A secondhand gifts ONLY Christmas

[SweetRascal]

For cost and the environment, I've decided to do a secondhand gifts only Christmas, with the obvious exception of food items.

But some people can be a bit funny about things that aren't new. I'm wondering what some members of my family will really think (although I'm sure they'll be polite and gracious).

I look carefully round charity shops, boot sales and Facebook marketplace. I wouldn't buy just anything but love a spontaneous find that I think someone would like.

My children couldn't care less if something is new but adults can be a bit different. Having said that, I'm still going to do secondhand only despite what they may think. It will save money and I feel like it's one way forward for the environment.

However, I am interested what people think about this?

This is a great idea! We've done similar, second hand or home made Christmas. I aim for mostly charity shop gifts in the stockings as well. Sometimes I'll make ed exceptions for books or something that's just perfect.

Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with it at all and would enjoy the shopping challenge. But then again I have no problem with the idea of second hand in general, and have lots of things already from charity shops.

My inlaws though would be horrified by the idea. Charity shops / second hand are for people who are most definitely NOT like them! They won't even drop stuff off at a charity shop in case someone sees them. God forbid someone might think they can't afford new. They would much much rather have cheap tat from Home Bargains or Primark new, than something really nice, second hand.

I think I'd rather just say no adult gifting personally. Unless you know someone very well and know they'd appreciate an out of print cookbook or a vintage vase or something. You're gutsy though imo, I hope it's nicely received!

The only thing is finding the “perfect” gift. Generic tat doesn’t work so well.
Which sounds fine but obviously there is a reason that theres so much ubiquitous stuff at Christmas.
Second hand books are good.

I'm all for second hand but would just sack off adult gifts tbh.

@HeraldicBlazoning this is exactly the same as me. For myself, dh and children, we pretty much 90% get most things secondhand but my inlaws are very different! They love new everything.
However, maybe this Christmas, I can rock the boat a little and change their perception of secondhand. We'll see!

I agree with your sentiment but I have gone down the edible/consumable presents route for the reason that it is so time consuming to find good presents secondhand. But I think YANBU in considering this. There is so much plastic tat in the world already!

I think you should tell them that's what you're doing in advance so they don't buy new for you otherwise I can see why they might be a little pissed off.

This 😁

It's only good for the environment if the person who you are giving to doesn't bin it. No adult presents, or only food/drink is better. I don't want anything and its taken a lot of effort to get people not to buy for me, but I definitely wouldn't want something second hand, only possibly a book/DVD I wanted. I buy second hand toys for my GC for my house.

Give them a chance. Tell them what you're doing before hand so they have a choice to buy you second hand too.

I understand what you are saying but this is illogical when you think about.

The obsession with 'new' is irrational. But hard to shake!

Makes sense for lots of reasons but do you seriously have the time (and possibly petrol expenses) to trawl all those places for a good gift for each person?
Personally I'd say no adult gifts as many above. And honestly I'd rather someone gave me £10 towards something my kids (v young, toddler and baby) would like than chose something random they found from a limited range of secondhand gifts, but it would depend on if they found something useful/good. Same for new really, I have wishlists for each child and can get privately annoyed when someone gets something random they liked the look of (often plastic), albeit with lovely intentions. Especially as we end up with duplicates etc

I think you're forcing your views on them and if they're likely to bin anything you get them that's second hand then it's counter-intuitive

We are doing the same, I love thrift stores anyway!

I knew friends were broke and coming for Christmas day so I told everyone this.....
There are 8 people you have to buy everyone 2 gifts, however your budget is £15 for 7 people.
I gave my children the money and we spent Xmas Eve having an delightful mooch around the local town. We provided selloptape and paper at home.
It was so funny seeing what we all purchased and everyone had a pile of gifts...

I don't buy for many adults now. Tend to only buy for children.

This year I've bought lots of second hand toys for my 5yr old from charity shops, eBay, Vinted etc.

Kids don't care if it's brand new in the box they care that it's new to them.

There are so many nice things out there nearly new it is a great way of reusing and saving money.

I think it's a great idea.
I made a decision a while ago to only buy my clothes from the charity shop for environmental reasons. Even this though has its ethical dilemmas. The garment industry employs thousands of workers (mainly women) in the developing world. Now I know these jobs are often in horrendous conditions, but more often than not, alternative employment (or no employment) is even worse for them. The environmental impact of the clothes mountain and new cotton does tip the balance for me though.

It's not a bad idea - I too love rooting through a charity shop.

However I'd let people know what you plan to do so they can do the same. I'd feel a bit uncomfortable if I didn't do that.

We do no adult gifts. I do participate in a very extravagant secret Santa each year - I love it. This yr all my bits are preloved or home made.

No its perfectly logical. OP knows it might "rock thr boat" so only fair to warn them of the impending boat rocking

I would opt for buying food items or not buying for adults, less buying is much more environmentally friendly.
And I think you should tell people about your intentions in advance and offer them an option of not exchanging presents with you.

I think either tell the ILs no adult gift swapping or give them something like a gift voucher, so at least it's not unnecessary buying as something they want and need wi be bought with it.

It feels like you want to buy them second hand gifts to score points somehow and if you know they won't like them on principal, then why bother.

I love charity shops, and my kids are also tuned in to them too, both for environmental reasons and for how far your money will go there (unless the items come with the label "vintage"). However, you have to accept that the very notion of having something second-hand freaks some people out, so you may wish to stick to food items for them. Or maybe not?

i would hate this idea and outside of the MN bubble, i think most people would feel the same.

i like shiney new gifts that are a little bit luxurious. i wouldn't mind a pre loved gift if it was absolutely perfect, but as i don't even know what my perfect gift is myself, not sure how others would. i'd rather not exchange gifts than be bought something that i don't want or need.

agree with other posters in that you need to tell people in advance of your intentions.