hard eight
n.— «The toy industry calls the eight weeks leading up to Christmas the “hard eight.” That’s when prices jump for slots on kids shows and when toy ads replace cereal ads.» —“Six strategies marketers use to get kids to want stuff bad” by Bruce Horovitz USA Today Nov. 21, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
How do you pronounce the word mobile, as in the toy that hangs above a baby’s crib? In the United States, that kind of mobile is pronounced MOH-beel, but in the United Kingdom, it’s MOH-byle. In the early 1930s, the American sculptor Alexander...
When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator...