Recycled Christmas, could it work???

Prudent

Sallys_Savings wrote:

I'm gathering bit and pieces from car boots...
today I brought a beautiful boxed height chart for 50p and a brand new boxed fabric ark with all the anmials for £1.50 (seen in woolworths for over £6)= total £2 for my neice......and a brand new boxed and sealed drinking game with shot glasses for my nephew for 75p ... two lots of boots toiltries all packaged at £1 each for my daughters (had the original price on the back of £8.99).

So not a bad start for chrissy pressies

I shop in exactly this way every year and have some lovely finds. People often perceive my presents to be very generous but in actual fact, I don't spend a lot. I keep a list in my bag as I buy quite a lot of pressies. When I have something I write it on the list next to the person's name.

Princessa_2

Have you tried Howies, they use recycled, organic materials in their clothes. And they also say: We pledge to give 1% of our turnover or 10% of pre-tax profits (whichever is greater) to grass-root environmental and social projects. It is only a small amount but as our company grows we will be able to give more. Which gives us a nice reason to want to grow.

And to make it even better, see the link jo b started: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2418477

we've got t-shirts from them that must be 4 years old and still look great. and no i don't work for them, lol

Queen.Bess

Well in preparation for last Christmas, in October I planted 4 pots with 3 hyacinth bulbs and they bloomed just in time for the Day! I then encouraged my friends to plant them in their back gardens.

I also made biscuits for other friends and wrapped them nicely. And twinned with that OH and I found some unwanted gifts that were still in 'as new' condition wrapped them up and gave them as presents.

Will try again for recycled or homeade gifts this year. We have a fair trde shop here so will probably access that for a few of the more unusual gifts!

Plan ahead and no-one need stress about it - It's just a day after all!

margaretclare

dolly_day_dream wrote:

Hi Margaret clare

Thanks for the info - it's not that I am anti Christmas - even though most people who know me know that I call the celebration under many different names - I am anti 'them' big business and commercialism taking it all over. The inference that we don't have a 'proper' Celebration if we don't go totally over the top, buy the must have toy for that year and drink and eat ourselves into a stupor. Mankind has been celebrating the mid winter festival for thousands of years without their help - we just need the confidence to do it our way.

Yes, I completely agree with you. Drinking and eating has long been a way of people getting together, relaxing and enjoying each other's company, and after being well-lubricated with mead the harp would be passed around and anyone who could would sing, recite or tell stories. This helped to cement the community by reinforcing their shared values - heroism, courage in adversity, those sort of things.

But every autumn there are magazine/newspaper articles aimed at women headed things like 'How to survive Christmas?' Well, if it's something that just has to be 'survived' then no - it's time to call a halt. Usually said articles have a 'countdown' - things to do, and again, always for women to do!

As for the 'must have' toy for the year (made in China!) these are endless and can be anything at all, usually nothing whatever to do with any winter celebration. Does it really matter if you don't have the latest plasma TV to watch yet another old James Bond film or the soaps trying to get the biggest viewing figures by putting on the most extreme form of drama? As one TV soap got huge viewing figures when the pub landlady was served with her divorce papers on Christmas Day (as if that's in line with the 'spirit of Christmas'!)

Best wishes

Margaret Clare

JAMIEDODGER

sounds like a brilliant idea. my family are unlikely to be happy recieving second hand presents, but i do like the idea of getting them fair trade, or things made out of recycled goods. myself and my kids have already decided to cut down again this year on the amount of presents that i buy them. i want to pay a little money into their bank accounts and give them one nice present.

cazzie_4

A few years ago I bought my friends vinyl records for xmas, they were in good condition and everyone loved them. I feel if thought has been put into the gift then it doesn't matter if it is second hand or not. Retro gifts for are better if there second hand in my opinion, have a bit of character.

My friend recently bought me a daniel o'donnel mug from a charity shop as a cheer me up, it did make me laugh. Second hand or not daniel made me smile lol

haha

kscour

just stumbled across this and wanted to say thanks! I got really, really down last christmas with all the jingle jangles of stupid music in shops and the matching jingle jangle of tills! gosh feeling all uptight just thinking about it again! Anyway I banned commercial xmas last year, dd's made paper chains and other decorations and I had a good long think about presents - it's not the spending of money that bothers me it's the "having" to spend it. I spent way over budget on one brother and sil by buying a season ticket for them & kids to local attraction but it was worth every penny to see their faces and also I haven't bothered with birthday presents etc just small token presents for the kids but again small presents that they really want. The plus side is that they have somewhere to go that they really enjoy and is free so I've probably ended up saving them far more money than I spent.
Anyway thanks again for the reminder I'm going to start planning now so that I have a chance of a really enjoyable family Xmas that's even better than last year.

otterspasm

Hi guys,
LOVING THIS THREAD.
I'm afraid i plan for christmas all year round...in a relaxed kind of way though! I love that time of year. But i hate the commercialism of it too so here is what we do...

Buy from car boots and charity shops.
I knit lots of gifts from wool bought throughout the year in charity shops...can knit easy things like scarves, bags, hats.
Make other things...we have lots of wood which we salvaged from an old garage that we took down last year. Am making garden planters with it and may even try a basic garden bench. Painted or stained and (if a planter) filled with cuttings taken from our garden these will be great presents.
Have agreed with some family and friends to only exchange home-made gifts...jam, knitted or sewn items, I'm doing a pottery night class so will make egg cups and piggy banks etc there, baked items etc. My sister in law has dug up a walnut tree seedling which has self seeded in her garden and is going to pot that up for us.

I use last years cards to make gift tags for next year and make christmas cards out of spare paper and card we have at home...son does the painting/sticking and loves it.

I love receiving homemade items as gifts. It means so much more to me and is much more likely to be useful.

I've got loads of great ideas from this thread....love the recycled grolsch glasses!:beer:

Love Tess x

EagerLearner

Hi - have to say I agree with GardenMillie and for 2 Xmases running we gave his mum and her partner a hamper which we put together over a few weeks, on each shopping trip or gander into town collecting one or two more bits. Some items were from the £1 store but others from Deli or BHS/M&S - all in much cheaper than the pre-made hampers and better as we handpicked everything.

Also for the last year I have made my own cards for all occasions including Xmas which is a nicer touch - I initially thought people would think it cheap but they didn't and I'm so glad.

I also recently for a friends birthday compiled a CD for her with fun happy songs, created the CD cover myself in Word with pics from the internet of all her favourite things (Las Vegas, Elvis, Brad Pitt, Pirates of the Carribbean). I then used the same images for the cover to create my own wrapping paper (still in Word, just enlarged the pics a bit) and printed it then wrapped it all off. She was so impressed with the wrapping paper and matching set - almost more so with the paper than whatever the cd may contain ;o)

I am going to do that more often as it shows you have taken time out and actually thought about the person - whether Xmas or birthdays/special occasions.

However my big money saving tip for Xmas this year is... go away! We're doing it for the 1st time ever and are putting the cost of Xmas spending (£500 more or less between us) into a 2 week trip to Thailand for Xmas & NY - Money Saving in a cheeky, yet relaxing way ;o)

sandieb

Has anyone tried Amy Dacycyzn's idea in her book "The Tightwad Gazette" of sending Christmas postcards? She re-used the front of received Christmas cards to send as postcards. The idea quite appeals to me.