Low impact Christmas

[Juancornetto]

Inspired by this wonderful post by @cakelesswonder, gather round fellow grinches for tales of your plans for a low impact Christmas.
I've not managed to do much apart from decline all Secret Santa invitations, buy DD's and DM's present (wooden train set and necklace respectively) second hand and insist on only one present per giver for DD.
Does anyone have links for good low impact presents for people we feel we have to get presents for? Reusable straws, reusable coffee cups and the like?
Or ideas for zero waste Christmas decs?
Hit me

It's so difficult when children compare what they get to others isn't it...I don't know what the answer is, but we have to do what we feel is right for our family. I'm sure your children's day will be just as magical.

I love using real garden greenery for decorating and have a bag of ribbons collected from old presents etc to tie on as bows. Wrapping in brown parcel paper can look very pretty and you can even use printing on the paper as a fun activity with dc.

We have a fake tree and some decorations. Every year we just get the Same stuff out again. So although 10yrs ago this stuff was bought and produced it just comes out of the cupboard year after year. my mum has done this for 30 or 40 years with the same stuff. The best zero impact Christmas present is money or tickets for an experience

I can't stand artificial trees but a tree that used only for a few weeks is not much better even if it is locally sourced and biodegradable.

I baught a few birch tree trunks , place them in a cone shape in the corner of the living room and decorate it. They get reused every year.
There are also all kind of possibilties with branches.

Bulbs - what a great gift, I'd LOVE to get bulbs.

Fabulous idea!

Bulbs are a great idea for a present!

We are now really on board with stopping all the tat and unnecessary gifts - moving away certainly helped as it is too difficult/expensive for family members to post gifts we rarely meet up.

With our immediate family - (my elderly parents & sibling) we have a £10 max rule and the gift must come from a charity shop - I picked up a beautiful coffee table type book on railway journeys for my 86 year old dad for £2.50. I do charity goat gifts as well. Bulbs are a fab idea.

Biffy - surely books/nice pens/crayons etc would be suitable for the school gift?

@ragwort I went for a soft toy instead....is that bad? I'm feeling conflicted now. On the one hand I know the dc will love them
...on the other, it just shows how easily I can be persuaded to buy something cute and cuddly rather than what I set out to get

We always like to have a few chocolate decorations on the christmas tree that I can use to bribe the dc with but all the ones I've found have come in horrible plastic packaging. Can anyone recommend any without the packaging?

@Biffybiffster Could you reuse an old chocolate advent calendar? Melt a bar of chocolate into the plastic tray bit, with a bit of string in each one, and then hang them up.

Thanks @belfastsmile, I don't have an old chocolate advent calendar but you have just reminded me I have a heart shaped chocolate mould so I will have a go at making our own

We make home made chocolates using silicon ice cube moulds which came from IKEA years ago.

A family story from a few generations back, there was NO cash at all (think farming family in the 30s) but my great-grandmother didn't want the kids to have nothing to open on Christmas Day.

So late on Christmas Eve she took brown paper and string and wrapped up all the things needed for breakfast - individual plates, cups, cutlery, bread, butter, jam and so on - and hid them round the house and farmyard.

When the kids got up - all seven of them - they were told they had to find their breakfast and bring it to the table. They were a bit puzzled, but once the first present was found and unwrapped the game was on...and after much scurrying about and laughter and desperation to find the last few things, breakfast was finally served.

Eighty-odd years later my grandmother still talks about that Christmas morning ; it's not about stuff, it's about loved ones and laughter and time together.

What a lovely story @peach, people have definitely forgotten what is important in life. I hope my little ones won't be disappointed with their noticeably fewer gifts this year. They're 5 & 7 so hopefully young enough to catch before they expect too much.