How to prepare for a Plastic Free Christmas!
By the way kids hate wooden toys except wooden trains or those wooden bees we have in New Zealand but there are only so many wooden trains a person can give and the wooden bees are for toddlers!
And for a start we can’t use wrapping paper! Last year all the wrapping paper was made of some kind of plastic that even sticky tape rejected. And sticky tape! We would not use that either. String then and newspapers or decorated butchers paper for wrapping. I am good with that.
I think at least half of this is a discussion with the children about why I am not giving plastic this Christmas. So they get it but not in a way that decreases their joy when they do receive plastic from someone else!! How to phrase that sentence.
I have always been the book giver- safe in the knowledge that later in life all my dears will understand. As long as the books are collected. Because every year I see my books set aside by the parents for later! Maybe I should be giving hope chests or book cases.
Also by making a stand I make all the other givers of plastic wrapped gadgets and plastic toys and plastic made garments, feel judged in a way. Some grandparents get offended very easily especially by their peers. Especially me! Somehow I have made an artform of saying the wrong thing!
Anyway! For us today I would like to make a list of Christmas presents ( other than books book cases and hope chests) that I can wrap and that would travel, for all ages, that will excite all the little people who would rather have a bright pink dolls house made entirely of plastic!
Just drop all your ideas in the comments – riff off each other. I need help. All I am sure of is that I don’t want to continue to contribute to the bags and bags of plastic that go out to the curb the day after Christmas!
Wine for the parents is a wonderful plastic free gift!!
Already I feel a list coming – but I have put the bread in the oven so I have twenty minutes to shower and get ready for work – then when the buzzer goes off I take the lids off – turn the pots and I have another twenty minutes. Usually by the last minute of baking bread I am stood at the door ready to exit with my hot loaves on their cooling trays in the bin ready for travel.
Talk soon c
The Kitchen's Garden 
81 responses to “PLASTIC FREE CHRISTMAS”
NZ has some great cardboard kit sets of creatures and birds to make up. My big hit was a nature journal for my granddaughter last year. Books are the main thing though, ones that I can read to them. We don’t do sugar but there are more sugar free treats appearing in the shops now.
I love all the ideas here. This year my sister has requested ONE present from each person for her kids. It is the same for birthdays. They end up with so much stuff they never play with. Funny thing is, after my nephew’s (4) last birthday I think the thing he played with most was the big box that something came in – he had endless fun with it, it became a car, a house, a rocket etc. Just proving that kids really don’t need big expensive gifts! I want to give presents this year that encourage them to get outside. Kids spend too much time inside, we spent our childhoods wandering wild and I hate seeing them miss out on this.
Once I hit upon what I think is a good idea, everyone in both of our families get it! One year it was cloth bags to put recyclable plastic bags for reuse in, and another year it was loofah sponges that we grew in the garden for use in the bathtubs. No one knew quite what to think of them, especially the loofahs, but everyone learned that loofah sponges are a type of sponge grown in the garden! 🙂
Books are always gifts in our house. Other gifts might be interesting calendars (I love new photos every month), many in aid of some nature organization. If the child or adult would like to learn to knit or crochet you could buy or make up your own beginners kit.
We realized our granddaughters were not able to ‘see’ the many pictures the rest of us were sharing online. So we began WRITING books for them. One of the best was “When My Dad Was … (insert the age the child is this year).” We then shared pictures and stories about when their dad was growing up. Every page or so we would include a photo of the child – alongside one of her dad. Made for really interesting discussions about how they look alike – and also lots of questions for their dad about what he was doing, who his friends were, etc. Loved that idea! Another was a book called “My Grandmas Have a Farm”. We then did a photo tour of the farm – writing about the animals – pictures of us working with them – and lots of pictures of the girls when they were here helping too. These books still hold prominent places on the girls’ bookshelves. Found a great little company called ‘Blurb’ that made the process fun, easy and affordable. I believe it is in the States as well?
I have been thinking all day about this comment – it is so true that the children never see the pictures I post or my blog. The parents skim it but are afraid for the children to get too addicted to the phones too early so forget the share. What an excellent point.
I love your books!
Used to have a set of Lincoln Logs to build things with. Fairly certain they were a handed-down toy from a cousin. And have totally got you on the saying/doing the ‘wrong thing’ issue. (But that tends to happen a lot when you don’t trudge with the rest of the herd, doesn’t it?; )
I crochet and sew.
I give bowl cozy, potato bag, apron. Crochet lap blankets and afghans, dish cloths and scrubbies, hats, scarfs.
I would love these as gifts!!
Don’t forget about blank books. You can turn a nice blank book into a sketchbook, a journal, a scrapbook, a cookbook. I bake cookies for family and friends and pack them in tins. One of the things that makes them special is that my mother has a tradition of several kinds of cookies that we only have at Christmas, which keeps them special. I am the main baker now and I usually make four kinds: cocoa shortbread (put unsweetened cocoa powder in for some of the flour and add a little extra sugar and vanilla), maple butter cookies (from Smitten Kitchen), pfefferneusse and ginger thins.
Oh my goodness- that sounds like a super addition to Christmas! I haven’t talked to you for ages!! How are you?
Homemade chocolates and fudge are always a hit in my family!
Yes! Lovely! My mother used to make fudge for all our neighbors at Christmas!
Lee Valley has a large Christmas catalog, and many of the toys in it are plastic-free. The problem with some is that they have plastic wrapping – the Giullow balsa gliders. For cooks, I make a line of cutting boards, spoons, and spatulas out of cherry (which started out as firewood). these are popular gifts and have no plastic. I also make rum-soaked fruitcakes for presents. good look with your quest!
Making drawstring fabric bags to hold gifts in can be inexpensive if you sew and have remnants. The bags themselves can have multiple uses from toy storage to stuffed toy sleeping bags to organizing bags for a suitcase.
Stuffed animals! They’re made of fabric, and just as exciting as a plastic toy.
Yes they are!
Im coming late to the party…. But those balsa wood model airplanes are fun. Also a magnifying glass. And colored paper and a book explaining how to do origami. Beads and something to thread them on. Small metal, ceramic or wood containers for storing treasures. Materials for making a kite the old fashioned way. A round glass bottle stopper – you look through it and the world is concentrated and turned upside down. Materials for making and decorating crowns. Many of these are things you would give and then do with them – and your time would be a crucial part of the gift.
Fantastic ideas – thank you !