Three 'beauty' advent calendars for a grown woman?

[royco]

I've just seen someone posting that she's got three beauty advent calendars to open this year.

When did this become a thing? Surely it's wasteful, expensive and completely unnecessary?

Call me Scrooge

and I very firmly believe that they are the majority and you are the minority

You may be right, depressing if so.

@CSJobseeker

The problem is that if we continue saying that [small thing] doesn't matter because look at that [big thing] over there, we won't ever solve any of it.

I don't have kids, but I'd like my nieces and nephews to inherit a world that isn't suffering the kind of catastrophic effects we're heading towards.

I do all the big things… I made the change listed above, sold my car, I mend clothes, buy second hand etc. Which is why I don’t beat myself up over the little things, like a gin advent calendar. I know that overall, I am doing pretty well.

@CSJobseeker

I really hope I’m wrong and that there will be a barrage of really cross posters queuing up to tell me so. And I’ll wipe my mouth and accept it if there is. But I think the majority will be those who are congratulating themselves for telling others off for needless consumption while they sit down with a nice glass of French wine on a Saturday night.

[quote AprilLady]**@50ShadesOfCatholic, if you really want to encourage people to change their behaviours, read @DrSbaitso’s excellent post from 14:45 yesterday. Blaming it all on a “plague of ignorance” is naive and condescending and lacks any real understanding of either human behaviour or the ways in which change can be effected.[/quote]
It really isn't. Your post is ignorant and condescending. I know more about sustainabilty than you ever will. You have so much to learn.

@50ShadesOfCatholic, you have no idea about what I do or don’t know about sustainability. Perhaps refrain from such personal attacks if you genuinely want to be an influencer for good?

[quote Sn0tnose]@CSJobseeker

I really hope I’m wrong and that there will be a barrage of really cross posters queuing up to tell me so. And I’ll wipe my mouth and accept it if there is. But I think the majority will be those who are congratulating themselves for telling others off for needless consumption while they sit down with a nice glass of French wine on a Saturday night.[/quote]
If this is what we have to do to be allowed an opinion, I'll play...

We're vegetarian, moved house in large part so that we could be in a position where no one drives to work and we could get rid of our second car (and the first car gets driven at most once or twice a week), very rarely fly (haven't done since 2018, though some of that is Covid), try and reduce our waste where possible. My new year's resolution for 2021 was to only buy second-hand clothing and I've stuck to it. But I don't win any kind of green Olympics - we have two children and use disposable nappies for the little one, they have some plastic crap, we definitely consume stuff we don't need.

But as I said my objection to these calendars is that they're such a new phenomenon - and it's so much easier to just not start consuming new things than it is to change existing patterns. The easiest habit to kick is the one you never started. And that's why I find new trends for ever greater consumption alarming and just so needless. Keeping on as we are isn't good enough for the climate, but we're not even managing to do that, we're actively finding new ways to consume.

#hoppingpavlova
9 advent calendars - What a brilliant idea.
I may do the same. Thanks op, due to this thread I think I’ll buy more.
I have 2 and they bring a bit of happiness each day.
My dc’s only have one each though. ( is that ok?)

Me and my mum share one. Take it in turns to open it and if I don't like what I get, I give it to her. If she doesn't like what she gets, she gives it to me. Between the two of us, we get an equal amount of items and they all get used.

#TwoMchTwoYoung
Yes, honestly I could happily go 12 and do one a month, but I can’t find more where I would definitely like it all, use it all and it would be certain to be within date for that long and, like the OP, I’m against waste.

If this is what we have to do to be allowed an opinion, I'll play...

I didn’t say that, or imply that you needed to demonstrate your green credentials before you could have an opinion on the environment @HardbackWriter. And I think what you’ve done is great. But if you really want me to address your specific circumstances, then no, I don’t think you’ve got much room to be telling anyone that they’re wrong for buying into new phenomenons, or telling them that the easiest habit to kick is one you’ve never started, when you’ve just said you use disposable nappies for your second child. I’m certainly not criticising you for it; I’d use disposable if I had DC. But I question how you expect the owner of a beauty calendar to take your criticisms seriously when you do the exact same thing with nappies as they do with calendars? Why is it ok for you to buy into disposable phenomena (which disposables very much were when they first came onto the market) and start new, environmentally unfriendly habits, but it’s not ok for her to do the same?

I want to make it very clear that I’m not having a pop at you for not doing enough for the environment. You’re doing loads and it’s impressive. I just don’t see the difference between your nappies and her beauty calendar.

I must be missing something here. It is a cardboard box with shredded paper in it.

Why it is such an enormous sin compared to say, the cardboard used in ordering pizza?

