Low Crap Christmas

[FurForksSake]

Anyone else trying to have a less wasteful Christmas? I want things to be festive, but there are lots of things I will no longer be doing or buying as I have become a bit more aware of their impact.

• All gifts will be usable or experiences bar stockings for the kids or specific requests
• No christmas cards aside from handmade and hand delivered ones
• No wrapping paper - brown paper and string instead
• No single use items for making meals
• Really good meal planning to make the most of left overs
• No BIG christmas shop with food we don't need to eat.

Maybe most people do this anyway? I just look at the magazines and all the things to buy and I feel a bit sick. Most of the things are going to end up in landfill within 5 years. There is just so much STUFF.

I am going to try and do 24 days of craft with my children for advent, all using stuff we already have or can collect. Also doing a reverse advent this month for the food bank to encourage us to be thoughtful and remember the giving aspect.

Am I being daft? Was I just being a wasteful idiot in the past or am I becoming Grinchy?

Shuffle I think second hand is great for toys, especially as some get played with for such a short time that they are still in great condition when they're passed on.

I've got my DS a second hand typewriter from eBay this year! He's always writing stories and he's mad on Goosebumps and R.L. Stine, who used a typewriter (according to the films anyway). Hopefully he gets on ok with having to hammer the keys!

Remember when chocolate used to be wrapped in paper and foil, all recyclable, and now it's mostly wrapped in that plasticky stuff? (Not sure if Quality St etc always had plastic wrappers now I come to think of it...)

Yeah, I usually buy special Christmas outfits. I've even been thinking about it and about buying nice outfits they can re-wear, but actually they need no clothes at all, so unless I see some nice shirts in the charity shop I will just skip it.

Well done on the second hand shopping, the rise of facebook selling groups is so useful!

I think both roses and quality street was cellophane and foil, cellophane was saved for Brownies for craft and all used foil went in the charity bag. Now, straight to landfill, we may as well just go and bury them in our gardens!

The BBC4 documentaries about landfill and waste really got to me, everything you ever buy has to be eventually binned. If not by us then by our children or someone one day. Even if you donate it to a charity shop and delay it, one day unless it becomes an antique, it's going in the bin.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this.
I’ve made lots of little changes in the last year but I’ve a long way to go still.

I feel I’m on top of the food planning, cooking part of things (I love my freezer) and I don’t feel the same urge to over buy treats and food these days but I’m still struggling with gifts.

I’ve always managed our Christmas budget through a combination of spreading the buying throughout the year, bargain hunting, AliExpress and second hand purchases. Ideally I’d like to choose sustainably produced, organic, hand crafted, locally sourced, non-synthetic quality gifts. But it’s expensive and it makes me aware that I’m living beyond my means with an illusion of wealth and abundance that’s built on a throw away culture and dubious manufacturing ethics.

One of the problems I have is that we’ve had to keep up with dh’s family’s spending when we couldn’t afford it. I’ve become adept at making €50 look like €150 but when you buy ethically €50 looks like €10 if you don’t appreciate the quality. And when you’re buying for people who judge a gift by its price tag, first and foremost, it’s tricky.

Last year to I asked certain people what they’d like/need and it was very satisfying to be able to get the exact item they wanted instead of a thoughtful but slightly wide-of-the-mark gift. But no one wants to discuss Christmas before mid November and I don’t want to shop after that; too many crowds and everything is over full priced.

And then there’s the dc. I have no idea how to manage their expectations. So far I’m trying to lead by example. I’m trying to raise their consciousness of plastic and waste but I don’t want to force it on them because then it just becomes a point of rebellion eventually. They’re surrounded and inundated with advertising even though we don’t watch tv. Lots of the games and apps they enjoy are about acquisition. They just love getting “stuff”. So far I’ve been steering them towards toys that have a second hand market (like lego), but they definitely haven’t embraced my preference for getting things second hand not that they know the half of it

These aren’t excuses. I’m just noticing where I’ve deviated from my desire for a more ethical life, and trying to figure out why.

