Just stop all this crap buying?

And there are always several who think that it’s everyone else doing things wrong and fucking up the planet in the process, while they are the Home Counties answer to Greta Thunberg. It’s not a lack of critical thinking, it’s pointing out the absolute hypocrisy in thinking it’s perfectly acceptable to criticise those people who buy things you aren’t keen on, and deem to be plastic crap, but if anyone questions your spending habits and the things you do that are detrimental to the earth, all of a sudden, it’s a lack of critical thinking skills 😂

You don’t need to fly off to somewhere abroad for your holiday. Your children don’t need a bedroom each. You don’t need to eat meat. You don’t need to live so rurally that you can’t use public transport or cycle. You do all of those things because you enjoy them or because of convenience. So you can sit in your big house, with your 2.0L car on the drive, snaffling down steak and booking your third flight that year, feeling all superior because your kid has a wooden toy and a book you bought on Vinted for Christmas, but you’re no better than the person who buys their kid a plastic Barbie dream house. So why are some of you pretending that you’re morally and ethically better than some other people?

I’m all for reducing unnecessary spending if you don’t want to do it or you can’t afford it but feel obligated to. And if you want to do your bit for the environment, then great, good for you. But this holier than thou attitude that some people have is eye rollingly tedious.

@Katypp thanks for the insight into “tat”. I wasn’t sure what really defined tat in the uk. I looked up Baylis and Harding…the packaging actually looked pretty and is it so inferior to molton brown which is sold in speciality stores in the USA? So truly tat is defined by your opinion of the product or popularity of the product or content of the product so is highly personalized? Off the top I would say tat in the USA is inexpensive plastic knockoff toys from target…most of any “dollar” type store decor or fancy personal care… fragrance and makeup sets produced just for Christmas…novelty holiday sweatshirts hoodies/ blankets. Tjmaxx seems mostly tat now too…items no one would buy normally like blinged out sports team based drink cups/ games I never heard of before and the cheapest candles/ slippers/ pajamas/ small electronics like shaving cream warmers.

I agree with the not buying of mindless plastic tat that will end up in landfill, polluting the planet. But celebrating in mid winter cheers up a cold dark time of year. I like getting and receiving presents, it oils the social machine.
So ask for and give things that you will use and need, and get a bit more luxurious versions than you might otherwise have bought. Classics are soaps, socks, gin, wine, posh cheeses, olive oil, talking of crsp?books, subscriptions or vouchers.
Still possible to have a good Christmas without too much crap.

NOBODY can have too much sweets and chocolate.
As for the other tat, why target Christmas. Every day millions are buying the latest bit of plastic tat for the kitchen. The latest fitness tat to languish in a cupboard. A new charger because they cant be arsed searching through the piles of tat for the one they have etc...

Believe me, I am very vocal on social media and at parents evenings about it. It’s very unnecessary, however there seems to be a social expectation these days.

The other aspect is that the younger children really enjoy the giving of gifts. It brings them pleasure. So I tell parents to help them make a little something, or if that is really not their bag, go for a small stationary item. All teachers love stationary, and we often buy for the class out of our own pocket.

I have, however, kept the overwhelming majority of cards that my students have made me, especially when they have wrote something inside, as well as thank you notes from parents.

Anyway, thank you for not buying into the consumerism that has been generated around teachers and gifts.

p.s. one of the best gifts I ever received was a jar of gherkins. The parent asked what I liked, thé child knew, and they went and bought it together. And it’s true, I love pickled gherkins! Made me laugh so much that the child had really been observing me…

Sweets and chocolate probably feel like naff presents because we're also eating them all bloody year round. My kids still have Halloween sweets which need eating before the advent calendar and selection boxes, which in turn need eating before the Easter eggs start arriving (they got 13 each one year from extended family).

So I see your bah humbug to plastic tat and raise you excess confectionery

No need to insult people's beliefs.

Have you never noticed how close 'Christmas' is to the winter solstice? People have been celebrating a winter festival long before Christianity. People are entitled to celebrate it how they wish, including not at all if that's what you'd prefer.

I actually think one of the saddest things on here is people desperate to list how minimal and restrained their Christmas is, for the approval of the MN audience.

I mean, why would you want to treat someone you love ‘just because’?!, at the ‘treat giving’ point in the calendar? Joy, love, generosity?!

No, instead we will enjoy our vegetables and the two gifts we specified back in October.

