To think Christmas has descended into a pile of landfill?

[TheLostMonopolyTopHat]

I’ll start by saying this way of thinking is getting me down. I find it overwhelming and depressing as it takes the magic away but I can’t unsee it.

Everywhere you look there’s Christmas tat. As I was shopping in the lead up all I could see was shelves and shelves of total shit: plastic stocking fillers that wouldn’t last two minutes, plastic toys that’ll sit in landfill long after the children who receive them have grown up, plastic polyester Christmas pyjamas for the whole family you’ll wear for one night, Temu shit, SHEIN shit, loads of shit. People buying ‘token gifts’ or secret Santa crap, new colour themed decorations every year, shelves full of cheap stuff, it never ends.

I used to get swept up in it but the past few years I’ve found myself struggling to buy toys children in the family ask for because it’s adding to the destruction of the planet. I, like everyone else, have been guilty of buying things for the sake of buying and I hate it.

Christmas has become a consumerist hellscape. How much worse will it get? We’re all full of microplastics yet very few people seem to stop and think before buying it all only to chuck it all away.

I know. I try to make a conscious effort to buy stuff that can be eaten, drunk or will last for someone.

It’s very depressing that we are destroying the world with all the tat. Dealing with kids stuff is so difficult. They get given so much junk.

PIL’s proudly bought us and 2 DC so much tat from Temu that will go straight in the bin. They got the kids t shirts and hoodies from Temu that are made from shiny polyester material that is rough and scratchy (DC are SEN) so they are heading for the clothing bin at the local tip tomorrow. We also got given pens that don’t work, watches that don’t work and rechargable nose hair trimmers - all Temu. They definitely go for quantity over quality and DH has already said that next year we will suggest a no gift Xmas to avoid all the waste.

I was quite glad the crackers bought by a relative had no gifts only jokes, facts etc

I completely agree, but I think you have to make small changes that you can and not worry about everyone else. I try and buy my niece and nephew 1 x big fun present each they will enjoy, rather than lots of little bits of shite. I have also changed our secret Santa at work and everyone who wants to join in now get gifts for a homeless charity to give out on Xmas day (they provide a list of useful/suitable stuff!) instead of us all getting each other £10 shit presents at work. There are positive changes you can probably make ☺️

I agree - I’m really trying to make mine see Christmas as a time for slowing down and family time, but god they love plastic shite.

Yep I call it a retail feast and do not participate.

88% so far agree, yet I'm guessing most of us are guilty. Thanks for bringing it up to our intention. We can only Tey to do better... much better next year.

Agree…people then donate it to not feel so bad, but then the charity shops who are then stuck with it 😓

As I’ve got older, all my relatives know that consumables (cosmetics/ chocolates/wine) are the way to go for me. I gift “make-able/keep-ables” to the younger members of the family (craft kits Etc.) and ask for a wish-list for older members so I can get them something they would like to have - such as a new apron for the chef, or a new pair of scissors for the seamstress…
The kits are put on display when completed and often form part of a collection, and the consumables are used throughout the year. It’s definitely the way to go!

I bought Christmas pyjamas in the sale last year, I wear them all year round, they are just normal cotton pyjamas but with Christmas pictures on, I'm sure people will wear theirs all year not just one night.

Unfortunately the rise of the ‘influencer’ on YouTube just adds fuel to the fire. My jaw is on the ground now week after week starting November they’re vlogging their Christmas hauls and the crazy thing is many of them did it year after year and I really don’t know where they put 8 weeks worth of haul! The comments are flooded with people congratulating them on how ‘cute’ their items were when honestly week after week it’s the same tat ex pet from different stores and then they go back for round 2 to the same stares with titles like ‘second drop from B&M’ etc. Makes me feel ill but I hate watch them - can’t look away like a rubber necker lol 😅

YANBU generally, but we can all "opt out" ourselves by not buying all the crap. We can't control what others do, but we can do our own thing.

We've got virtually nothing going into landfill this year as we simply stopped buying crap a while ago, whether it be gifts, wrapping, food, etc. We just don't buy what we don't need and recycle whatever we can, including saving wrapping paper from this year's gifts for next year (well the larger pieces anyway). With food and drink, we menu plan and only buy what we need and make sure we use up all the "leftovers" in some way, so the only landfill will be things like turkey inners and skin, half eaten food off the plate, etc. Nothing will get uneaten due to going out of date.

For gifts, we just buy each other what we know we'll need and use, no plastic crap, no gimmick gifts, just clothes, toiletries, chocolates, maybe jewelry, maybe after shave/perfume etc.

Even when DS was very young, we didn't buy him loads of plastic crap for presents, nor allowed relatives etc to buy it. Gifts were things that we knew he'd get a lot of use out if and we didn't buy sackloads of "stuff". Quantity over quality!

We've been doing all that for years, but really excelled ourselves this year as we didn't need to buy any gift wrap and even re-used Christmas cards for each other from previous years (we keep them all and we each randomly chose one from a previous year!). All gifts are useful and needed and WILL be used up prior to disposal of the containers etc in the recycling bins - things we'd have bought for ourselves anyway if we'd not been given them as presents.

It’s a bit odd go view this through the lenses of people who post on social media v people who don’t.
Obviously for the people who don’t have social media for you to look at you have no idea what they’re buying?!

