The burning question this Christmas

Whilst choosing Spring bulbs in the garden centre at lunchtime today, I noticed a large stand of boxes of Christmas cards: my first thought was tut! Too early!and my second thought, ooh, shall I just take a peek? ?

Last year we used sturdy brown wrapping paper and cheerful red ribbon to tie it up with (didn't need sellotape). My friend's little granddaughter stamped hers all over with little Christmas stamps - holly leaves or reindeers, in red and geen ink. (No glitter, tinsel, plasticised paper) Looked lovely and all of it re-usable and/or recyclable.

Especially the mulled wine....

We give presents to the children and then a donation to a charity with money we would have spent on everyone else. So only one lot of wrapping.

These have all given me some good ideas too

My xmas has already started, NOTE mine and nothing to do with present wrapping Did some weekend shopping observing one store already had a large display of mulled wine.That bottle for sure will not see the start of the festive season.

That would be particularly good if they've only got older teens at home.

Or give a gift card with a treat on it as a gift for the families(a meal out,or a cinema voucher etc?) Something they can enjoy to spend time together?

Yes white lining paper (as in wallpapering) would be good too for stamping/ potato printing yourself,and its something you could do with the GC as a fun project together?also,they can help make small token gifts for you to give the adults,home- made sweets/chocolates,etc,or small gifts you can make (knitted items etc) if you don't want to give up on gift-giving entirely?all do-able and fun for them to help you maybe?

Yes i agree use the oxfam reusable/recyclable wrapping paper,as helping all good causes in one go- also,yes,number 4 is a great idea,epecially if youve a lot to buy for,either that or make a donation to good causes/charities in their name,to gift as a family- with maybe a little gift too for the kids to unwrap.&Grapefruitpip-Some of us need to start christmas planning/ buying early if we are buying for a big family.

Used to participate in those buy a toilet or chickens etc schemes via oxfam. Or the salvation army.
My youngest son has just got an allotment plot - he needed topsoil & fertiliser - thats what he got for Christmas. We had a laugh about wrapping the fertiliser! Sent him the picture out of a magazine instead! Tbh I'd rather see my family than have expensive gifts given to me.

Christmas gifts in the workplace can be a minefield and somehow all too commercialised. Although gifts to smooth the wheels of commerce are understandable. It took one lady at work to speak out & say what most of us were thinking & we introduced a policy of putting one large homemade card (gifted staff member) in a prominent spot & participants wrote in it & donated money to the charity we voted for (usually local) some departments did a secret santa with a spend limit, you drew the name of your recipient out of a hat - that was good fun as you tried to get something unique to them. (Bottles of craft beer, chilli growing kits etc) we dont buy for neighbours or friends which was just mutual. We buy for gc's and as our adult children are all in throes of decorating etc homes we now buy a small token gift but put money in an envelope towards their current project which we write on envelope & decorate.

I use the wrapping paper (no glitter) which I bought a few years back, the remnants of which are still knocking about. I use as little sellotape as possible to secure but sometimes I use string as it's reusable.

We recycle gift bags too or use brown parcel paper & garden twine, stick a little sprig of evergreen in the bow & it can look quite posh. I cut up previous years cards punch a hole in and tie on with knitting wool or twine, have done that all my life out of necessity at times tbh. Mum used to remove any wrapping paper & fold it neatly to reuse. They had a running joke with one very good friend which was to re use the same card year after year back & forth after one of them wrote the initial greeting in pencil as they didn't have a pen to hand, the other rubbed it out & posted back as a joke & so it continued til one died. They would rag each other about being frugal etc.

We do a family secret Santa so we all get just one present we set it at £100 but you can make it less if you prefer ? There’s ten of us in it . Then we just have 3 grandkids to buy for or send money over . Much easier!

I have done 1. for many years but like the idea of 2. (Thanks) - so long as the print doesn’t come off. Will probably make an exception for GKinder but definitely not foil or glitter paper, cards etc.

We are a very small family - no children to buy for. Instead of presents we have a lovely treat day out together, maybe just before or just after Christmas. We give each other a tiny token gift on the day itself. No stress, no mindless consumption, nothing to recycle.

We stopped buying for under 16's years ago. And we don't buy for children after grandchildren. My mom used to buy for everyone from grown up children to great great grandchildren and she only had a state pension to live on. We divided we weren't going to ho down that route and told everyone it was just cards after 16 and so far it's worked out. None of the grandchildren have complained because they knew in advance that's what happened. So everyone is happy.

You may hear the sighs of relief when you suggest No 4 to your family

Yards and yards of bubble wrap, sellotape, nice and shiny gift wrapping paper and plenty of those glossy foil bow thingies.

But please don't tell angry little Greta Thunberg......

For Grandchildren - I do £20 in a Christmas Card for the three youngest (3, 11, 12), £20 Amazon Voucher for the teens (14, 18, 18) and £20 plus Afternoon Tea for the eldest granddaughter who I'm extremely close to.

For the ACs and partners - they get £40 voucher for the local supermarket. They can put it towards Foodie Christmas Treats.

For 2 sisters/1 brother - last year I did 'Oxfam Unwrapped Gifts'.

Newnanny

I mostly agree with you, if you are doing things so reluctantly, don’t bother to do them, if you’re going to wrap presents in news paper, or buy the cheapest cards, again, don’t bother.
But, I think I would like to cut back a bit, I think so much is expected of us, and a few noses would be put out if joint if we started cutting back.

Paddyann that is lovely of you. The true spirit of Christmas.

My parents started to give each other the same card back in the 50s. They'd both got each other padded Christmas cards and each year after that they'd write the year and pass it back to the other.

Also, due to my Father's passion for salvaging wrapping paper, they had stuff that was decades old.

All lovingly stored for my children to find when I've popped my clogs!

As for this year I'll be doing the brown paper with ribbon. Not entirely sin free but partially!

In our family present giving stops at 16.... everyone in agreement.... children and grandchildren being in a different category. This has been a thirty year agreement! Started same with friends about ten years ago... think they were all relieved and are just happy to send and receive cards. Job done!