I'm not looking forward to Christmas at all

[waste]

I don't want to be a moody git but Christmas just seems so commercial and wasteful. Even the wrapping paper can't be recycled. I would love it if all the adults in my family just sent cards and stopped buying loads of useless rubbish.

AIBU?

We haven't bought for adults for years. DH has a large family and tbh I think his relatives were more than happy to stop buying for us as their families grew. I think my DM was pretty relieved too as she never knew what to buy for me or DH - in fact the only person not too happy was my DSis, but as she lives hundreds of miles away and I don't actually see her over Christmas, it seemed a bit pointless anyway (plus she was never backward in coming forward if your gift didn't match up to expectations!) You may find if you broach it with family they are more on board than you might think.

Yanbu. Maybe it's a backlash against the increase in Xmas jumpers Xmas bedlinen and all the other useless Xmas shite that is being pushed on us. I have told the DC that we are cutting down on tat this year, they didn't look thrilled about it but they will get over it.

I buy 75% of stuff from charity shops.

Means there's lots under the tree and DS is 7 so doesn't care where the DVDs, books, starwars / avangers / Pokemon t-shirts, hoodies etc come from.

Like the brown paper idea.

The other thing I plan to cut down on waste is to buy some assorted drawstring bags for in house gifts so I don't have to wrap everything. Will also save a bit of time.

YANBU. I have started to ask family members to just give me books for Christmas, including second hand ones I've sourced on the internet. I appreciate them and get far more pleasure from them than I get from expensive clothes or toiletries etc.

I'm not against gifts, but as pp's have said its the "buying for the sake of it", the buying so that there's a big pile of presents. When people start flogging glitter coated bottles of Becks on FB, you know the novelty tat market has gone too far. I try to be as practical as possible so the DC's presents are stuff that I probably would have bought anyway, but slightly nicer versions (basically if you want a branded ski helmet, that's for Christmas).

The government should probably make a list of banned Christmas presents like

• bath bombs
• anything with a novelty willie theme
• glitter encrusted bottles
• inflatable zimmer frames
• anything "in a can"

YANBU. For the last few years, other than my kids and spouse, I pretty much only buy for close family members & friends and their kids and just do food and drinks with a small card. Sometimes homemade but more often nice small treats that I buy in bulk or a small hamper of a person's favourite when we can't give in person.

It's helped with the tricky person to by for as there is usually some food they particular like (even my notoriously hard to buy for MIL, took years to figure her out but she really likes fruit baskets), reduces waste and costs if I buy carefully, and tends to actually get used rather than just go on the shelf. I haven't decided what to do this year as it has been hectic and a lot of family emergencies in the last couple of years which is draining.

I also use non-occasion specific gift bags to make them easier to reuse for all but a couple people who really like opening gift wrap.