How can we celebrate Christmas, and give presents in ways that reduce waste, stress, and are good for the planet, our bank balances, and ultimately ourselves?
We were thinking about this question at our recent Anchored service at the Fishermen’s Chapel, and so we pooled our thoughts to come up with the Fishermen’s Chapel Gift Guide.
The Fishermen’s Chapel Gift Guide
We’ve divided our Guide into categories. You won’t be able to do all of them, but hopefully they might spark some ideas!
Food
Food is a great gift, as everyone loves good food, it’s something everyone can use, and it doesn’t clutter up people’s houses. Here are some suggestions we came up with:
Cakes. Suggestions were ginger or fruit cake – make a batch – but could be anything.
Gingerbread figures
Handmade sweets
Chutney. One option is to make it out of whatever you have growing in the garden (this does assume you grow things, I admit). So, for instance, green tomatoes that won’t ripen, or apples from your tree.
Homemade sloe gin (OK, yes, we are a Methodist chapel…)
Crafts
The emphasis here is ‘whatever you make, make some of that’ to give as gifts – it’s about using your skills. You won’t be able to do everything here, but some of us suggested:
Knit something. One suggestion: a simple hot water bottle cover, using this pattern. People are using hot water bottles a lot these days, and it isn’t too complex a design… if you can knit.
Flower arrangements, using greenery from the garden, maybe combined with Christmas decorations
Make a wreath using a hanger, and tying lots of pieces of material on. This is one most people could have a go at!
A painting you’ve done
Make your own Christmas cards. There are many ways to do this – too many to list. But you could use collage, stamping, drawing, photography, recycle other cards – there are so many options. Alternatively buy your cards from a charity, so they get the profit.
Make Christmas decorations – use your creativity!
Cover things in Christmas paper – jam jars, etc.
Buying local
Buying local crafts means that you’re supporting local people and local businesses, and not buying mass-produced items that have been shipped halfway around the world.
Unfortunately you’ve just missed our Artisan Craft Market, but there are lots of similar Christmas fairs on at this time of year.
Fairly-traded gifts
Buying fairly-traded items means that the people who made the items are being paid a fair price. We mentioned Traidcraft, but there are other sources of fairly traded gifts, such as Oxfam.
Secondhand and charity shops
Presents don’t all have to be new. You might be able to find the perfect gift in a charity shop, either locally or online. Again, Oxfam do a huge range of secondhand items online.
A charity donation
Lots of charities run ‘alternative gift’ schemes, whereby you donate and you get a card telling you what your donation has been able to buy. One example is the Methodist charity (we’re a Methodist chapel, for anyone just finding us!) All We Can – you can browse them here.
Alternatively one suggestion was to donate to a local charity, then make a card to give to the recipient.
Plants
For the green-fingered. Probably not one for this year if you aren’t already growing them, but in future, why not grow plants to give as gifts?
Crackers
Over 40 million Christmas crackers are pulled in the UK each year, producing a huge amount of waste. Often they contain plastic ‘gifts’ that are just thrown away. Why not make your own crackers? People will love them. You can get kits that have the cardboard outers, or you could find a template for the cracker body online. Then fill the crackers with gifts people might actually want to keep, devise your own party hats, maybe… and use your joke-writing skills!
Give your time
Someone suggested giving a voucher donating your time, maybe to help them with something. A great idea.
Thank you to Dilys, Eleanor and Matt for the photographs, and to everyone at our November Anchored service for the ideas. Do join us for the next one, in January.
Got more ideas? I’m sure we haven’t covered everything. Add them to the comments section under this post on our Facebook page.
Want more ideas? Tearfund have this guide: Hand-picked ideas for a more ethical Christmas