Lack of Christmas tat might not be a bad thing?

[KingsleyShacklebolt]

News this morning about all those containers stuck at Felixstowe from Asia, and similar problems at ports in the US which are now working overnight to clear the backlog.

These aren't shipping containers with food, it's all the other toys, decorations and associated tat which line the shelves of supermarkets and places like Home Bargains earlier every year.

Maybe if people have a year where they can't buy tinsel, or a musical Santa which drops its trousers, or Christmas bedding, or elves on shelves, or any of the other crap, they will maybe realise that you can have a brilliant Christmas with last year's decorations, or homemade decorations, or charity shop decorations? Consumerism at Christmas has got WAY out of control and this might force a halt to the buy buy buy mentality, focused on single use plastic and cheaply made rubbish from China.

Shops are full of Christmas'tat' already. There's no shortage

Our warehouse has been full of it ready to go for weeks now. Weeks.

People who want the plastic tat, christmas duvets etc will just buy it online and have it shipped from China, instead of buying it locally or from online UK suppliers. It just means less money going through the UK economy.
It would be GREAT if it meant that more people re-use what they already have, or make their own decorations. But I think the people who will do that are those that would have anyway.

I completely agree op , I know someone who buys new trees and new decorations every year , they bin all of it after Christmas that year because they like to copy what's popular on Instagram each year and they also can't be arsed packing it up and storing it

Some years ago when the kids were really quite young my husband got hold of a large cardboard box from where he worked and painted it to look like a fire engine. They played with that box until it literally feel apart, and even then it was taped up. It's still in the loft as I can't bear to get rid of it - just too many wonderful memories.

@Tittyfilarious81

I completely agree op , I know someone who buys new trees and new decorations every year , they bin all of it after Christmas that year because they like to copy what's popular on Instagram each year and they also can't be arsed packing it up and storing it

There's no hope for people like that, is there? So shallow and short-sighted.

'There is just no point in banning carrier bags, straws, or buying a reusable water bottle to cut plastic usage when you buy ALL the plastic tat in Home Bargains (or similar) every year. It's superfluous. You do not need it.'

That all pales in significance next to fishing nets! It is those nets that are the main problem!

Anybody at any time can choose to have a Christmas with no tat.
Having one forced upon us is a very different matter. I don’t especially mind this year as my kids are old enough not to be exvited by it, but if I wanted a particular toy etc for them , I’d mind very much indeed.

Well my local The Range has already got their Christmas section out. Plenty of decorations, same amount as they usually have, so is it the media again exaggerating about "supposed shortages".

I also don't like the argument that you can't do A, B or C because X and Y are so much worse.

Most of us in the UK have zero control over fishing nets. We very much do have control over what we buy in the shops.

Nobody said you can't reduce minor plastic waste...

@Pyewackect

Some years ago when the kids were really quite young my husband got hold of a large cardboard box from where he worked and painted it to look like a fire engine. They played with that box until it literally feel apart, and even then it was taped up. It's still in the loft as I can't bear to get rid of it - just too many wonderful memories.

My dad used to do that when I was little I absolutely loved it , I've done the same with my children

Yes, yes, yes. And ditto to the mountains of plastic Hallowe’en shit that fills the shops at this time of year. Most people would tick a box saying they are concerned about climate change and their children’s future and yet this doesn’t (mostly) translate into actual change.

Children are extremely capable of understanding that all this plastic isn’t good for the environment- never mind being unnecessary and ugly in many cases. Learning together how to choose well, keep our decorations for many years and make our own has to be the way to go and yet year after year this crap keeps appearing which indicates the public still want it.

Depressing.

Just hate it when it is overblown as until they sort the net issue out no major progress really

Ok then, that there's no POINT in reducing single use plastic tat because fishing nets are worse. Because there very much is a point.

But yes a couple of percent improvement better than nothing

Why do people throw decorations away instead of donating to a charity shop. There's no excuse for that.

@starrynight87

This sounds very judgemental to me. Maybe that 'tat' or elf on the shelf is important to a family, that £1 tinsel really brightens up their house.

I don't think having a hand-made paper chain means it's anymore loved or appreciated.

This

Completely agree OP! Who needs a load of cheap shit from Asia to enjoy Christmas!!!

🙄 judgy, what about all those reliant on retail and subsequent back office work selling Christmas 'tat'? Be even more in the shit if more people lose their jobs plus those desperately looking for supplement income or student/ teen won't have it pushing more people down than them actually wanting a string of lights or tinsel!

As an aside can no-one enjoy themselves by brightening up their home if they want to? No we just have to sit in a potentially cold box of a room because someone else has dictated it's not important.

I reuse my decorations but if I find something I like and can afford? Most years I don't but who am I to dictate to someone else.

Mine are the same theme every year so nothing goes out of favour. I don't know anyone that tosses for new. I've seen a few trees in charity shops/ Freecycle/marketplace so some are donating/selling as they update so they're still out of landfill.

I normally don't bother but I've bought Halloween 'tat' to give my kids something fun to look at and different games to do in our lounge. I've bought things to hopefully be reused just like a Christmas box of decorations 🤷

I'm still building up my Christmas decoration collection at one item a year, so I'm not one of these crazy consumers. I've already bought my one decoration this year.

@Mamamia7962

Why do people throw decorations away instead of donating to a charity shop. There's no excuse for that.

There are people in my extended family who would do this. They would not be seen DEAD in a charity shop. Someone might see them going in, someone might think they were poor, someone might think they were (shock, horror) buying something.

So they don't even drop anything off at the charity shops in case they are spotted. Better to throw things into landfill than risk being thought poor.

Wow your privlidge is showing.

Sometimes of that cheep stuff is all many families can afford for gifts or to make it feel like Christmas. Life is hard enough for these families let people enjoy Christmas.

Your post is exactly what is wrong with environmental activism at the moment. It's not intersectional and doesn't seem to understand people aren't coming from the same security and privlidge.

@KingsleyShacklebolt

It sounds like the problem here is YOUR own family then!

Couldn't agree more Neonplant.

@GrandDuchessRomanov

Completely agree OP.

Abominations like this would be the first on my list to go.

]]

That.... stuff (I don't know what the hell to call it) is everything that's wrong with consumerism. It makes me sick to think shit like that will still be floating around in some form or other for thousands of years to come and gives NO nutrient back to the earth as it breaks down.

NO-ONE needs that, no-one has EVER needed that.

It also boils my piss when I see/hear comments about 'poorer families' wanting/having to buy cheap, plastic, non-biodegrable, non-recyclable stuff at Christmas (or any other time); being 'poor' and being ecologically-minded are not mutually exclusive.