To think Christmas has descended into a pile of landfill?

I’ve never been one for Christmas tat but I’m completely bored by the amount of lecturing holier-than-thou professional misery threads on it on Mumsnet this year.

Several of our kids presents were second hand this year- playmobil sets, schleich knight figures, othello board game, disney princess dolls and End Blyton book set from eBay and a dress up set from vinted. They were all loved and I don't think the kids minded at all as I bought things in good/ almost as new like condition. I did buy several magnetic block sets new from Shein though as these are newly released toys - this was probably my minecraft obsessed sons most played with present on Christmas day. We didn't buy any new decorations- several were inherited from my grandparents when they passed on- and even our plastic tree is in double figures now for Christmases used. They got new items too of course but we do try to be mindful. Especially when young I don't think the kids notice or mind whether something has come in cardboard packaging.

@Waitingfordoggo
If you want to take offence, be my guest.
You have been pretty offensive about other people who you regard are not as good as you are, so whatever 🤷

You implied that many of the people who complain about ‘tat’ don’t mind ‘tat’ when it’s a more expensive brand. So that suggested to me that you think the ‘sanctimonious’ people worrying about the planet are complaining/criticising from a place of privilege and snobbery.

I also resent your misquote of what I said. I said nothing about a ‘type’ of person buying from Shein, Temu etc- just that I think they’re shit companies because of their ethics. It is possible to make more ethical purchasing choices without being wealthy. I know some folk without much money who buy a lot from charity shops and I know some pretty wealthy people buying Temu tat. It’s not about wealth.

I honestly think that companies who produce non essential plastic things should be subject to an environment tax. These things will be with us for thousands of years- it needs to be stopped.

For those posters who think threads like this are virtue signalling, it’s simply not the case. The amount of excess, the amount of crap in our shops, the amount of stuff that is bought and promptly thrown away is destroying our planet. I’m working class and I have undoubtedly been responsible for buying tat in the past but I have never seen such volumes of tat in shops as I do now. And tat that is now on sale and will likely end up being sent to landfill by retailers because there is nowhere else for it to go.

If a thread like this raises awareness of the fact that all of us can do something to reduce waste then it is doing a good thing.

And yes I will judge my family for buying excessive (and I mean excessive) tat every year because in doing so they are showing no concern at all for our environment and the planet. Worse still when they try to palm their excess tat onto me. We are locked into a cycle of people wanting ‘more’ and the only way they can satisfy the need for ‘more’ is by buying cheap tat, more than they could ever need.

Agree

I don’t think it is sanctimonious for others to express not wanting to engage in certain parts of Christmas that don’t suit them and their families or actually makes things more difficult for them. Several expressing this aren’t saying they are better than others and if people are taking offense to how others choose and choose not to celebrate that is a them’ issue. Posters should be able to not be insulted or called Scrooges for not wanting to celebrate Christmas a certain way, especially when it comes to presents.

It goes both ways.

People use Christmas as an excuse for a lot of things and behaviours that they wouldn’t allow any other time of the year.

Plus, this is an anonymous forum. People come here to post and vent and tone is subjective until people start with insults.

There's only one way to make it stick - you don't buy presents, even if your family does. It'll take a few moments of embarrassment (it's never fun to receive a present without giving one) but next year when you say, "I don't want or will buy presents" they'll listen to you.

I don't buy "stuff" for anyone anymore. I give my adult kids cash because I know they appreciate receiving a bit of extra money to buy things they need, and DH and I often don't buy anything for each other unless it is something we particularly want.

I quit years ago buying for friends and family, and they don't buy me anything back. It's truly freeing.

@TheLostMonopolyTopHat @Waitingfordoggo
I never mentioned wealth or income. Although these threads boil down to a
thinly-disguised attack on the 'type of people who shop in B&M and Shein/Temu'.

Adult present giving is weird when you think about it.

A bunch of adults buying each other stuff that, if they really wanted it, would have bought it for themselves anyway. A hell of a lot of stress, and often no thought behind what is bought.

I have received clothes when normally I would buy from a charity shop, and books which I could get from a chazza or a library.

I get buying for kids, they don't have the funds or resources to buy a bike or a games console.

It’s fairly easy to empty a bin bag into the recycling containers.

😂 @ApplesinmyPocket

"apart from allowing OPs to wallow in a sense of moral superiority disguised as woe."

A lot of topics on MN fall into that category. I always called them 'praise-me' topics until I heard the phrase 'virtue-signalling.'

The OP of such topics inevitably has excellent taste, habits and morals and usually contains a disingenuous praise-me question - "my family love fresh salads and loads of delicious veggies,I can't even conceive of families that don't put away bucket-loads of lovely veg every day, I dread going to my PILs and being served just beige crap and meat 'n mash, but maybe that's just me?"

"my friend lets her children stay up far too late every night, I feel so sorry for them, they must be so tired in school, mine are always in bed by 7pm so they will be well-rested the next morning, which of us is BU?'

Such is the MN way. Everything that they personally do/wear/buy/eat is perfectly fine, for reasons. But everything everyone else does/buys/wears/eats is tat, wasteful, unhealthy, common…

But some people ARE being very wasteful and that’s what people are worrying about. That’s literally what the thread is about. If you aren’t wasteful then you don’t need to feel offended.

Plus you can avoid the threads if they’re that annoying.

Yes 'tat' is in the eye of the beholder. I wouldn't describe 100% cotton Christmas bedding which will be used for 20+ years as 'tat' either but it suits the narrative if some posters to do do.
Double standards are overlooked in the race to judge others.

While I fully agree with the post, as an individual, you can just not buy it. We try very hard to buy decent quality items that will last, but, in the modern world, avoiding plastic, especially for toys, is very difficulty, just don’t buy the awful cheap Chinese junk that fills so many shops

Lego has a long useful life. My ds is still playing with dhs Lego which is nearly 50 years old (he’s 54). When Ds is finished with it it will go to another child or a school or youth club. It never breaks. I would never describe Lego as “tatt”

Ah, thank you but I’ve got that covered- I worry about multiple things all the time 😂