Giving the ‘gift of time’ at Christmas

Less waste, less debt - better memories, better relationships

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

Giving the ‘gift of time’ to a child at Christmas can be more meaningful and more fun than giving a physical gift. It is also a challenge to consumerism (watch this video about the damaging effects of Materialism) and means less clutter, less debt, less stress and less waste.

The manufacture, packaging, transport, wrapping up and disposal of all the things we buy have a huge environmental impact – deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution. And some research suggests that materialistic children are more prone to anxiety, depression and selfish behaviours.

HAVING MORE FUN

In the long build-up to Christmas, brainstorming with your child what kind of fun they can have with some of their favourite grown-ups, as well as coming up with ideas for joint activities with other families, over 2022, makes Christmas prep fun again for parents too. Identify grown-ups in your child’s life who would normally give them physical gifts and, with your child, see if you can come up with fun activities or outings for them to do together instead.

It also gives you a lot to look forward to over the year ahead. No anti-climax after the Big Christmas Present Unwrap.

LOTS of great FREE ‘gift of time’ ideas are listed below. #wrapyourselfupthisChristmas

THE HILL CLIMB!

So environmental action can and should be FUN, where possible, especially if you want to get kids on board.

On 6th December 2020, in collaboration with Eco Action Families, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles across the UK simultaneously climbed hills in fancy dress. We also had representation in Norway, Mallorca, Canada and the US.

Climbers made a pledge to give/ask for a ‘gift of time’ present for a child at Christmas, instead of a physical gift. Selfies were taken at the summit and are displayed below - look at how many people want to celebrate Christmas with a little less! #wrapyourselfupthisChristmas
You can read more about it here.

‘Gift of time’ ideas

To do

Put on a show (or your child can perform their school panto or concert piece), film it and send as a digital present * collect shells on the beach, learn about endangered sea creatures and paint your favourites onto the shells * team up with another family(ies) and coordinate a zoom 'guess who' quiz with funny/amazing questions about adults and children alike e.g. who had the fire brigade called on them when they set fire to a meadow, aged 10? Who did a poo in the bath, aged 2? * make some beach art or woodland art * write and illustrate a story together (2x 1/2 hour sessions a week over a few months) * play cafes, bake themed biscuits then dress as waiters and invite friends over to be your customers * team up with 1-2 other families and organise a mini sports day with quirky prizes * make something - ANYthing - out of paper mache; just flour + newspaper strips + water * pick a favourite landmark or place e.g. park, castle, country village, & devise a treasure hunt (or quiz) before you go e.g. how many red doors, people in yellow jackets, oak trees, poodles, etc can you spot. Prize winner gets cake * find a hill in your local area and climb it * go on a treasure hunt for quirky and interesting landmarks in your local area * have a girls night in with age-appropriate nail varnishes, ingredients for face masks, (non) alcoholic minis etc * go fossil hunting with the help of www.discoveringfossils.co.uk * volunteer together with a local charity or the National Trust * put on a fashion show with a difference and wear things inside out and back-to-front and take lots of pictures * go for a practice bike ride or a swim * let your child dress you, and do your hair and make-up (and vice versa) and then go out for a posh tea * volunteer at an animal shelter and help them to socialise their animals before they are adopted * play interior designers and re-jig your child's bedroom * create a family band with pots, combs, rice shakers etc as instruments and sing your favourite songs; do a recording (i.e. film it) * do a sponsored bike ride, trampoline bounce or silence, to raise money for charity * go fairy door hunting in the woods * draw together, where you swap 3 pieces of paper around and continue each others design * go camping in your garden * organise a mini olympic games of blowing chickpeas with a straw, passing satsumas with your neck, moving maltesers from one cup to another using a straw, pick up spaghetti, apple bobbing etc * dress as woodland creatures and go for a Spring picnic * do a sensory winter tour of the garden * put on a shadow puppet show together - top tips for how to do it here * see also www.alastairhumphreys.com/microadventure-inspiration *

