Belinda Moore

It seems to be time to start shopping and creating for Christmas. The wish lists have been compiled here and so the research and bargain-hunting begins. Some gifts I hope to delegate to the grandparents, so that they can purchase wished-for items rather than the latest plastic fad item from a department store. Other items we’ll buy for the children, and some wishes won’t be fulfilled or might be pushed forward to 2009’s birthday wish list…

With limited exposure to shops and commercial TV, our children probably have more reasonable expectations than other kids their ages… But sometimes they do still want an item they’ve glimpsed - shiny and bright in a great big box, full of delightful extras and pieces of styrofoam which make Mama say “yuk!” In the past we have purchased some of these items, unwrapped them, and they’ve sat in the toy box until the following year’s clean-out. When the children request another coloured plastic pony or $2-shop toy I remind them of the disappointment of past purchases, and try to offer an alternative. I think it’s working because I have noticed with spending and birthday money this year, they’ve stuck to items which will last. They talk about landfill, sweatshop labour, saving to buy quality rather than quantity, finding goods 2nd hand and so on… They have admired items from my Spiral Garden store and saved up to buy them or received them as birthday gifts.

So the Christmas wish lists this year consist mainly of camping equipment, fishing gear, wind-up torches (have you seen these, as above? fantastic gift for any age and around $20 each), the odd PS2 game or other gadget, books, etc. Hopefully I’ll have the extended family on board and we can all avoid the scary styrofoam and other consumption nasties.

In the past, we’ve tried various methods of avoiding excess consumption at birthday and Christmas times. For a couple of years when the children were little, we gave only musical instruments, books, and handmade items. We made drawing tables from scrap timber, sewed outfits and toys and put a lot of effort into each gift-giving occasion. We’ve almost always used lists, which has worked really well. It does take the surprise element out of celebrations, to a degree, but I think the receivers are rapt to actually get what they’ve asked for.

Choosing gifts to give can be tricky. I don’t like to buy things for the sake of it, and would rather buy something consumable than another unecessary item to clutter up someone’s life. I find it hard to balance my preferences for natural, organic, practical, frugal with other peoples’ tastes as well. I am still compiling our give-list for this coming Christmas, but hopefully this year we can give handmade, local, fair trade or otherwise ethical gifts. In the past, we have given Oxfam Unwrapped presents, which come with gorgeous cards and raise a bit of a giggle or a grin, whilst helping those who really need it.

Happy gifting!