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It’s Christmas Eve day. I sit here listing and listening to old Christmas music and thinking about this holiday. I’m wondering for everyone on the board….Has scavenging changed your views on Christmas and the commercial pressure put on everyone to buy buy buy? People putting gifts they can’t afford on credit cards? How has it changed the way you celebrate Christmas? Do you give scavenged/thrifted gifts? Who do you give them to? Your children, friends, family?
My Christmas activities have changed a lot in the last few years. Mostly because of changes in my family structure. Parents aging and in a memory care facility. It feels good to not feel the pressure to buy and live up to expectations. I’m going to volunteer at the facility on Christmas and just try and have a fun day with the residents.
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I know that it’s been a process for us. We’ve had to teach our family and friends that we don’t want presents. We have made clear we’d rather just visit with them, be open with them, get to know them.
They always enjoy hearing all the crazy things we find and sell for big money. We’re the entertainment because of our unconventional lifestyle.
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yep, absolutely. i told everyone in my family- NO PRESENTS. don’t give us presents. takes the pressure off everyone. i did get my mom some little fancy soaps (found at a higher end thrift in NYC, of course!), because i know she’ll give us stuff no matter what. but i’d rather just visit with people and make food and be merry.
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My siblings and I no longer exchange gifts. We just get something for each others kids. The adults get “consumable” gifts of either food or tickets to concerts.
I did send everyone some fruit and pecans from my trees.
We do give second hand gifts to my son and mother in law. Last year, she really wanted an old Rival crockpot. I found one for $5, and she was so happy that she cried. My uncle gave my son some money to get a toy, and we are going to order a vintage game that I had as a kid, (one that I actually stole from my uncle!). I cant wait to play some Pivot Pool with my kiddo! 🙂
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I definitely no longer want “stuff” for Christmas. It was very hard for me to shop for the kids this year. We already have SO MUCH STUFF!! We don’t need anything else. It’s all just empty filler. In the end I still bought stuff, but I made sure that anything I got the kids was something I could spend time doing with them.
I remember Christmas when I was a kid: Everyone opened their stuff, ate, and then went their separate ways for the remainder of the day/week to enjoy their new stuff privately. I don’t want that to happen in my home.
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We used to have a tradition of buying everyone in our family matching Christmas pajamas each year. While it was a fun tradition, it got very expensive as the family grew and I was spending somewhere around $300 for pajamas that were usually only worn once. Last year I replaced the Christmas pajamas with a “thrift box” for everyone. Instead of the $30-$50 pair of pajamas, I filled a box with thrifted items that I thought they would like. It was fun and easy as I am always spotting stuff for my family while out thrifting. They LOVED it and begged me to continue the new thrift box tradition this year. Examples of what was included in this year’s boxes are: a really nice NorthFace jacket, some Columbia work pants, several rugged flannel shirts, an amazing Coach purse, a pair of awesome hiking boots, and a brand new travel bag for golf clubs. The thrift boxes and now “thrift stockings” have replaced all of our Christmas purchases. Super fun new addition this year was the thrift box for my first grand baby who will be born in February!
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My wife and I have never really bought gifts for one another, so that part has always been easy for us.
This year, we got her parents into selling on ebay, and as a result we were able to impose a new gift-buying rule/game. We got gifts for one another, but the gifts must come from a thrift store, and our spending limit was loosely $10. It made for some hilarious gifts, and probably one of the funniest gift openings in recent memory. Plus none of us had to dig deep into our pockets.
We live on the other side of my family, so we had an early Christmas when we visited last in early November. Having to fly to visit means we can tell them that they have to severely limit their gifting, since we have to fly home with whatever it is.
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