The burning question this Christmas

Due to having widespread family, I've ended up this year with a drawer full of Amazon fabric gift bags. They're not particularly Christmassy and probably my family will moan, but I'm thinking of re-using them to wrap things, especially those awkward shapes, this year.

I thought I could finish them off with Christmassy ribbons, which would make them look more festive. I'm pretty sure I have reels of pretty ribbon I bought in America in the attic. If I do, it'll be a cheap and easy wrapping year for me!

Great idea to only give presents to the kids, although....isn't that what Santa/Father Christmas is supposed to do? Growing up in The Netherlands, I only got presents from St. Nicholas on December 5th....presents from my parents; not from grand-parents, so why do we even give our grandkids presents for Christmas? Isn't that what birthdays are for?

When my kids were small, they only got presents from Santa (paid for by us parents) on Christmas Day, and on the four Advent Sundays leading up to it, they would get a small gift from us as the parents.

Now that we have grandkids, I have given them gifts for Christmas, but they do not need them, with all the many they get from Santa, and from their parents, and grand-parents! In my grandson's case, he gets presents from the grand-parents, plus now also his step-grandparents!

This year, I have one gift for each of the grandkids for Christmas Eve; second hand!!! I actually have given them secondhand Playmobil toys bought on Ebay last year. They do not care

As for wrapping....you could consider making a cloth gift bag that can be reused every year. You could even tie a pillow case with the gift (s) in it.

We would iron the paper if necessary - did anyone else do this?

Yes, but I grew up in a house with a loft and a big shed and things COULD be stored and saved and repaired. Even friends in social housing had ample storage and repair space back then.

Its not so easy these days, most homes dont have the space to keep and repair everything. Its not a matter of people being less willing, just less logistically able!

So many people doing so many things for Christmas. I am afraid I am just too busy having to work and then do family things. My answer is wrapping paper £1 a roll from B&M and the gift tags are what I have left over from the £1 pack I got last year. That should manage to wrap all the presents based on my experience from previous years. Christmas cards are also the remainder of those I got last year. Sorry I am so boring and not very eco friendly but both of those things cost time and money in my experience.

Due to estrangement, no kids or grandkids. Best friend and I but stuff all year, so no Christmas presents. Presents for 2 friends, one in shiny paper, one in brown. Job done.

Witzend. My Mum kept every scrap of Christmas wrapping paper and ironed it ready for the next time. Also every inch of ribbon. She was from the Make-do and Mend era. Some of it rubbed off on me as I keep lots of things ‘just in case’!

As usual, I will be wrapping mine in nice Christmassy (non-glitter) paper.
I often buy reels of proper ribbon to tie them, it's then re used though may need ironing first!
A sister who lives abroad recently brought back to me a lot of the ribbon she'd saved from previous Christmas presents.

When I was a child and my folks were far from flush, we opened presents very carefully and saved the paper for next year. I still remember the excitement when that box of paper came out again - there was a faint Christmassy smell to it. We would iron the paper if necessary - did anyone else do this?

Joplin, I used to work at the RNIB in the 80's and heard some horror stories about guide dog owners. What have you heard about puppy training?

Joplin
Where do you get your information from that guide dogs are treated badly during their training.
They are working dogs, yes, so can't be treated as a pet, but from first hand experience I know that everyone in that organisation care very deeply about the dogs.
They are expensive to train, so that alone , means that they are well looked after. The job has a very important job to do , and most of them enjoy doing it. Should they be found unsuitable, and at the point when they retire, they are rehoused with loving people.

Some years ago I bought a large roll of brown paper and decorated it by spray painting round ivy and holly leaves leaving an artistic gold outline. I obviously had too much time on my hands! This year, as we will be so many, we are doing Secret Santa. £50 and a helpful ‘wanted’ list from each recipient. Calculating? Yes! but at least, hopefully, there won’t be a stream of £50 presents wending their way to a charity shop/bin by NY.

I’m a supporter of ER , and I won’t be disappointed by not receiving any plastic tat. I will receive 1 secret Santa present chosen from my wish list which will be something like RHS membership and I will be very happy with that thanks. quizqueen.

quizqueen Sat 28-Sep-19 18:49:06
Well the supporters of the extinction rebellion lot won't be wanting any presents this year. Buying new stuff, especially any plastic tat, things which use energy and new clothes, will be harmful to the planet as they are probably made abroad so not carbon neutral. So that's a lot of money people will save .... and a lot of disappointed faces on Christmas morning when they are told it's what they believe in, so suck it up

Well not really, it is quite possible to have a lovely time without plastic tat.? No need to go overboard. Keep it simple and everybody is happy.

We use present bags and re-use them every year - I buy maybe one every couple of years where one has torn.

Quizqueen

Like your reasoning!

I use brown paper and narrow gold ribbon....really cheap buying a roll of paper and ribbon on eBay. I use a gold pen and write the person's name all over the paper.

Message deleted by Gransnet. The facts stated in this post can not be verified and as they are given as fact, and are damaging towards a particular organisation we have decided to remove it.

Well the supporters of the extinction rebellion lot won't be wanting any presents this year. Buying new stuff, especially any plastic tat, things which use energy and new clothes, will be harmful to the planet as they are probably made abroad so not carbon neutral. So that's a lot of money people will save .... and a lot of disappointed faces on Christmas morning when they are told it's what they believe in, so suck it up!!!!

I would like to adopt 4, but I know my daughter would not be best pleased. My son, on the other hand, couldn’t care less.

One year I bought everyone a cow - or parts of - see
www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped

I’ll go for number 1. I vowed to do brown paper after Christmas last year, and I think it’ll be very jolly!

No problem here. A generous donation to Guide Dogs.

I have three sisters who live in different parts of the country and until recently we exchanged gifts at Christmas time, including partners and offspring but last year we donated the amount we would have spent on presents to a charity of our choice. We then sent messages to say where the donation had gone although not the amounts. No need for wrapping paper except for my granddaughter who was the the only one under 16.

Simple wrapping paper can be recycled so I'll probably be using that. But I have seen gifts wrapped in brown paper with a reusable ribbon that look really good and, of course, gift bags do tend to get used over and over again by most people.

Information on the Council's web site: we can recycle gift wrapping paper as long as it has no glitter on it. The same goes for cards. I have so many part-used rolls of paper that I don't need to think about what to use!

I'm using tissue paper which can be recycled.