Have a Crapless Christmas

I met some nice people this summer. Two of them were a couple biking across the country promoting their documentary, The Clean Bin Project. Now that I have children to inherit the earth I think it’s great that there are these role models out there. It’s a pity the message is so emotionally uncomfortable. The documentary had actual footage of the sea of small plastic particles swirling out in the middle of the pacific ocean. And the colony of albatross parents spy the shiny particles and think they must be full of minerals: ideal for growing baby birds. Now every time I clean the house, I see the same small plastic particles that are strewed across the living room floor being regurgitated into the hopeful mouths of the baby albatross. Small Barbie shoes, tiny tea sets, toothbrushes, Playmobil parts. Which then leads to the question: what shall we get the kids for Christmas? Plastic bobblehead likenesses of The Clean Bin Project couple are unlikely to be available, thank goodness.
There is nothing more frustrating than spending Christmas morning trying to break into an over packaged kids toy. By the time I finally succeed, my child has lost interest, consumed half my eggnog, opened all my gifts, knocked over the Christmas tree, and still I stare intently at the contraption in my hands, dumbfounded that somewhere there is still a twist tie pinning the darn truck to its cardboard house. Do they really need to use fifty twist ties to hold a foot long Barbie or toy truck in place?
And then there is always the affordability factor. When we first put together the budget for the childcare centre we aspired to purchase only environmentally friendly wooden toys. But then the renos went over and we were left with the option of buying a few wooden toys or an appropriate amount of plastic ones. And when we dispose of those will they will make their way to the ocean to obstruct the intestines of more albatross. Does my four year old care about this? Not right now. And since my children are presently playing with the same Lego I used as a child 35 years ago, are all plastic toys really that bad?
My most horrific Christmas memory was watching my nieces and nephews survive an hour of gift bombardment from the adults overhead before finally bursting into shell shocked tears. This Christmas, I am going to try and say no to crap.
We have been encouraging home made or recycled gifts for birthdays since our kids were born. And up to a certain age it works great: they want something new to them. So why not Christmas? My husband takes advantage of our children’s short lived memories by collecting up the toys at New Years and putting them away for the next birthday! How about one fine quality toy that will last, and the rest be consumables or re-boxed? Or how about this: buy the same amount of crap but pay attention to the packaging.
Or better yet, how about purchasing an experience. You can buy local, and keep the wheels of economy, which might just become a bit of an albatross itself, turning. Tickets to the theatre, swim, skate or ski passes, music, pottery…
Historically, Christmas Day gift giving was consumables and Boxing Day was set aside for packing up all those extra toys and gadgets for those less fortunate. Moving into the future maybe we should shop less for a multitude of tiny, cheap plastic gimmicks that will be forgotten within the week and more for a few sustainable ideas from the past. Have a crapless Christmas!