Christmas and consumerism

[redqueen]

Last edited Sat Dec 2, 2023, 03:43 PM - Edit history (1)

So in addition to doing things like conserving water, not buying gas guzzling cars / using public transit when possible, avoiding buying plastic goods, reducing use of water-intensive crops, and making environmentally-friendly choices in general, it's also important to reduce our impact on the environment during the season of giving.

So in the spirit of the season, I'd like to solicit everyone's suggestions for doing just that.

I'll start: reusing materials for gift wrapping. Swap out wrapping paper for scrap fabrics, decorative metal tins. Or even reusable tote bags or produce bags, or scarves which can be part of the gift. Decorating with cuttings from live plants or Christmas decorations, and using twine instead of ribbon and tape.

So - would anyone care to please share more ideas? Doesn't have to be Christmas related, either - sharing any helpful tip is a gift


p.s. This post was inspired by seeing this four-year-old clip of John Oliver talking about warehouses, and thinking of how much worse it gets every year.

[cbabe]

1. I give adventures instead of things. Homemade card good for

‘a fine day out’.

Took young nephew to five different candy stores.

Yes, free samples.

Took piano playing nephew to a free jazz concert.

Biggest grin ever.

[yardwork]

2. That sounds wonderful!

[Boomerproud]

4. What a great idea!

He will remember that forever! Very clever!

[hunter]

6. I recommended this comment.

I like this new DU feature.

I remember adventures with my grandma more than I do the toys she gave me for Christmas.

[redqueen]

8. Love that idea!

Quality time with loved ones doing things they love 💕

[IzzaNuDay]

23. that's what we're doing

Travel, a fancy restaurant, going to a concert. Though I do have one gag gift for the spouse this year

[yardwork]

3. When I was a kid, we were encouraged to cover textbooks with brown paper from bags.

It was a ritual every fall. We'd be issued the textbooks for our classes and then shown how to cut up paper grocery bags to make book jackets. I loved handling the soft brown paper, making crisp folds, taping the jacket together. Then we could decorate the covers with colored pens. This was the 70s - the age of peace and love and hearts and butterflies.

As a mom of young children, I showed them how to wrap and decorate presents with old paper bags. We cut sponges into shapes and dipped them in paint to decorate the paper.

We also made homemade Christmas tree decorations, like chains made from scraps of wrapping paper, strings of popcorn and cranberries, etc.

I love all those homey handmade and found art decorations. That's how people decorated before we had Target and Balsam Hill.

[redqueen]

9. I remember doing that!

Paper bags make excellent wrapping paper 👍

[jimfields33]

26. That was before paper bags were ruining the environment

That was when you got a side eye if you dared asked for paper bags at the grocery store. If you did, you were the devil.

[justaprogressive]

5. Stringing is fun

popcorn...cranberries

[redqueen]

10. Now that I have never done

Maybe I'll try it this year - and the birds can eat them after

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

14. We used holly berries

Where we lived, they'd come out right at the time for making the garlands. PITA to harvest them, though.

My grand-da was a master at collecting and mounting the boughs of holly that hung over doors and such. After he died, nobody else would bother.

[justaprogressive]

35. holly and holly berries

very beautiful..sorry no one kept the tradition.

[senseandsensibility]

33. Love it!

Really festive looking as well as earth friendly.

[justaprogressive]

34. Thanks!

[llmart]

7. Think before you buy.

Are you buying just because the TV tells you to? Those sappy Christmas commercials make you feel like there's something wrong with you if you're not out buying something for everyone and their Aunt Tillie. As a senior citizen who also lives in a community of people who are almost all seniors, most of us don't really want any more stuff. I made it very clear to my grown children that I do not want things and they have been very good at listening to me. I also don't buy gifts for them unless it's something "consumable" meaning it actually gets used and used up. They are both in their 50's and make enough money that they just buy whatever they want anyway. I do get a few small things for my only grandchild - mostly art supplies.

There was a time in this country when Christmas presents were not expected to be wrapped. The children's toys were placed under the tree on Christmas Eve after they were asleep.

Also, you don't have to do whatever you've done in the past over and over again if the tradition has outlived it's life. As Maya Angelou said, "You do the best with what you have, but when you know better, you should do better." We know how our climate and planet is struggling from our past mistakes, so all of us need to do better.

[redqueen]

11. "You do the best with what you have, but when you know better, you should do better."

Great quote!

And I'm so with you on thoughtful gift giving. There's so much unnecessary junk advertised constantly. Ads attack our subconscious with those messages and it burns me up.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

28. I don't happen to have a TV, so I never see all those ads.

It's wonderful.

[mtngirl47]

12. Food Gifts and Experiences

I make homemade goodies----jam & jelly, pickles, cookies, breads, spaghetti sauce
I buy baskets and other containers at thrift stores, add a bow and fill the basket.

For my family I always go for experiences we can share together....like a trip or event or concert....all expenses paid.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

13. We don't celebrate the holiday

That saves quite a bit on, well, everything. No trees or decorations or any of that.

