Anti-consumer Christmas
Marketing and consumerism have gone wild in our society.
Social media is no longer purely social, it's a marketing tool.
Shops are constantly flooded with seasonal merchandise to ensure constant sales, high profits and inventory turnover.
It's okay to opt out of that culture. In fact I'd highly recommend it.
The pandemic made me realise that the consumerism surrounding Christmas wasn't necessary. We had 3 years of simple celebrations and were more thankful for time with family during the pandemic. That I'm determined to maintain going forward.
Here are 5 ways to opt out of consumerism this Christmas:
- Gift experiences rather than items (concert or museum tickets, zoo memberships, etc)
- Gift activities (board games, Lego kits or puzzles to complete as a family, baking kits, family recipes, etc)
- Don't give gifts at all! Yes that's an option. Talk to family encourage them to embrace an anti-consumer Christmas
- Keep decorations simple: a Christmas tree, carols, a tablecloth or even special foods can evoke the fond memories and positive feelings of the holidays
- Avoid department stores in December. Shop for groceries only as the holiday gets nearer!
We haven't been into the main mall in our area for over a week. When we shopped we bought groceries only at a smaller store away from all the major shopping areas.
We are focused on filling our days with outdoor recreation.
Today we went to the dog beach for a walk then later in the day went for a short local hike.
Our Christmas day will be spent playing board games, building one big family Lego kit and lunch will be a build your own pizza event to suit our varied needs (a vegan, a vegetarian and two meat lovers). We'll cook the pizza on the BBQ to enjoy our first summery Christmas in 11 years. Will I miss the snow white Christmases of Colorado? No. We have a lot to be thankful for and being home in Australia finally after ten plus years away is one of my favourite things about Christmas 2023.
We'll play Christmas carols, use a Christmas tablecloth I made and Christmas corelle china I thrifted about a decade ago, we will spend the day with our two oldest sons and that's what will make it feel like a special day.
We don't need a ton of new stuff. And likely neither do you.
