To be Overwhelmed with the Christmas Tat…

[TheBeaTgoeson1]

Does anyone else get overwhelmed by the sheer level of tat at Christmas, in the shops, and also, being discussed. The absolutely enormous amount of stuff, stuff, stuff! Most of which won’t have any longevity. Not meaning to be a grinch, but just interested to hear if anybody else just finds it completely overwhelming!

It's the sheer volume of "decorations" nowadays that seems to have shot up. You go to places like B&M, Home Bargains, The Range, and instead of aisles and aisles of gifts, it's perhaps 2 aisles of gifts, and 5 of decorative homey items in every conceivable colour.
All I can think is that nowadays people go online for the vast majority of their gifts, and so the shops are cashing in on the smaller items that people buy on a whim. People aren't going online to buy tiny things like baubles for the tree, and it's the type of thing shops can stock hundreds of, without taking up too much space on the shelves.

As an aside, I noticed EASTER stuff in a Poundland yesterday!

As an aside, I noticed EASTER stuff in a Poundland yesterday!

Goodness me, there is no let up in the drive to get people to spend their money on stuff!

Independents are often the worst for pointless tat tbh! It's just overpriced version of the pound store tat

Christmas crackers for a start - I can’t abide seeing them on the table. Straight in the bin after the meal. What a waste of money.

Have you been here long?
It's one of the MN rules that independants are better and buying from one makes you a better person.
Along with scented anything makes you itch and gives s headache/thrush and no one is ever allergic to anything expensive.

And filled with plastic rubbish, that is ignored after 5 minutes. Wasteful.

. Nearly two decades. And yes, I agreed, many mumsnetters like to fall over themselves to prove how perfectly MC they are, but as someone who grew up in a solidly UMC household I find most of it perplexing. It's the "consumption" of class signifiers at the end of the day. It takes a bit of intelligence to see through the nonsense.

@zingally a lot of Poundland stores don't have stockrooms so if the next season products start coming in there's nowhere to put them except on the salesfloor.

I agree with this to a point but at a time when a lot of people are struggling places like B&M/The Range/Home Bargains are just trying to keep going - look at how many stores we've lost from the high street already, do we really want more empty stores waiting to be turned into vape shops and fried chicken places? I'm not saying I agree with the level of stuff they sell or the quality but they do employ a lot of people and also for many others a bit of B&M 'tat' is the brightest part of their day - that's more concerning to me.

Agreed. Just because you're not keen and/or it upsets your aspirational exquisite taste does not make something 'tat' unless you are extraordinarily rude.
Handwash is handwash after all. Chocolate is chocolate - someone will eat it (unless you are the poster a few weeks ago who claimed- somewhat hopefully I felt - that cheap chocolate with palm oil stuck in her throat.

The people that winge at you for that (and about all the other 'tat') are probably the same people that will think you're a slattern and dirty for using it for two weeks without washing it after a week. Because tat = bad, washing everything even if it's been worn for 5 minutes = apparently no impact at all.

Actually I didnt mean to be smug " mums netter "

I live very rural, we have a small wee town which apart from Tesco and Lidl and home bargains - is full of local independent shops and because I really CBA to drive 70 miles round trip to a city - the local town it is

And we are very fortunate that we have a local crafters co - operative - a shop filled with wonderful pieces made by local crafters and some of the best foods made in the area - award winning and so good even Harrods and Selfridges stock some items

So forgive me for supporting local people and for buying small pieces of hand made jewellery , framed prints, fresh coffee beans, award winning Christmas puddings , beautiful fudge, hand knitted beanies with apt slogans - because I know my friendship and family circle and match a gift to the person using what's on my doorstep

And just to really piss you all off, I made sloe Gin this year as well and have bottled that as gifts and will also be gifting fresh ( as in laid this week ) eggs

Im not being smug or a "mums netter " I just know my friends and find things I think they would like

My favourite pressie from a friend for my 60th - was a poem - that she had written , which totally summed me up , which to me meant she valued me as much I her

And nope I dont like smellies as pressies, nor jewellery, I wear neither but Id love a bottle of nail polish - and a friend would know that

Someone was on reddit saying the had made that up for laughs. Did you actually believe it?

I love Christmas but I don’t buy into loads of tat, so I can largely ignore it in the shops, and certainly don’t feel ‘overwhelmed’ by it.

The only 🎄excess that really bothers me is when people say they bought far too much food and ended up throwing much of it away! That IMO is obscene.

You can now buy pure recycled paper ones - no plastic or piece of "tat". I think it's Lidl I get mine from . They have a hat, motto/joke and a paper puzzle

What on earth makes you think most people buy themed items that designed to be reused and are throwing them out each year then rebuying something similar the following year?!

Perhaps children’s pjs and jumpers as they’ve outgrown them (if you don’t have a younger child to pass down to), but then you’d buy winter pjs every year for a growing child.

It’s like swimming costumes - every year in the summer, the shops are full of “holiday clothes!” Rails of different swimming costumes and bikinis, but very few women throw theirs out after holiday and rebuy each year. Most will keep for a few years until worn out and need replacing. Things being for sale each year is not the same as presuming most people buy new each year.

If a pair of shorts you will only wear in the 2 weeks of the year it’s hot in the UK isn’t “tat” and wasteful (because you’ll store and reuse over many years), why is Christmas or Halloween things you’ll reuse for best part of a month every year tat?

Yes I do. Christmas gets earlier every year so they can sell more of it.

I’m sure people didn’t used to put their trees up in November? I wonder if it’s partly that we copy the US as their Christmas season has always started with Thanksgiving in November.

I bought a new duvet cover in Sainsbury’s the other day - didn’t realise it had pumpkins on it! It will however be used every other week throughout the year.

We all have a choice as to whether we buy ‘tat’ Plus what is clear from threads on here, what one person considers to be ‘tat’, others enjoy. What is important is that anything bought is thoughtful and relevant to the person receiving it.

I feel like it is only on Mumsnet that people say you have to wash something after every single wear with the exception of a few things of course. There was a thread on here a few days ago about somebody wearing jeans for three days in a row or something, and how that wasn’t acceptable, and they should be washed after every wear, no concern for the environment at all. 🫠

I mean, nothing really surprises me anymore to be fair.

Agree. This wouldn't be tat.