Gifts and Cards for Christmas, part 1

People are incredibly sentimental about gift giving and card sending at Christmas. Even as they grow older, many people are miffed, disturbed or shocked by the idea of buying people gifts. Many are even worse about Christmas cards
Do you send Christmas cards? Do you give gifts? For whom? Why?

Some thoughts on Christmas cards
Why use them? We tend not to bother at all. Greeting cards and gift tags are abundant in almost every household over the festive season. They represent an investment in energy, water and raw materials - so choosing wisely can minimise their environmental impact. We generally send Christmas cards to let people know we are thinking of them in the 'holiday' seasons. What's wrong with a thoughtful phone call? Or failing that, an SMS? Since the advent of SMS I've been getting at least 15 SMS messages from friends all around the world on Christmas Day, not to mention all the ones complaining about their family members. For a more personal touch we tend to make web cam videos with a brief greeting which we send to friends and family overseas. Not those kind of videos! Just us saying Merry Christmas and whatever else we can think of. Much easier than attempting neat handwriting after a year of typing! If you must buy some, look for those made from recycled materials. You can often find ones made locally where the proceeds of their sales go to various charities. Visit Planet Ark for info about recycling in the festive season. You can also buy or make some re-use Christmas card labels so you can re-use this year's cards next Christmas. You could add a couple with any card you send so that they in turn can be reused again.

In regard to gift tags to stick onto presents I find it's easiest to just make my own. These were made from some left over paint chips.

Ways to reduce gift giving

• By arrangement everyone puts all the names into a hat and only has to give one gift each, kris krindle style.
• Offer people a homemade meal in the new year rather than a gift.
• Make a donation to charity on the person's behalf. Especially if they are someone who has everything anyway.
• Organise a swap party at your workplace of previous unwanted gifts you've recieved that you haven't had the opportunity to throw away.
• Over the next few weeks we'll be featuring a range of easy tutorials for gifts you can make for friends and family. We'll also be looking at why you should be locally, buy ethically and buy handmade.