OP if there is a serious problem and you’re not just musing on Mn there is a specific type of anxiety this relates to called climate or ego anxiety.

obviously the first stage of getting better from
anxiety is learning to accept with the lack of control over the problem

Sadly there are too many people who say 'not my problem', well no it isn't because they will be long dead when the shit really hits the fan big time.
It'll be the kids today being born and young kids alive now then their kids who will suffer all the shit we're doing now, but a lot of people who supposedly love their kids carry on shitting on the planet regardless...the two don't equate.

Why do spouses and partners buy each other Christmas presents, that really is a waste.

@RedRiverShore6 my spouse bought me glazes for my hobby and I bought him new power tools. Nothing wasteful or fanciful there. People do whatever works for them.

I’ll add to the mumsnet bingo and tell you my children got something they want / need / wear / read.

We've been virtually "buying our own" presents for decades, even from before we were married. Well not physically buying them, but discussing and agreeing beforehand, so we know about 90% of our presents in advance. Since marriage, we buy using the joint bank account, so effectively buying our own, even if we don't physically buy our own (but a lot of the time we go shopping together!). Thinking back, it was probably our second Christmas since we got together, certainly before living together, that we just agreed what we'd buy each other and for our first Xmas, we barely spent anything as we'd only just got together so gifts were pretty cheap and minimal. Who says romance is dead? But it works for us. I absolutely hate waste, whether money or resources and have openly returned many gifts for refunds in the past when it was something I really didn't want, whether for me, DH or our son. When I wanted a piece of jewelry, I far rather preferred to go and choose myself rather than want a "surprise" from DH even though he's really good a choosing and knowing what I'd like, I still prefer to chose my own! As the years have passed, we buy less and less each year and just buy what we want/need as and when we need it, so Xmas presents these days are pretty nominal like a box of my favourite chocolates, a few containers of my favourite toiletries, etc.

Only plastic here is Lego!
Maybe it’s because DC are grown up - presents are clothes, fragrances, food, experiences, books and games mainly
Some of my decorations are 40 years old - although did buy a new tree this year as the old one was 20+ years old

I’ve felt like this for years and seeing Christmas gifts in charity shops in January makes it worse. Now I give gift vouchers so they can get something they rather want

While I completely agree. I also think what some (most I hope) see as cheap tat may be the only things that some can afford. For example my sister sees a bunch of cheap presents looks and may be feels better than one modest one for her dc.

We've really paired back in the last few years. We have had the same Xmas decorations for at least 5 years and I do buy a new one each year to mark the year. Bit of a random family tradion that's been passed down. One dc's main gift was a console and the accessories but was second hand. The toddler dc had less than 20 quid spent on them and it was mainly learning toys/magnets. Dh and I did have one major present each but they were purchases we were going to make anyway and just kept back for Xmas.

I think environmentally we could do more of course. We keep and reuse gifts bags (not to be cheap but hate wasting them) we buy second hand where possible and avoid mass produced tat as much as we can but it does still filter in (looking at a Santa rubber ducky). We only buy food in quantity that won't be wasted and use left overs. I try to avoid the over plasticky (sp?) Packaged foods but that's hard to do. Why can we get potatoes and carrots in America in paper bags with string stitching but it's mainly plastic here? I have found paper bagged potatoes and buy those now but they are more expensive than the run of the mill ones.

Sorry I started ranting. Will keep trying to reduce waste as much as possible. That's my news year resolution anyway.

Completely agree. It’s not just Christmas, it’s life. The older I get, the more I realise that we spend our lives chasing meaningless bollocks - plastic crap, bigger TVs, pointless consumer crap that we think we need. It’s very difficult not to get caught up in, or to not conclude that the human race is fucked (and needs to become extinct).

I am glad that my family have finally stopped with the, "...but you MUST have something to open on the day!" and started giving me money instead of ornaments that require extra dusting, and novelty socks which don't last very long.

I prefer giving (and receiving) useful presents, like money, clothes, books, or something related to their hobby (if the recipients ask for specific things). It might not mean mountains of presents, but at least they will come in handy and won't go to waste!

Wholeheartedly agree- it makes me feel so anxious and miserable. I get round that horrible feeling by just avoiding as much of it as possible. It obviously informs my choices for what gifts I buy for my family. I avoid the shops as much as possible in the lead-up to Christmas, and I just become quite a homebody in general in late November and through December. I don’t use Instagram or TikTok and I don’t spend much time with others outside of my family so I just don’t see it- ignorance is bliss! I can’t change other people’s behaviour so I just hide from it all I’m afraid. (Though I still obviously see some of the ridiculous decorations on people’s houses- those inflatable Christmas figures and massive plastic penguins etc give me the low-level rage).

I agree OP and I resisted a lot this year all round the children didn’t get surprise top up gifts they got what they asked for which was not a lot.

I have berated myself a little as I got some more baubles and lights which I’m
not keen on when they’ve gone up. So I am guilty here.

Today I’ve looked through the cupboards and freezer and we have less food and booze left over. I have meticulously planned meals around what is left and reduced my shops to 50-60 per week for just fresh items. Much less wasted.

I could not think of anything worse than going to a shop or restaurant anywhere but my cosy home - but I am at that age