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The Big Love Gift Guide
Your suggestions | Gift vouchers | Tell a friend
More Joy, Less Stuff
Do you sometimes feel trapped by the shopping, spending, and frenzied preparations of Christmas? Do you want a holiday wrapped more in meaning and less in stuff? If so, you're not alone.
Happy Christmas (burp!) Many of us would welcome less emphasis on gift giving and spending. But Christmas these days seems less a time of goodwill to all than a consumerist binge. Too often, the holidays seem to exhaust rather than uplift us and we spend months after paying them off. Let's reclaim gift giving from big business and save some energy to share with each other.Think before you buy. Think about gifts that show what a big heart you have - that bring us back together and don't cost the earth. * The gift of your time * Something handmade * Gifts of experience * Gifts that give twice
Great gifts for grown-ups Massage (neck & shoulders, head, feet or
more) Breakfast in bed every Sunday for a month! A simply-framed photograph or child's painting A poem Pickles & preserves Your undivided attention for a whole hour to do anything the other person wishes!! Babysitting vouchers. Many, many more in guestbook.
Great gifts for kids, teenagers & families Favourite books with special messages inside An exciting (low-cost) family outing The 'title' to a piece of the backyard (for gardening, cubby, etc) A cooking lesson An old tape recorder and blank cassettes Homemade play-doh A costume box filled with fun dress-ups from op shops. See "Your ideas" in the guestbook.
How to be a powerful consumer Relish your power as a conscious consumer. Before buying anything, consider that your actions really do make a difference. Ask questions like... Where was it made? How much energy and other resources went into making it, selling it, packaging and distributing it? What pollution and (toxic) by-products were created? Where will it end up? What about the packaging? Do I really need it? Is it from an ethical company I want to support? Feeling empty and incomplete? Clever marketing may have made you that way. Think about who wants you to buy it and what interest this serves. Yours or their's. "Advertising at its best is making people feel that without their product, you're a loser. " - Nancy Shalek (Former President Grey Advertising) What human resources have been involved? (eg. pay and conditions of workers) Is it a fair price? Can I afford it!? Can I make or find an equivalent or better item elsewhere? How many hours will I have to work to pay for this? What else could I be doing with that time? It's a personal thing and not about being perfect or absolutes. Perhaps the most important thing is to simply stay awake and aware - and make smart decisions for yourself, your family and the planet. Don't get guilty - get powerful!
It's a wrap Why throw out gift wrap when you can re-use it! Cards too, or make your own. Or let the gift be a special card and message. Many of these Big Love gifts can be presented as a voucher. Check out these voucher samples and print one off or just write it into a card.
It's okay to be loving Some people worry that inexpensive gifts won't be well received. We've found this is rarely the case. When you give something with love , 99% of people couldn't be happier - no matter what the price tag. The other 1% are going to have to catch on!
Gifts that give twice Check out the Wilderness Society shops, One World Shop (CAA) shops, other charity and op-shops, ABC Shop, Planet Ark and other eco-/people-friendly places and ideas. See the Sustainable Business Network and New Dream website for many more ideas.
Give us your suggestions! Click here to go to our Big Love guestbook where you can read what others have suggested and share your own for the whole world to see.
More hot links Gift Guides Conscious consumerism links Search the web for more gift ideas: Bookmark this page and come back soon for... More Big Love gift ideas: Recipes, instructions and many more
great ideas.
Brought to you with love by Barking Owl, the Sustainable Business Network, Trade Action Group and friends in celebration of International Buy Nothing Day. Check out http://www.adbusters.org e-mail biglove@barkingowl.com
May your holiday season and new millennium be full of joy, not just stuff(ing!)
Thanks to Marion Duke, everyone at TAG, Environmental Printing Company, Marshall Martin, Verity James, Pieta O'Shaughnessy, RTRFM, Phillip Nukilinksy, Jenny Davy, Rodney, Brett, David, Corinne, Karel, Rosie Egeydi, Lorraine Roberts and everyone else who has helped so much.
Your suggestions | Gift vouchers | Tell a friend about this site
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