After learning a song about climate change at school, my nine-year-old has been following us around the house turning off a light the minute someone steps out of a room. She has also been heard to make comments like, “Daddy, you shouldn’t buy a new TV because it makes more carbon dioxide, and that doesn’t help the polar bears.”
I am thinking this could be a good time to make links for her between those cute polar bears and the pollution created in the manufacture of plastic toys. Yet I know this knowledge will likely be cast aside as the holiday season approaches.
Sofie naturally succumbs to the childlike quality of always wanting more stuff – the latest doll or fashion style, new books, another adorable stuffed animal. And many of those wants come from advertising, whether it’s via TV, a store circular or word-of-mouth (a.k.a. her friends).
At the holidays, it’s tempting for me to fulfill those wants, since they are usually not outrageously expensive or unreasonable… And I admit to loving a Christmas morning filled with big surprises and squeals of delight.
At the same time, my eco conscience balks at the sheer amount of (mostly) useless stuff that gets made, advertised and sold this time of year. How can I get those joyous Christmas squeals without buying the newest marketed plastic toy?
Alternatives to Buying New Gifts
- Create Experiences. Do something different for the holidays instead of partaking in the typical American traditions of gift-buying, letters to Santa, holiday parties, etc. Plan ahead for a trip that becomes both the family gift and a relaxing holiday getaway. Experiencing Christmas in another country may provide a welcome perspective from your usual holiday expectations. A volunteer vacation abroad is another idea to add meaning into this season of giving. The younger your kids are when you replace presents with experiences, the easier it will be to keep commercialism at bay as they grow.
- Shop Secondhand. Over the years, we have given Sofie a wooden dollhouse, a bike and Harry Potter’s Hogwarts castle by shopping used items on craigslist and eBay. She was super excited to receive them and didn’t care that they were previously played with and didn’t come in an original box. Sometimes, it’s even more special, as with the Hogwarts castle. Since the toy is no longer manufactured (and can only be found used), Sofie didn’t even know it existed. Shopping secondhand can elicit such unexpected surprises while it also saves money and keeps used toys from going into the landfill. Plus, if nobody’s buying the newest doll off the store shelf, the company may think twice about producing as many next time (thereby reducing pollution).
- Think Outside the Gift Box. Gifts don’t always have to come in a box. We have recently repainted Sofie’s bedroom. (It’s been five years of the fairy décor, and she’s been asking for an older girl Paris theme for a while now.) If I had thought of it ahead of time, this would have made a perfect gift for her recent fall birthday. There is an investment of money (low-VOC paint is pricier than your standard stuff) and time (I’ve spent many hours sanding, priming and painting) that is more special than buying some toy off the shelf. Sofie’s excitement as she sees the transformation in her room excites me to see it complete.Other out-of-the-box ideas: adopting a pet, a family membership to the zoo or children’s museum, and tickets to a show or sporting event.
Even if you do decide to buy the kids traditional gifts, you can do it without being excessive. Commercialism runs rampant in our society, but there are ways to reduce it, and you can start taking some of these steps when the kids are born. (Or before you even have kids since they tend to mimic their parents’ behavior.)
Photo by Ding Yuin Shan/Flickr
Tips for Reducing Commercialism
- Turn Off or Limit the TV. At the very least, you can skip all those commercials, which cause children to salivate at the newest toy. Commercials can make toys seem magical and necessary to one’s happiness, and it’s hard to fight that. Better to avoid it before the momentum builds.
- Don’t Take Kids Shopping. I can take my completely happy daughter into Target to run a few errands, yet as soon as we pass the toy aisle and her eyes alight on some doll she does not have, she becomes a cranky, discontent girl. When possible, I run errands while she’s at school or home with Dad.
- Toss the Toy Catalogs. Recycle them, that is. Better yet, you can avoid receiving them at all by reducing your junk mail. As a kid, I did enjoy waiting for and browsing through the annual 300-page Sears Wish Book. However, nowadays our mailbox is bombarded with dozens of toy catalogs, selling mostly cheaply made junk, so the anticipation and specialness are gone. And the more your kids see, the more they want—even if it wasn’t a thought in their head before.
- Limit Wish Lists. Tell your kids to make a list with three or four things they really want for Christmas. You might even give them a price limit. This causes them to really consider true wants as opposed to making endless lists of everything they’ve ever desired.
- Implement a Gift Exchange. The adults on my side of the family do this to reduce excessive gift buying each year, but we could extend the idea to include the kids as well. Instead of Sofie receiving presents from all her grandparents, aunts and uncles, she’d receive them from the one family member who pulled her name out of a hat, her Secret Santa. This would greatly reduce the amount of stuff she ends up with.
- Focus on Handmade Gifts. Aren’t Santa’s elves supposed to “make” the toys they give? Resurrect that spirit by creating a Santa’s Workshop at home. Gather paper, fabric, art supplies, items from nature and the kids to enjoy an afternoon of creating gifts for others. Set the stage and then sew, build, draw, write or film something wonderful.
- Make Re-Gifting Cool. There are many benefits of re-gifting, and it can be done thoughtfully. Re-gifting once in a while reminds your kids that newness doesn’t necessarily breed happiness. Read more.
- Create Family Traditions. Presents aren’t the only thing Sofie looks forward to at the holidays. She loves choosing and cutting down our tree, then decorating it with a cup of hot cocoa; our annual Solstice party where we fill the house with candles, friends and family; local events like caroling and tree lightings. If you want to reduce the focus on gifts, then begin emphasizing fun family traditions so kids have other things to look forward to.
- Discuss Affluenza. Older kids and parents can view the cheesy but informative PBS program Affluenza, which explores the environmental and social costs of overconsumption.
