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Christmas marks a peak in consumerism in the West. Despite the COVID recession, this Christmas the spending frenzy is unlikely to ease.
A survey on consumer confidence showed that around 12% of people expect to spend more this Christmas than in previous years. About a third expected to spend less, a result similar to previous years. And retailers are optimistic, too: More than one in three expect Christmas sales to exceed 2019 by more than 5%.
All of this holiday spending creates significant waste, particularly in the form of unwanted gifts.
So before you finish your holiday shopping, it’s worth considering why we feel compelled to spend so much on gifts during bullshit season and if there are better, greener alternatives.
Research by ING found that $ 400 million in unwanted gifts were given away on Christmas 2018, comprising around 10 million items.
Topping the list were novelty items (51%), candles (40%), pampering products (40%), pajamas or slippers (35%), and underwear or socks (32%).
Charitable groups are flooded with unwanted goods immediately after Christmas. Not all of them are resold: Charities send around 60,000 tons of unwanted items to the landfill each year.
This waste comes at a huge cost, not just to household budgets but to the environment as well. Recent research on the subject is hard to come by, but in 2007 researchers from the Stockholm Environment Institute examined consumption during the holiday season and found that 80 kilograms of carbon dioxide per person could be saved if unwanted gifts were not purchased.
Gift giving is a complex emotional process. And it’s not always necessarily a positive experience – a 2016 survey found that 43% of Australian shoppers felt compelled to spend money on Christmas.
Research suggests that giving Christmas gifts has less to do with altruism and is becoming more of a social pressure to reciprocate, the expectation that when we receive a gift, we will give it to them in return. And reciprocity doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. A study dating back to 1990 found that those who gave a mandatory gift had negative feelings about the subsequent act.
In particular, some respondents felt that their freedom to choose a gift was restricted by perceived obligations, which had to correspond to a gift of a similar type, price or brand. This triggered a psychological “reactance” – the unpleasant arousal that people experience when their free behaviors are threatened.
Giving gifts can be a way to show appreciation, but you don’t have to spend a lot. Research shows that while gifts can expect a gift to be more appreciated if it is expensive, recipients did not report such an association.
Or you could spend nothing at all by returning an unwanted gift. In some circles of contemporary society, remaking is frowned upon. Respondents in one study even described registrars as lazy, thoughtless and disrespectful.
However, in some cultures, redoing is considered normal. For example, a classic ethnographic study from 1922 describes a ritual followed by the people of the Massim Archipelago in Papua New Guinea. Called Kula, it involves people traveling to a nearby island and presenting residents with shells and necklaces. Recipients would keep the gifts for a while, then pass them on to others, and so on.
For these islanders, keeping gifts destroyed the value created by the act of giving, while gifting maintained it.
There are many ways to give a gift without harming the planet. And since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many online activities, the options are even greater. Here are five options:
- Virtual and digital gifts – These range from electronic gift vouchers that allow the recipient to buy what they really want, to subscriptions to streaming services, audiobooks and even virtual bouquets.
Due to COVID, virtual travel, which began for many as a temporary measure, may now be available to stay. Or you can gift a virtual Christmas event, such as cooking classes, cocktail making experiences, and virtual craft workshops.
- Give an experience – Experiences are events such as concerts, speedboat rides, spa treatments, or a romantic evening cruise. Research shows that experience-based gifts contribute more to consumer happiness than material purchases.
Giving gifts based on experiences also strengthens social connections between givers and recipients.
- Regift – Giving back, if done carefully, can be a great way to prevent unwanted gifts from ending up in the landfill.
The practice is quite common. A consumer survey shows that when people receive unwanted gifts, 25% give them to someone else. And on websites like Gumtree, you can even buy unwanted gifts from other people. At the time of this writing, products for sale included an unworn Maurice Lacroix men’s watch, an electric battery, and a new Samsung smart TV.
- Go handmade – Handmade gifts are unique and help forge a connection between the giver and the recipient. And even when you buy the gift by hand rather than making it yourself, research shows that recipients generally perceive the gift to symbolically contain “love.”
Etsy has become the global marketplace for handmade gifts and antique treasures. But keep in mind that if you order a handmade gift from the other side of the world, transporting it will generate carbon emissions.
- Upcycle – Recycling prolongs the life of old objects by creatively reshaping them into new products. For example, an old jar could be turned into a hanging planter, or a reclaimed door could be reused as a table.
Research has found that when people are told about the past identity or “history” of a recycled product, the person feels “special” and demand for the product increases.
– The conversation
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