That's a fair point, @Sn0tnose, and has made me realise that I'm not really against individual people buying them, I just simply wish they didn't exist. I think they were invented in a pretty cynical piece of marketing and that absolutely no one missed them before they were there. The same is true of loads of things, including disposable nappies - I tried two brands of reusable nappies, found they both leaked constantly and so gave up; in a world with no disposables I wouldn't have, of course, I'd have had to live with all the washing (we do use reusable nappy wipes because I found they actually work as a product). As I said upthread, I think it's going to be very hard to get people to give up things they're used to and actually that it'll only be done with legislation. That's why I just despair a bit to see the list of things that people don't want to give up expanding rather than contracting. I don't think anyone at all felt sad in December before because there weren't any £100 adult advent calendars so companies have created a need so that they can sell things to people that they couldn't before. I just don't think that's anything to celebrate.

@HardbackWriter

That's a fair point, *@Sn0tnose*, and has made me realise that I'm not really against individual people buying them, I just simply wish they didn't exist. I think they were invented in a pretty cynical piece of marketing and that absolutely no one missed them before they were there. The same is true of loads of things, including disposable nappies - I tried two brands of reusable nappies, found they both leaked constantly and so gave up; in a world with no disposables I wouldn't have, of course, I'd have had to live with all the washing (we do use reusable nappy wipes because I found they actually work as a product). As I said upthread, I think it's going to be very hard to get people to give up things they're used to and actually that it'll only be done with legislation. That's why I just despair a bit to see the list of things that people don't want to give up expanding rather than contracting. I don't think anyone at all felt sad in December before because there weren't any £100 adult advent calendars so companies have created a need so that they can sell things to people that they couldn't before. I just don't think that's anything to celebrate.

I completely agree with you and I just want to reiterate that I’m absolutely not judging you for using disposables, or anything else you’re doing or not doing. 🙂

My comments were more directed at the posters who are regularly quite vitriolic about other people’s choices while making many similar choices for themselves. I just wanted to make the point that there are very, very few of us who have got any room to be criticising anyone else’s impact on the environment.

We have one advent calendar we hang up and one special one (used to be Lego Friends but this year it's Bonne Mammon mini jams) and son has his football teams chocolate one.
The jam one is a lot of packaging to product ratio it's true. But I think Easter eggs are worse!
But beauty ones I think are pretty much poor value and like those 'free' gifts with purchase rarely have more than a few decent products.

@Applemelon

For everyone say 'if it's makes me happy what's the harm', or 'it's just a treat' - it's the consumerist system that makes you think you need to buy things to be happy. Why can't you be happy or have treats that don't involve buying things? Wouldn't that be better for everyone? I have plenty of things I do in my life to keep me pepped up and happy, but having new things isn't one of them.

Not for people employed by the companies making the products, or the pensioners whose pensions are funded by investments in the companies themselves... There are eco beauty advent calendars out there if people want to choose them.

For all the haters, do you use gift wrap to wrap presents, do you buy presents, go on extra shopping trips to buy the presents, buy extra food, eat more meat, buy a new party outfit, go on an extra journey to get to party, give your DC a completely unnecessary stocking and fill it with stuff?

They are not to my taste and it would feel wasteful, over indulgent and against the spirit of advent to me. But I do think they're pretty minor in the scheme of things. And there's undoubtedly a snobbery element. O think I would just urge people to think twice and only buy one if it really will bring you pleasure. I am fine with people saying they have one because it makes them happy. What annoys me is seeing all the brand new ones unwanted ones being sold on marketplace. The same goes for toys, baby clothes etc. If everyone restricts their buying only to things that genuinely bring pleasure to the recipient, and stop all the pointless reciprocal gift buying, that would massively reduce the problem without making things too miserable.

They are not to my taste and it would feel wasteful, over indulgent and against the spirit of advent to me

That's because they're not to your taste. Anything that is to your taste will feel festive, fun and entirely in proportion.

They are not to my taste and it would feel wasteful, over indulgent and against the spirit of advent to me

People’s inability to look beyond themselves on this site never fails to amaze.

‘I just don’t see the difference between your disposable nappies and her beauty calendar”

That’s one bad beauty calendar

They whole concept seems pretty juvenile to me. Why would an adult suddenly need 24 mini-products to use /store/dispose of?

A certain family member buys one for me every year. I'd really prefer she didn't as I always forget to open it, only use about a 1/4 of the products and agree too much packaging. But, I don't want to appear ungrateful!!

I am really enjoying opening mine. I have the boots no7 one with products I will use and the opi nail one has colours that will last all year.

I bloody love my Clinique advent calendar.