Beautiful and more sustainable present ideas for children!

[Aponcetasticchristmastoall]

I’m planning a much more traditional Christmas this year more focus on time together than things, this is helped by us having the 1st ever year of no plastic toys coming into the house.

Don’t get me wrong my DD’s will get a pile of presents but I’m really wanting to be much more selective about it and put money into quality and things they will love for a long time than than over prized plastic crap and more brain numbing technology.

I wondered if anyone else was feeling the same this year and if we could have a thread of ideas of lovely things/ideal and recommend any small businesses we might have came across.

I’ll start.

Such a beautiful advent calendar, I did do a sharp intake of breath when I seen the price but then remembered that I quite often spend £20+ a calendar full over overpriced crap that’s left with lids of, spilt, stood on or forgotten about within a couple of days and with this everything goes away in its little box until next year when it all comes out and get used again.

merimeri.co.uk/products/festive-village-wooden-advent-calendar

Cannot recommended this lovely lady and and her small business more, we have been buying her adorable little animals for years and my DD9 collects them, I mean a duck in a party hat and a tutu what’s not to love (check out her Instagram for lots of pictures of her beautiful things)

www.bowbeaus.co.uk/

I’ve cut back on selection boxes and Christmas chocs and again just buying a few nice bits, couldn’t resist this honey bear form F&M, my honey obsessed DD is going to love it

www.fortnumandmason.com/squeezy-honey-bear-340g

All my DD’s love blankets and snuggly things and I had looked at the Oodies for them but in all honesty how long will the craze last and how expensive!!! Instead I’m going order my middle DD a quilt made by this lovely lady, a little bit more expensive but hand made by lovely lady and will definitely stand the rest of time.

www.poppyandhonesty.com/

And last one for just now, cool prints etc for tween/teenagers. We love their cards which I buy for birthdays and then we frame, my DD has got a lovely gallery going on in her bedroom, really reasonably priced too.

www.maxmademedoit.com/

Ha- my phone messed up- the company Haba have lots of gorgeous...

We have this advent calendar, it is much loved and probably on its 5th year now.

www.minifili.com/products/in-copenhagen-advent-calendar

My favourite website for the kids has always been Concious Crafts, lovely stuff. consciouscraft.uk/

Have you thought about a subscription for toys rather than the toys themselves. We use whirli.com/ and find them really good. You can get people to gift you vouchers for the service too (be warned, you need to get 3 months into the service to get your full credits, or buy in advance for 6 months)

Wooden toys for younger children. They sell selections in bags and various sets, but you can buy individually as well. Anything from a mermaid to a dinosaur. Lovely for presents.

www.lankakade.co.uk/animals/dinosaurs/c130

Is that you Kate Middleton?

Lovely gifts and ideas undoubtedly but consumerism comes in all shapes and sizes.

Crikey, well out of my budget! But lovely ideas for those better off this year than most.

I think buying second hand and eschewing wrapping paper for something more sustainable is a good place to start.

My DD - having her first Christmas with a toddler - has just introduced me to Jaques. They’ve existed since 1797 and I’ve never heard of them!!!
Lots of beautiful quality wooden toys at very reasonable prices, and also games (indoor & garden) for both children & adults.

www.jaqueslondon.co.uk

*1795 in fact!

There is nothing ethical about spending £10 on a plastic bottle of honey of unknown origin from a store like F&M, so get off your high horse about people buying plastic toys OP 😆

@Anoisagusaris I also thought it odd to not like plastic toys yet buy the honey in a plastic bottle?!

@Anoisagusaris & @PinkJam Where in my OP did I say I wouldn’t buy or didn’t like plastic, I said it was the 1st year that there were no plastic toys coming into the house (age of DC related) and that I was making “an effort” to be more sustainable as well as buying nicer better quality items from smaller businesses.

Believe me we have had our years of LOL’s, Barbies and little Fisher Price toys but at the end of day it is crap and I’m glad we seem to be coming to to the end of it!

I have the same budget I always have for my 3 but being more selective to where it goes!

@Aponcetasticchristmastoall Fair enough. Sorry I didn’t read the original post properly and as I glanced through the thread I got the impression it was people who didn’t like plastic toys. I assumed from your opening post that you were consciously not bringing in plastic rather than it due to your children’s ages. But I have read it back and admit you didn’t say that.

