A Guide to Buying Sustainable Presents
When I first started looking into sustainable present giving I was shocked at the price difference. I really wanted to change the way I shopped, not just for myself but also for my family and friends; I wanted to buy as many planet and people-friendly options as possible. I know that the reason sustainable brands cost more is because everyone involved is getting a fair wage and the materials are being grown and processed in the best way possible but I have to be honest, we cannot afford to shop like that on a daily basis, not even close.
Now I’m not saying the price tags attached to sustainable brands aren’t reasonable, or that everything shouldn’t cost this much because it should; fair labour and sustainable materials should be the only options, and plastic shouldn’t be used if at all possible. But in the world we live in, the culture we are emersed in (whether voluntarily or otherwise), the gift-giving and “more is more” mentality we are surrounded by, it means that unsustainable brands are cheaper and most of us cannot afford to always buy 100% ethical, vegan, cruelty-free, planet-friendly, zero-waste options.
So what did we do? Firstly we started by buying less, for ourselves and for others. I have stopped buying loads of clothes and things for my hobbies, I have created a minimal-ish wardrobe for myself and very rarely add to it, and have stopped spending money on random cool-looking crafting items (I find this much harder than not buying clothes!).
We also have a no-presents-at-Christmas rule with family and friends. It was requested that this didn’t include the children which we agreed to, but we did ask that their presents be secondhand or books where possible, to keep in line with our beliefs.
If you still wish to get something then secondhand is most definitely the way to go in our opinion. We get at least 90% of our children’s presents secondhand and they are still beautiful items that are enjoyed and loved by them, and Summer has a serious talent for finding incredible presents secondhand, usually from the app Vinted – she’s opened so many people’s eyes to this amazing app (ours included) it’s a wonder she’s not being sponsored by them quite frankly!
We have had our fair share of nasty comments about giving our children secondhand presents and it can really hurt but we remind ourselves that our children are happy and loved and that the amount of money we spend on them is not linked to either of those things. We are doing our best to show them how to look after our planet whilst still enjoying birthdays and other occasions, the same as anyone else.
For T-Bears birthday we got her lots of clothing pieces as that is what she needed and asked for. She wanted princess dresses so we got her a pink sparkly birthday dress from Vinted for £4.28 as well as a blue Disney store Cinderella dress for £3.45 and a Belle dress for £8.35. These costs include delivery and each of the items arrived promptly and in fantastic condition. If we had bought even one of these dresses new we wouldn’t have been able to get her much else so it goes to show that buying sustainably can actually make your money go further.
We also got her a cute little flamingo planter from Lidl. I’m not sure if this counts as sustainable, lord knows where it was made if I’m honest (and we do plan on being honest, we aren’t perfect at all, this is our journey) but we will keep both the planter and plant for years to come. She loves “mingos” and asked for a plant of her own to keep in her bedroom and this fit the bill and she adores it.
She also got the cutest little Minnie Mouse boots from J-Bear, which I picked up for a mere £2 on Facebook Marketplace from a Dad who lived half a mile away so I collected them on a walk one morning. The other items she got included a Minnie Mouse dressing gown (there was a definite theme this year!) and some secondhand nighties.
Another birthday present we invested in were personalised vegan mermaid biscuits. While I was happy to have a go at making the cake I decided to get the biscuits made elsewhere to both lighten my load and support a local business. These biscuits came from a lovely small business called Bee’s Bakes which I found through Etsy. The lady who runs the business is called Bekka and she helped me design what they would look like and the writing on them; T-Bear was absolutely thrilled with them, especially the one with her name and new birthday number (not shown in the picture as we are choosing not to share the children’s names). You can find Bekka on Instagram at @bees.bakes if you are interested in her wonderful work.
If you don’t want more toys in your home and are looking for a memorable present with serious “Wow!” factor then I really do recommend Bekka and her yummy biscuits.
Her Aunty got her Daisy Duck Jammies, a Micky Mouse dungaree dress and a second hand Disney Princess sticker and colouring book. She also passed on an old photo album that she was given over 20 years ago, having filled it with photos of T-Bear and all her favourite people. I have no idea how much these would have cost new but a lot more than she paid for them I’m sure, especially as the dungaree dress was originally from Zara and Summer got it for just £4.85, including delivery.
For my birthday Paul used a sustainable brand. We ordered from Patch Plants for the first time and they were AMAZING! We could afford this because we so rarely buy each other presents and having been in lockdown for the best part of a year we haven’t gone anywhere either so there were pennies to spare that had built up over time. If you are looking for great sustainable house plants we really would recommend them! We gave a discount code we received with our order to our friend and she got a few and is also in love. (Note: this is not sponsored, we are just in love with this company!)
Another example of amazing secondhand deals are the Mickey Mouse and friends teddies we got for the children; we got all 8 of the teddies below for less than the cost of one of them bought new from the Disney store!
Buying secondhand does take more time and can sometimes mean you can’t find exactly what you want. We also think you need to know the individual you are buying for reasonably well as returning the item is usually out of the question. That said, if you choose to dive into the world of secondhand shopping you will get some amazing deals, be giving money to a person or a charity rather than a big company, all whilst preventing items from potentially ending up in landfill and saving money, meaning that when you do wish to buy from a sustainable brand you will hopefully have saved enough pennies to do so.
We will be doing a future post on sustainable brands we buy and love so keep an eye out for that, it will be up soon.
How do you tackle sustainable present buying, and what do you think about secondhand gifts?
Livvy and Summer