to make

make a bug hotel, a bird feeder or a hedgehog house in the garden * make your own fairy door for your child rather than buying an overly-packaged, plastic-laden one off the shelf * build a den and tell tales from your own childhood * make an apron out of an old shirt * cut up holey clothes to make decorative bunting for all the family’s birthdays over the year ahead, thereby creating reusable birthday decorations that have meaning and value * do some abstract art using waste materials like pen lids, bottle tops, sweet wrappers * take the junk art challenge: create something amazing only using materials that your council can’t recycle * make just about anything out of cardboard - a fairy hotel, a robot, a snowman, a grocery store - lots of ideas online *

to learn

with your child compile a list of questions that a relative or favourite aunt/uncle has to answer, in writing or via video message (or in person!), that encourages them to tell stories about their life * go star-gazing at your nearest Observatory - some offer free sessions * if you’re really organised next year, give a relative a notebook in the Summer months and ask them to fill it with stories and photos about their lives and return it by Christmas Eve * borrow a dog and take it for a walk - especially fun if you don't have one on your own - see BorrowmyDoggy and The Cinnamon Trust * download a birdsong app and see how many birds you can recognise out and about * learn something new together like yoga, astronomy, photography, dancing, woodwork or knitting (you don’t need to do a course; YouTube has tutorials on pretty much everything) * teach them how to play a card, board or any other game * take a walk and compete to be first to spot flowers, trees, wildlife etc (the more rare it is, the higher the points) and include fun things like 'a person in a red top', 'something that looks like shark's teeth' * explore any new interests your child has - borrow books on the subject, rummage around online, get a friend who knows a bit about the subject over for a cuppa, read stories about accomplished people in the field * do an object hunt in a museum/art gallery - take 10+ photos of a part of an object/painting as a clue (e.g. a foot of a statue); give the phone to another person to find the item. Swap over * pick a landmark/site of interest that you’re familiar with and get your child excited about its history by making up a quiz around it *

How it works

You can give the gift of time to your own child this Christmas, suggest a gift of time activity that a relative or friend can give them, and sit down with your child to come up with gift of time presents for other children in your life (nieces, nephews, godchildren). You don’t have to actually call them ‘gifts’ (too clunky) - just talk about how excited you are about a particular activity you or someone else wants to do with them. Shift their focus. These activities won’t necessarily take place over Christmas itself but become activities and events to look forward to in the new year. Gifts for younger children, especially where yours are young too, can be in the form of a joint activity that you all do together. And it doesn’t have to cost money.

‘Gift of time’ ideas can be written on a Christmas-shaped cut-out from an old Christmas or birthday card and sent to the recipient. They can then either be hung on your own Christmas tree or sent to a friend to hang on theirs. We have hung our gift of time ideas on a New Year’s Tree (see bottom of page) so we can ‘see’ all the presents that will reveal themselves over the course of the next year. They could easily simply be hung up on a piece of string across your child’s bedroom wall.

So now you have a plan. Which means you won’t feel guilty about your child only having a few presents under the Christmas tree that they can unwrap with the added bonus of knowing you’ve got a plan for your child to do all those activities they they’ve been pestering you to do for ages. The ‘tags’ strung up on the wall will be evidence that you are a seriously hands-on, organised parent!

Physical Gifts

Make something

If giving 'time' to a child, by planning fun things to do together over the year ahead, just doesn't feel like you're giving enough, then how about putting some 'time' into a homemade present. If you have a child to help you out, even better. Something sweet - biscuits, jam; something creative - a handmade colouring-in book (with pictures like this), magazine/card cut-outs for a collage, natural foraged crafts (cones, shells etc); something handmade - think knitting, whittling, decoupage, origami; or something more unique - a poem about them, a story about something they're interested in, an illustration, a digital performance, a plant grown from seed. If you channel your child’s talents and interests they’ll enjoy it even more. More ideas under ‘How we play' on this website.

Second-hand

If you are going to buy something, or ask for something bought, consider buying second-hand. Normalising preloved gifts starts when kids are young - they will be just as thrilled with what they are given - and it cuts out the environmentally-costly manufacturing, transport and packaging of brand new items. For clothes, see here for a range of second-hand websites, for toys/games/books and other items, check out: Ebay, Preloved, Facebook Marketplace, Vinted, Shpock, Gumtree, Oxfam, Secondwow. For books: World of Books, Music Magpie and Just Books.

Photo credit: Banner image is by Grateful Ventures, grateful.co