Dear Editor,

Give up the gifts.

Imagine this: it鈥檚 the week or so before Christmas, and you鈥檙e in a panic.

Why?

Because you need a gift for your uncle 鈥� the one you see a total of four times per year 鈥� and you haven鈥檛 a single clue what to get him.

There鈥檚 cheery music blasting through the mall speakers, but it doesn鈥檛 at all match up to the way you feel. Stressed and defeated, you decide on a random, overpriced T-shirt you hope he鈥檒l like, and head home.

Sound familiar?

Almost everyone has experienced the dread of not knowing what gift to get someone, and almost everyone has experienced the discomfort of having to pretend you love a gift, when you really don鈥檛. Especially when those gifts are from distant relatives that think they know what you want, but in reality, couldn鈥檛 be further from it.

Face it 鈥� even some of your closest friends and family have messed up big time on what you wanted.

While receiving unwanted junk is bad, what鈥檚 worse is what happens to it after. This isn鈥檛 just about being unsatisfied with your gifts, if it was, this wouldn鈥檛 be nearly as big of a problem.

Almost nobody in this day and age is oblivious to the ongoing landfill problem, yet there鈥檚 also not a ton of people doing anything to try and stop it. It鈥檚 shown that within six months, only one per cent of everything the average person buys at Christmas is still in use.

The environmental group Zero Waste Canada has estimated that from 鈥渕id-November to mid-January, Canadians produce 25 per cent more trash.鈥� That might not seem like much at first, but when you think about the amount the average person already produces and Canada鈥檚 population of 37 million, it really starts to add up.

Additionally, standard, wax-covered gift wrap can鈥檛 be recycled. Not to mention any tinsel, bows, or tape.

鈥� READ MORE: Skip the glitter to save animals when holiday crafting, B.C. group says

Glitter is an even worse offender. Those microplastics and their ease of travel cause them to get everywhere. I鈥檓 sure anyone who鈥檚 so much as breathed in its direction knows the struggle. It totals up to a shocking 鈥�545,000 tonnes of waste generated [just] from gift wrapping and shopping bags each year.鈥�

Now I can hear you saying 鈥淲ait! This is horrible and all, but gifts help people get closer, and it鈥檚 fun to see what others would get you! Why should we get rid of gift giving entirely?鈥� I mean, yes 鈥� gift giving is definitely linked to stronger connections and happiness. It鈥檚 been rooted in our psychology since the cavemen era.

Gift giving, simply put, makes both the giver and the recipient feel happier. However, the point of this piece isn鈥檛 to tell you that all gifts are a waste. It鈥檚 to convince you to be more conscientious of the gifts you are giving. After all, both of you will get more satisfaction if the gift is something they鈥檒l truly use and enjoy, as opposed to something they鈥檒l enjoy in the moment and forget about later.

While some may argue that they prefer tangible, material items because they can keep them forever, a good alternative would be to gift someone an experience. With an experience, you鈥檙e given something to look forward to, something to cherish in the moment, and something to fondly look back on for the rest of your life. If you enjoy it during, you鈥檙e probably only going to have good memories and feelings towards it forever, whereas an item only holds as much value to you as you decide in that moment. An additional perk of experiences is that they rarely end up in landfills. For example, a nice restaurant dinner will do much less harm than an ugly, itchy sweater you鈥檒l never wear.

鈥� READ MORE: How to make holiday gift-giving eco-friendly 鈥� and more meaningful

Nowadays, the holidays have become more materialistic than ever. People focus on how expensive the gift is, rather than the practicality or longevity of it. Typing anything along the lines of 鈥済ift opening鈥� iinto the YouTube search bar will undeniably present you with videos upon videos of people opening piles of pointless, forgettable gifts.

However, as previously mentioned, this type of behaviour has dire consequences for our planet.

Furthermore, opening one, truly meaningful gift, will forever hold more value than a hundred meaningless ones.

So, next time you鈥檙e struggling to find a gift for someone, think not about the price or the instant gratification, but rather the value it鈥檒l hold for them, and the memories that will come from it.

Kiari Alatrash, Walnut Grove

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