Holidays | featured news

The best that can be said about the 2012 holiday shopping season is that it will be about average, according to the latest forecast from the National Retail Federation (NRF), a retail trade group.

Valentine's Day is by far one of the most stressful holidays of the year for couples. Whether you're trying to pick out the perfect present, the perfect restaurant or the perfect bouquet of flowers, it's certainly not easy. To make things even more complicated, companies rake in tons of cash marketing "romantic" and "sexy" products to the masses, trying to convince you to buy tacky, confusing or borderline offensive gifts. We mean come on: who's REALLY buying edible undies for Valentine's Day -- much less ones made out of meat?

A mall trade group says that last minute shoppers gave merchants a solid lift during the final week before Christmas. Sales at stores opened at least a year rose 0.9 percent for the week ended Saturday compared with the previous week and was up 4.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index, released Wednesday.

With the intensity of Black Friday shopping starting to fade, store chains know they are under pressure to keep the sales momentum going as they enter the next phase of a competitive holiday shopping season.

Undeterred by costlier gas and airfare, millions of Americans set out Wednesday to see friends and family in what is expected to be the nation's busiest Thanksgiving weekend since the financial meltdown more than three years ago....

We’ve rounded up the best Black Friday deals of 2011, from TVs to laptops and tablets, with our comprehensive guide to Black Friday. While skiers flock to Aspen in January, and fly fisherman can’t wait to plant their waders in icy Montana rivers come April, it’s November and December that holds special significance for that special breed known as bargain hunters. Between manufacturers eager to bolster their numbers with strong holiday sales and retailers competing for your hard-earned dollars, the deals don’t get much better. And Black Friday represents the first day of open season and offers the best deals of the year.

More consumers are discovering their mobile devices can help them compare prices, research gift ideas, redeem electronic coupons and watch for special deals. As shoppers gear up for another mad holiday scramble, smartphones and tablet computers are emerging as Santa's electronic helpers.

Passengers may have to compete with slightly fewer people getting to the airport this Thanksgiving, but flights will be as full as ever, airline industry officials said Thursday... But U.S. carriers have reduced capacity to match demand and offset higher costs, the association said. That means few empty seats.

It looks like we’re headed into another not-so-jolly holiday shopping season. According to the latest Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll out today, only a third of those surveyed expect to be happier this holiday season than last.