I’ve a lot of changes to make, and I’m not going to manage it all this year but then, this isn’t a fad. It’s more of a paradigm shift so I’m taking a longer view.

I’ll cone back to this, but yes it is a total lifestyle shift for us too. Daily we aren’t doing too badly so it makes me realise I have to tackle my favourite time of year too.

I would love a low crap Christmas! Anyone have good ideas for kids presents? I have 9 nephews and nieces aged 2-7, plus 2 kids of my own, and 4 of them have birthdays between now and the end of December!
We have at least agreed not to do presents for the grown ups.
Ethical and eco friendly presents for kids that they will like and don’t cost a fortune? Am I asking the impossible?!

My kids are happy with second hand but I feel like I have to buy new for their cousins...

I'm trying to do this too although for me it's going to be small steps as it's more achievable & therefore more motivating. Reading this i am going to look for paper that will passes the scrunched test and gift buying already scaled back as much as I'm comfortable with. The tree

Joining in to say I agree with you OP.

DH wants clothes for Christmas, I'd like him to pay my gym membership and DS would like £10 in a card from the rellies so that he can put the money towards something he really wants next year.

KickBishopBrennan Get a pot-grown real tree and put it in your garden after Christmas. You can then bring it back in next year. We bought a tree 8 years ago and it is still going strong (been re-potted a couple of times). You do need to remember to water well whilst inside and over the Summer.

We have always bought predominantly second hand for our kids. Part of it was environmental reasons, part budget, but also because they don't really get (toy) treats year round (and only 4 small birthday presents) so buying second hand allows us to spoil them somewhat at Christmas. There are only a handful of things bought new (such as snap circuits) but they are things that we know will be well played with for years.

We have had conversations about the environment with the kids too: DD was given a squishy for her Bday by a friend and within seconds she'd torn it. She'd put it on her Santa list and we talked about the fact it was poor quality, that it would be landfill and the impact of that. She is only 4 but totally understood. She did her list and asked if the stuff was 'well-made' and seemed pleased her choices would keep animals and forests safe.

I struggle with eldest DS (14) but will get him things like online things (Like music/PlayStation subscriptions) plus experiences and some money so he can make his own choices.

My nephews get plastic tatt because that is what they ask for. Maybe in future I might just by pass that and get experiences too.

Food isn't too tricky as get a local veg box, milk in bottles and in past have got free range turkey from local farm which came in a big cardboard box but too £££ for us this year so just getting our normal butcher (all free range within 5 miles, amazing place) to stick a chicken in a pan for us and bacon/sausages in re-useable tubs. Sweets I will get from pick and mix place in the market and ask them to pop in jam jars for the kids.

Thank you for reminder on cellotape. Going to swap to brown tape but want to use what we have first.x

My family have always been fairly pared back: meals are normal until chrt day, then leftovers eaten up and a trifle etc made for boxing day but then it all gets eaten and goes back to normal. I've never understood why people go bananas at the supermarket for two days as a result.

This year we are entertaining on Christmas Eve and I'll do a chilli or stew, crusty bread and a few home made treat too.

Gifts wise DH and I aren't bothering. We have decided to buy Merlin passes for us all and that includes our gift. The kids are getting Kindle Fire tablets and then Lego. Both will be played with for hours. After that I've got them a few clothes bits and a book each. Plus the passes, which will bring us all lots of joy

That's more than enough. The tablets aren't particularly eco friendly but there's a big reduction in plastic tat this year. Less in stockings etc. Tree is always real, then left out and used for logs eventually. Never bought single use trays, they seem silly. Get a Turkey crown that fits a normal roaster and there's far less waste and it all gets eaten.

Family, we only buy for kids. I've made huge quantities of sloe gin for the adults as a token gift, which will accompany something else consumable. We are all financially liquid enough to not need anything. We can buy if we need most items so it's daft to buy things for the sake of it.

Agree with PP about le cruset type pots, I got some for Christmas once and they've been used every day since and will most likely outlast me.

The best bits of Christmas for me have always been vthe food, the events and the hygge type feeling. So carolling round the village, visits to the panto or ballet, hot chocolate with all the trimmings (Christi treat) and not a huge pile of stuff.