And I was going to say i think a lot of people are definitely buying less and moving away from rabid consumerism but then I realised I had read Martin Lewis as John Lewis so might have proved your point. 😂

DH and I have been watching old Christmas films and shows (50s - 80s) and in every one someone complains about how Christmas has got out of hand and is so commercialised so this isn't new.

Maybe everyone just needs to change the record? 😀

I think about this when I see people buying endless tat from TikTok shop.

So glad I never bought my teachers anything. Also glad I never bought my children's teachers anything. Now glad that my daughter never buys her children's teachers anything.

I do feel sorry for all those kids and parents who bother to buy their teachers something only for it to be discarded as tat.

Perhaps you could actually send letters out to your students' parents telling them to please not buy you anything? Save them money and you problems with getting ever more tat!

Maybe, but I think calling Christmas out as a fairy tale is fair enough, it isn't disrespectful to fundamentally call it out. Christians are usually pretty solid in their beliefs. But I think it's far more likely there are other life forms out there than that some sort of deity exists . . ..

You had an advent calender? My mother always refused to buy one - we did have chocolates on the tree though and they rarely made it to Xmas day

@PassingStranger It’s fair to question Christmas consumerism, but calling the Nativity a “fairytale” is disrespectful to Christians. You can criticise the pressure to buy things without dismissing others’ beliefs.

But it’s chocolate so it’s going to get eaten ? What’s the problem? I love getting little bits like chocolate and socks for Xmas!
I bought my baby twins second hand toys for Xmas as so many toys end up wasted but I’ve bought some new plastic toys to donate….is that bad?
christmas is a time for giving and it’s not like she was buying a loaf of novelty tat that won’t be used

If you don't want to join in then don't join in.

When I was at work I was a member of multiple teams, when those teams suggested secret santa, I joined in the main one and not the others. Some people were of different religions and some joined in and some didn't. BUT, they didn't act like Scrooge and spoil it for everyone else.

The point of secret santa is to reduce the amount of money spent. One present for one person instead of one for everyone. It's easy to say you don't want to do it if it's not for you.

We did the same with Christmas cards for work, emails sent around saying 'not doing cards this year'. Most people contributed something to their favourite charities instead. Everyone benefits and no-one minds if they don't get a card but can send them if they like.

It's each to their own.

You lost me when you started mocking Christian beliefs.

None of us actually need anything, OP, as we will all end up dust. God forbid we find a but if enjoyment in the meantime, eh?

You're directing your anger at the wrong people anyway.

@ALittleDropOfRain Frenzy is the perfect term for it.

As a school caretaker I used to see all the tat teachers had been given piled up in bin bags in January . Too much and too crap ...don't bother. Give your favourite teacher a card with your honest sentiments in it instead.

Oh OP ! You have been inside my head stealing my thoughts. Blinkin'well said... 🫶

When I first moved to Germany, I missed the frenzy of the Christmases I had known in the UK.

Now, I‘ve come to appreciate the intentionality of how it’s celebrated. The lantern procession for St Martin‘s Day in November. The Advent Candles being lit one by one on the four advent Sundays.

St Nicholas Day on 6th December, where Nikolaus brings each child one present. A lot of businesses have a Nikolaus in the building with a sack of chocolate, satsumas and nuts. The village bank sponsors a set of colouring pencils for each child at the village school, which are placed in their outdoor shoes to be discovered at break. My employer dresses up a trainee as Nikolaus and asks all participating parents to choose a book for their child from the online ordering system from their local independent bookshop. The vicar dresses up as Nikolaus and the Kindergarten kids have to find him in the forest.

The local primary school has a day of baking and crafts - presents to take home for parents and enough biscuits so the children get one every day in their breakfast break.

There‘s a live advent calendar where families and businesses/ public buildings take it in turn to decorate and present a window, while serving hot punch and biscuits and reading out a Christmas story or reflection to the visitors congregating outside.

It‘s just so intentional and not about buying.

So, I‘m off to bake Christmas biscuits with DS.

I only buy things that I know my family will appreciate and use no point in buying lots of crap anyway the best thing you can give is time - my granddaughter asked me to teach her how to knit wow that was special she’s only 7 my grandson asks me questions I don’t have answers to but I spend time with him looking for the answers it’s called love

Me too. Obviously I have no issue with gifting but I do have an issue with the amount of stuff that gets bought that never gets any use. We’re all guilty of it (me included)

all adults get some kind of nice food/wine presents from me these days. Gifting consumables seems less bad somehow. I just make sure it’s nice stuff that will get consumed (even if not by the actual recipient!)