The husband's co-workers do the gift card thing, so that's easy enough. The only other gifts we bother with are for our mums. The husband's mum loves unique food gifts that we order online. I make something for my mum, food or art, and I usually look for making it with something on sale (food stuffs), at hand or reusable. This year, it will be a spice mix assortment packed in small Mason jars she bought for herself years ago at a yard sale, then gave to me. Now she'll get some back, LOL.

Lately, I get a nail polish subscription box. I don't decide the colors, so some are duds for me, but those are invariably what my mum loves. So I save those up for her and toss them in for the holiday, so that she doesn't have to rely on iffy polishes at the salon. 84 years old and still gets her nails done every week. That's my mum.

Right before COVID, I bought a cart load of wrapping goods from the grocer's clearance aisle, as if I knew... Still have plenty of that supply for years to come. I even package/wrap and send gifts in packing material and boxes I save from prior received shipments, LOL. Why buy those things when people are handing them to me?

[Initech]

16. Frank Costanza had the right idea!

[GiqueCee]

18. Did Frank Costanza ever reveal...

... the date of Festivus? I was always a big Seinfeld fan, but I don't recall ever hearing the date. was it the 25th?

[Initech]

20. If you watch the whole episode, he says the 23rd.

I always make a point to watch it on that day every year. A FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US!!!!!

[GiqueCee]

29. I saw that part...

... but I missed the date. Thanks! Now I know when to have the celebration.

[senseandsensibility]

15. This is a very teacher-centric answer

but for years I wanted to give something to all my students, which is cost prohibitive when you're talking about between 35-180 students. So I settled on personalized holiday pencils (sold in teachers' catalogs). Kids loved them and they were consumed (except for the shavings) with no packaging required. Well, I think it's better than some plastic item that will end up in the landfill anyway.

[GiqueCee]

17. We get a lot of extra mileage...

... out of gift wrap and clothing boxes by wrapping only the lid of the box. They're much easier to open, there's no mountain of shredded gift wrap to that would otherwise head for the landfill, and you can reuse them for years.

[mercuryblues]

19. I vow, to conserve paper

that I won't write out checks for the kids this year.

In all seriousness. I have been reusing gift boxes for close to a decade now.

Not the flimsy cardboard types. These are heavy duty boxes, that I find after Christmas, deeply discounted.


I even use shoe boxes. I wrap the lids and the bottom box separately. Place gift inside the box, put on the lid tie a ribbon around it. Those will last for several years. When they look worn out, I use them to store decorations in.

[Kali]

21. cash

[Xavier Breath]

22. A welcomed gift during any season.

Always the perfect size and color, too.

[JI7]

24. Avoid plastic gift cards. Buy experience gifts

such as a cooking class, visit to a park, movies and make sure the places are easily available to the person you are giving it to.

Food gifts are usually good.

Things like a plain t shirt or socks can be better than some pretty gifty item which just takes up space.

[2naSalit]

25. Everyone in my family is pretty far away.

So we send boxes. There are two themes with this, the exact date is rarely met with the gift of the occasion so that's where "Birthmas" comes in. It's a box of items that were collected with the recipient in mind and delivered when convenient for the sender and is meant to cover all occasions since the last "Birthmas" gift, whenever that was.

The other thing, sometimes I manage to get a box off to the family and it actually got there in time for the holiday. The last time I did that, to make some feel like they were not required to reciprocate, I called it the "brown bag xmas" which gave me lots of freedom. I literally filled a brown bag of whatever was meant for each person, stapled it at the top and put it in the unadorned box. decorated with sharpies.

They thought it was unique and fun, left no mess at the end and everybody had a bag for their stuff.

All the gifts were hand made, mostly.

[Xavier Breath]

27. So I take it this crowd isn't into exchanging pricey vehicles for Christmas?

These commercials make me ill. Nothing says 'Happy Birthday Jesus' like $50,000 worth of conspicuous consumerism.

[usonian]

30. Wrap a beautiful ribbon on your old car!

I posted this "gift" in the lounge today. Just for fun. I like to find weird stuff in thrift stores, and photograph it rather than buy it.

Give one to rich snots you know.



Next: solar powered prayer wheels.

[3catwoman3]

31. When our sons, who are now 33 and 31, were little boys...

...my mom did a wonderful thing for me. She made lots of bags out of Christmas fabric. Shaped like pillow cases, and made in a variety of sizes, colors, and patterns. They are beautiful.

No paper, no cutting, no tape. Drop a gift in the appropriate size bag, tie a ribbon or piece of yarn around the top, and good to go. Fast, neat, and environmentally friendly. It was one of the best things she ever did for me.

[gopiscrap]

32. Fuck Christmas

don't buy shit for anyone, it's an over hyped holiday designed to sucker people into buying stuff for others out of guilt and greed then you will not only save money but also help the environment, in addition to can use the money you save to help financially support liberal political causes and issues