I'm pretty sure I do a version of this post every year, but here goes 2016's edition! Recently King County Waste Less News sent out an email about greener holidays, and the first link I clicked on made me think there was not enough time in my day to be green. No, I will not be making my own gift bags this season:
And then there was the one about re-using metallic chip bags, with unspooled VCR tape as ribbon(!!!). It's a joke, right?
I guess if you're over 80 and still have VCR tapes sitting around and the time to pull the tape out of the plastic case and floof it into a decorative heap...and the gift has got to be pretty small to be wrapped in a rinsed-out potato chip bag.
I'll be the first to admit I'm not a craft-y person, and I'm becoming more of a Grinch every year because I hate junk piling up. I hate plastic packaging; I hate plastic toys and things that break or get boring and then take up space for the rest of eternity; I hate clutter and things that don't have a function. I've even started purging our book collection because I love how my Kindle and its library take up no room. Because of my own aversions, I dislike giving people things that come in plastic packaging, break and take up space, or otherwise add to the clutter of the world. This includes electronics. If you saw my house, you wouldn't believe me, but it's because I live with four other people who don't share my love of spareness. Come visit me in a few decades, when I'm in the nursing home, and you'll see. It'll be some pictures on the wall, my Kindle, and a drawer full of socks and underwear. Done.
All of which is to say, if I could redesign Christmas, we'd only be allowed to give food, clothing, things that take up no room, and experiences. (If you still have little kids at home, you're stuck with plastic junk for a few more years, but maybe just let grandma and grandpa buy that stuff.)
How about a food gift basket? If you don't like to cook yourself, maybe you loaded up at the Bellevue Farmers Market before it closed.
Take one of those empty baskets you have laying around in the garage, from when someone gave you a gift basket, and fill it yourself with favorite foods. You wouldn't even need to do sweets, so they could enjoy it in January, after the sugar binge is over.
Or how about tickets to a local movie theater or live theater show or favorite spa? Maybe handmade coupons for something like dogsitting or babysitting or a ride to the airport. I see my kids' swim coaches spending lots of time reading on their Kindles at meets, so they usually get an ebook or Amazon $ and some suggested titles to enjoy. And there can always be something to open under the tree, even for the electronic or the intangible. Print out a picture of the non-physical item, box it up and you're good to go.
Every year I take pictures from the past twelve months and format them in a photo book for everyone to pore over. As the years go by, they make a nice collection.
Rather than have the season be about a quantity of expensive, useless gifts, build traditions throughout the month: videos you rotate through, certain cookies you bake and foods you eat, places and people you visit. The presents will be forgotten (until your kids are moving you to the home and have to dispose of all that junk in a yard sale), but the memories and habits prove more durable.
As a final suggestion, for those extended families who are up for something creative and less expensive, try a themed Christmas:
- "Recycled" Christmas. (Re-)gift items you already have or that you found used at a thrift store or garage sale. No new items allowed. Recycled Christmases can be funny (white elephant) or as nice as possible.
- "Together Time" Christmas. Skip the presents and rent/borrow a place to hang out all together for a couple days. Each branch of the family could plan an activity or game.
- "Edible" Christmas. Only edible items allowed.
In any case, whatever you do this season, I hope you know to save any nice gift bags, tins, ribbons/bows, sturdy wrapping paper. Then, at least, next year you'll be spared having to do this:
