Christmas - who is cutting back?

[ERICSMUM]

Originally Posted by Nicksgirl

We did last year... with a few of our friends. Not each other, not close family and friends and certainly not for our doggies.

I always have dinners, lunches, get togethers with friends who I am not buying for. But they all get loads of presents from family and friends I tell them I am giving to Hillside Animal Sanctuary and the Spanish and Greek dog rescue places on behalf of them instead of presents.
x

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Sounds perfect - you can’t beat having a meal and drinks with good friends.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by MrsBC

I've bought some of the nice supermarket reusable shoppers with Disney pictures (Toy Story, Lion King, Pooh etc) on that they can use all year round rather than Xmas bags and it will also be a little extra on their present.

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That’s a good idea to replace plastic sacks. I always pack each gift in wrap though, as I love the unwrapping of the gifts, but I realise this is a lot of waste paper. I can’t really see an alternative to it, unless I don’t wrap at all 😔

[suehen]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

We are definitely cutting down. We have had an expensive year, with DD starting university, we also helped our middle son when buying his first home and we have also had a lot of holidays including one to Vietnam to visit our son who teaches there. We felt these were more important to us this year than spending money buying unnecessary gifts at Xmas. Our eldest son lives in Vietnam so we can only really give him a cash gift, the middle son and his fiancée will also receive a small cash gift to spend on their house probably and the one at uni has been asked to get herself a few main clothing items as a gift from us. DH and I have treated ourselves to a few theatre shows for next year which we will class as our Xmas gifts.

I will be buying turkey, ham, chocolates etc but I am trying to buy only what we will use without any waste. I’m also not buying Xmas crackers as we are reducing our waste. I do like our parcels wrapped but I’m going to look into any way to reduce paper waste so I’m not sure how we will wrap the parcels this year. I guess by buying less, I will be packing less so that’s going to help reduce the paper waste too.

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For wrapping parcels I use Christmas fabric and ribbon, wash them each year when the children were smaller they know which presents were there's by the fabric.

[Princess Alison]

We are cutting back. Tired of materialistic Christmases and trying to get back to good old fashioned being with the people we love and just having some fun and games

[vampiress88]

Originally Posted by sammykitten

I know this comes up every year, but not everyone feels that way. I do send real cards, to my relatives who I know appreciate and "expect" a card.

I honestly couldn't care less for receiving a real card. They generally get put in a pile and if I can be bothered I'll string them up with my other christmas decorations, but if I can't be bothered they'll stay in the pile.
My Grandad (talking over 30 years ago now) stopped sending christmas cards and put a message in the local paper instead.

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I don’t like cards for birthday or Christmas unless it is a homemade card from kids.

[Princess Alison]

And good food!

[MrsBC]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

That’s a good idea to replace plastic sacks. I always pack each gift in wrap though, as I love the unwrapping of the gifts, but I realise this is a lot of waste paper. I can’t really see an alternative to it, unless I don’t wrap at all 😔

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I have quite a few rolls of gift wrap to use up, but then I'm just going to use tissue paper inside the bags. Better than gift wrap maybe.

[pchivvy]

We use Christmas Boxes rather than wrapping presents now- and simply reuse them each year. Less waste and so much easier to do.

We have also cut back over recent years- my 'kids' are now 23 and 27 and are perfectly able to buy what they want anyway, so I tend to buy less now and simply buy what they ask for rather than buy wasteful presents, even if that is pants and socks!

We are also buying much less food this year, I get so sick of being surrounded by sweets, chocolate and alcohol for months on end afterwards. Even if we don't buy much, we get given it.

We are looking forward to spending time as a family, playing board games and having good catch ups with family we don't normally see.

As for Christmas cards they are the bane of my life- I hate them. None of my family send them to me now as they literally just get put in a pile on the side. I would much rather someone pick up the phone and wish me a Happy Christmas in person.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by suehen

For wrapping parcels I use Christmas fabric and ribbon, wash them each year when the children were smaller they know which presents were there's by the fabric.

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That’s a nice idea, especially as I could get different material depending on the age of the recipient.

[suehen]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

That’s a nice idea, especially as I could get different material depending on the age of the recipient.

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This is what I have done DD ones are now used for her 2 girls saves paper but also different when under the tree.