As a kid I was thrilled to get the one thing h I asked for. I remember very little else about the gifts and far more of the games, family time and cost feeling. That's what I want to recreate.

I'm gradually getting more eco friendly in the house. It takes real time though to think through and change everything.

Like the idea of Japanese cloth wrapping, I may wrap the sloe gin in festive tea towels!

Good thread! I have posted before about feeling under pressure to have the perfect Christmas from magazines etc. It doesn’t help that I work at The Range which has an amazing Christmas department & I just want to buy everything that comes through the tills! But I don’t have room & my tree is already loaded with decorations.
I am definitely going to cut down on food as we waste such a lot. And we have shortened our list of who we buy presents for. I usually send cards only to people I don’t see & some years I donate to charity instead. I love the idea of a reverse Advent calendar.

I'm the auntie who buys pyjamas for Xmas pressies. I search for really novel ones and my nieces and nephews love them - Studio do some great themed ones I've found. They doesn't get wasted and are useful.

Slipper socks or fun socks are another useful bit fun present. DD likes ones like gloves.

Buying Annuals is another unwasteful present especially if the receiver likes a particular one. No good if they don't like them or hate reading.

Haven't bought for adults for years well apart from parents / pil but usually only £10 and something useful. DM being a war baby hates waste so T towels etc go down great.
We buy pil Panto tickets and go as a family so we have a fun family outing.

Last year pil bought DD a ticket to watch the Ballet with them and she loved that. Having grandparents to herself was such a treat.

Good thread.

I'm not too worried about the food side of things. We have a roast dinner and lots of cheese but it doesn't feel OTT to me to buy cheese at Christmas. We don't tend to buy tonnes of pre_prepared stuff which is where the cost and packaging mount up.

My sticking point this year is the children's stockings. They are nearly 10 and 12, and the younger one's autistic and not really into toys. Last year I knowingly bought them some tat toys (which were ignored after the first few mins) and filled the rest with sweets. I went into Tyger yesterday, just stood there and thought there is no point buying any of this, they don't want or need it. But we do need to fill their stockings. I'm starting to see why my mum used to put Clearasil in mine!!

I'm also trying to go for less crap rather than no crap.

I've tried to buy less in general, got second hand where possible and opting for functional or consumable options.

@MinesATreble probably not much use but might give a few ideas, my DS is 12.5yo, has Autism and really isn't bothered by toys either.

His stocking will be filled with a bathbomb, bike computer (mainly because it's a speedometer), bike bottle cage and water bottle, book about cars amongst a few treats large Toblerone, mini cans of Fanta and chocolate coins.

Am really trying because i love lots of the Christmas things that unfortunately involve not being environmentally friendly- decorations/ wrapping paper/ lots of food but am also trying to be much more concsious of the environment and declutter . Also hard if extended family (eg MIL) not on board!!

@YerAuntFanny actually I can pinch a few of those! Thank you.

Last year I sewed some gift bags for the members of family with whom we were exchanging gifts directly. It wasn't cheap to do but all the recipients loved the idea and handed the bag back to me for reuse or promised to return it to me with a gift in this year.
I don't have a sewing machine but at this time last year DD liked me to sit with her when she did homework, even though she didn't need help. So it kept me occupied but my head was still available for her. Fond memories.

Oh great thread! I’m cheeky placemarking as I would definitely like to reduce the amount of unnecessary crap we seem to buy and accumulate.

I’m also doing No Spend 19 next year. There is a thread in chat, if anyone’s interested.

We've just been to ikea and I would usually browse the Christmas stuff but this year I didn't go near it. I did get some great paper bags there last year for homemade fudge.

It is really hard when you have nieces and nephews to buy for, I will be asking for specific items or it will be money and a tube of smarties! I won't be bulking up presents with bits to make it look like more.

Stockings are easy with grown up girls, mainly toiletries (ones they like but maybe more expensive than they would buy themselves), socks, chocolate money. They now do stockings for us too which is lovely.