporary excitement, but they can never satisfy the deeper longing of our hearts. Only Christ provides the hope that is lasting and sure. I love how one commentary summarized it, “The testimony of the Lord’s people is one of (a) constancy of hope (confident expectation), not just of the final outcome—future and eternal hope—but the hope which assures us that in every circumstance he is our help and our shield.[3]”
Paul, in his letter to the Romans, reminds us, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” (Romans 8:24-25) This hope not only fills us with joy but also gives our lives purpose, meaning, and direction. It’s a reminder of what’s to come and invites us into something greater - to know our Savior deeply and make Him known to a world that’s still searching.
[1] Merrill Frederick Unger et al., The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988).
[2] Eugene E. Carpenter and Philip W. Comfort, Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 98.
[3] J. A. Motyer, “The Psalms,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 506.
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