Make joy, not garbage

Here we are, embarking on one of the most joyous seasons of the year, and yet all too often one of the most wasteful.

Stressful too, with many shoppers overspending and carrying holiday debt into the new year.

If you find you or someone you know is all too easily swept away by the excess of the holiday swirl and you often feel fatigue because of it, the over shopping, over gifting, over consuming, over everything, you may want to consider an alternate way to treat and honour your loved  ones.

It’s not that much of a surprise that come January, we take stock and recognize we may want to make a few changes. We may glance at our credit card balance, or our garbage and recycle carts, and see we’re surrounded by a whole lot more unnecessary stuff.

And the ah ha moment nestles in — something needs to give.

You don’t need to wait until the new year, you can start now with some simple steps to create memories, not garbage. 

It’s all about reasoned choices that resonate with you and your family- ahead of time — so that your December doesn’t make a ruin of your January and beyond.

Think about changing the gift giving expectation. Tell your family and friends you don’t need a gift, you would rather just get together with them, in person.

If asking for no gifts is going to go over like a lead balloon, perhaps ask for something that’s consumable instead of non- consumable. Or an experience instead of material goods.

A fruit basket, a gift certificate to a restaurant, movie passes, a plant or flowers, show tickets — these are all great gifts that don’t overload your home with new and perhaps unwanted stuff.

What about suggesting your loved ones make a donation to a special charity on your behalf? Or you doing that for someone on your list.  

What a feel good knowing the money that could have gone to a new pair of earrings or sweater or socks that you may not need goes to a scholarship that could change a child’s life instead, or that of an animal, or a threatened eco system.

Need some additional help with great alternate gift ideas for that special someone?  

How about:

• A day at the spa
• New hobby with a loved one
• Re-gift a favourite novel or board game
• Treat someone to a live performance, theatre tickets
• Offer the gift of your time-dog walking, cat sitting, house cleaning, manicure, or baby sitting services
• Sign someone up for a cooking class, painting, dance or photography class
• Host an amazing dinner for all your friends, using locally grown food

Often, some of our best memories of the holidays involve time spent with family and friends. Maybe it was a family skating party, a special sledding adventure, making gingerbread houses or other baking together, an open house or cookie exchange, or making decorations together.

And thoughtful gift giving can really reduce the amount of packaging and wrapping that piles up.

For information on how you can Create Memories, Not Garbage this holiday season, visit creatememoriesnotgarbage.ca, or rdco.com/creatememories.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.