And unfortunately LOL’s are very popular at my house so I also am looking forward to the years when they and the like aren’t requested!

I hope you have a lovely Christmas.

We're trying to do

Something you want
Something you need
Something to wear
Something to read.

Dcs are 3 & 6, it will be hard to resist not getting more for them but they will get things from other family members too and honestly have so much 'stuff', plus I am trying to manage their expectations because this will be every year eh! Instead of shed loads of stuff I am going to decorate the house really pretty, cook lovely things, have nice walks with ddog, and try to make it a properly lovely time. I'm going to get a new family board game for Christmas eve.

Want: I've picked up some great looking second hand hot wheels track monstrosity for ds age 3, and am bidding for some second hand playmobil for Dd age 6. I do avoid plastic, so if they want plastic toys I try to get them second hand so that they already exist.

Need: I'm going to order some snugglesuits for them to put on after swimming or for sitting at home, I will design my own from colouryourworld18.com www.colouryourworld18.com/

Wear: I'll get them a good quality festive Woolly jumper each

Read: I'm thinking of getting a couple of books each, Osborne lift the flap book about the body maybe, space maybe, some read it yourself ones for Dd, and whatever else I see in my local bookshop when they reopen.

Other places I love to recommend, popclothinguk.com for bespoke kids clothes in bright colours, and pop2toe if you want the prints but not the bespoke element www.popbespoke.com/

And littlebluehen for honestly the best shampoo bars and soap, they make great gifts www.littlebluehensoap.co.uk/

Love the look of Bird Kids @ByGrabtharsHammerWhatASavings

I also love Baipur and Myriad for toddler toys.

Where in my OP did I say I wouldn’t buy or didn’t like plastic, I said it was the 1st year that there were no plastic toys coming into the house (age of DC related) and that I was making “an effort” to be more sustainable as well as buying nicer better quality items from smaller businesses

Nicer and more sustainable than what OP? Plastic?
By saying the above you have definitely implied that you don’t like plastic toys.
over prized (sic) plastic crap is what you said in your OP.
Doesn’t sound like you hold plastic toys in high regard to be fair.

@LolalovesLondon do you?!

I don’t know one other adult that loves having a house full of noisy and bright plastic toys but obviously when kids a certain age that’s what they want...

@PinkJam no probs at all, I hope you have a lovely Christmas too. 😊🥂

@LolalovesLondon do you?!
It’s irrelevant really but since you ask, it depends what it is.
Schleich toys are plastic as is Lego.
DD had Sylvanian families much to my dismay (tiny pieces).

I think it’s the quantity of toys that are bought, rarely played with and thrown away that is the problem. There are plenty of wooden/non plastic toys also gathering dust in toy boxes I’m sure.

It’s a bit hoity-toity to call plastic toys ‘crap’. Some are, some aren’t.

You do say noisy and bright plastic toys in your latest post which is less of a generalisation.

OP, you can get the same bear honey from many shops that sell Eastern European food, for probably less than half the price. It'll be in the same plastic packaging but it might be acacia honey from Europe rather than something from the other side of the world.

I don't understand this thread. Second hand toys are surely the way forward?

Lots of these suggestions are lovely but not at all eco friendly.

I’m also a bit bemused as to how a £10 plastic bottle of honey from a very overpriced (if nice) shop is both sustainable and something they will love for years 😂

The sentiment is admirable but it has got lost along the way with that one which is just gimmicky consumerism

I apologise that bear has offended everyone so much, yes it’s in a plastic bottle and expensive for what it is but I think possibly the only plastic suggestion bar the little animals from Bow Beaus which I’m quite confident my DD will have and cherish for a long time.

My point was that normally I spend £20/£25 on selection boxes, nicely chocolate, sweet tubs etc to bulk out sacks which come with excess cardboard, plastic, foil, wrappers etc where as this year I have bought the the honey (which my DD will be absolutely delighted with as loves and collects bears and had honey on toast most mornings) and a hand made treat box from a little seller on Instagram all in recyclable packaging and spent £10/15 less so I’m quite happy I’m doing my bit and making an improvement from previous years

I’m all for supporting small businesses but the price of those schleich animals is truly mind blowing. Who would pay £3 to add some glitter to a plastic toy. Madness

The great class divide on mumsnet. I’ll be buying all my toys pre-loved from Facebook market place. Might be wooden, might be plastic, money goes to a local family to hopefully make their Christmas a bit better.