Ruthie pointed this site out in the comments of a previous post. I finally got around to looking at it today, and found it very interesting! I would love to make Christmas a Buy Nothing Christmas, and to an extent, my husband and I already do this with each other. Do any of you do something like this with your family? How did you convert the reluctant? How do you approach the topic at all? I would love to hear your stories! Leave a comment or e-mail me at Frugal.Homemaker.Plus (at) gmail.com
Joyful Holidays continue tonight with my favorite holiday scents!
2 comments:
A couple of years ago, early (I think September), I let my family know that I wouldn't be giving them presents anymore, and consequently, did not expect presents in return. Most were grateful, since it saved them time and money; only one sibling, who always spent less on me than I on her, was upset. Too bad, so sad. My reasoning was that buying presents was added stress I did not need in my life, and that was that.
I really like the approach over at www.adventconspiracy.org. It is not so "in your face" about, yet it really gets the message across. I've cut back on family gifts by suggesting an alternative - usually a family activity together instead. Our long distance cousins are participating with us this year. We are sending each other a small package of weird props that each family has to use in making a home made movie. We will then send it to the other family to view. The local cousins are coming for a soup dinner and to decorate cookies which we are taking to a rescue mission. I approached both families by email and suggested the alternative. This way they had time to think before they responded (which is what I would want in their shoes). Both groups LOVED the idea.
This hasn't eliminated gifts for the entire family, but I'm working on it. Each year I ask another part of the family to participate. You can read more at my blog under the topic: Advent.
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