Ethical goat gifts for Christmas

[redwellybluewelly]

I've only been on MN a year or so therefore shall offer apologies in advance if this is a well worn topic

DH, DD, and I were given the gift of a herd of goats in africa this christmas by a relative. Part of me thinks this is a great idea, part of me thinks this is someone making the point that they think we are materialistic and have everything we need and the money should be given to the more deserving.

This is mostly driven by the fact the giver of the goats gave the rest of the extended family ethical gifts (as we do too when the recipient likes them) of soap, food and pretty things. We got goats.

The goat giver has in the past made it clear that they think we live a wasteful life. We live within our means but we do recycle and try hard to live a low impact life

I don't think it's anything to do with a childish longing for "stuff". For me it is the pretence and hypocrisy in giving someone a "gift" expecting them to act as though you have actually given them something when in reality you gave their gift to someone else.
If someone doesn't want to get me a gift then I'm happy with that although if it's someone I usually exchange gifts with then it's a friendly act to tell me beforehand you aren't exchanging gifts this year.
I don't want a pretend gift though, either buy me a gift or don't, make your mind up.

I keep asking folk to buy me ethical gifts rather than real ones, will they listen? Will they heck. Chocolates, Hand lotion & car polish are useful & won't go to waste. But I'd still prefer an Oxfam goat.

I think that allot of people aren't considering the thought behind these gifts. When we gave them we only gave them to people we thought would appreciate it. It is a compliment to receive one of these gifts as it shows how un materialistic the giver thinks you are.

If one of these gifts is given to someone who doesn't like it then it is just one of millions of crap gifts given at christmas. At least they don't end up on ebay, charity shop, re gifted or in the bin.

We've bought these, though alongside other gifts. They make lovely cards and more useful than most.

For Channukah, we have the last night as 'charity night' which is only this - this year was SightSavers (they also sell other things like bags to go with the cards saying we bought 4 pairs of glasses for kids) and it's very enjoyable especially for the kids to pick things and talk about it (but I may have odd children, my DD was very excited about the encyclopedia as well...).

I guess it's all about managing expectations and maintaining equality, so if we all buy charity gifts it's not an issue but if we get vastly different things I can see it being a problem.

We got trees (that belong to a woodland). I thinks it's all a bit crap seeing as they should have not sent us a big thick envelope telling us all about where the trees are. (As that involves actually cutting down trees to produce paper!)

my sister gave me an ethical toilet this year. am not sure what she was trying to tell me

yanbu

My friend's Ex bought her a toilet seat for Christmas one year.
(Notice I said 'Ex').
An ethical toilet for someone who didn't already have one would have been much preferred.

Redwelly - I think you need to show Goatgiver that lessons about materialism have indeed been learned, and it simply won't be sufficient for just you and dh to buy a charity ( of your choice ) gift on their behalf. To show that you are truly on board, you need to enlist all of Goatgiver's family and friends to buy charity gifts for GG's birthday. GG will be thrilled to avoid being troubled by any wasteful material possessions or treats from anybody on their special day. Be sure to avoid those wasteful birthday cards too - verbal birthday greetings only !

A birthday buffet concocted entirely from about-to - go- out -of- date food is bound to be well recieved.