My gift to my friends this year is to help them pick colors, and then paint 1-2 rooms in whatever colors they buy. This is something they have talked about doing in the near future anyway, so they were pretty stoked. None of them have the tools for it, so each would have bought a bunch of stuff they would use once, probably would have used painters tape (something I don’t use other than for non-corner color splits/stripes), and it would be a hassle and take forever. I’m not a professional painter or anything, but I am rather good, and fast, at it because I need change in my own environment every few years, so everyone is pretty happy with this arrangement.

Curious of the ways you are avoiding buying mass-produced junk as gifts for people this holiday season.

By ignoring the holiday completely.

Making my partner a photo album

For the kids in my family I am still getting them each a small gift but I’m also taking half of what I’ve budgeted for them for a donation.

But I’m (hopefully) going to make it fun. I’m researching non-profits where they live and I’m going to put together a paper with a list of them and their missions and website. I want each kid to pick the charity and write a letter (which I’m providing a template for so they can just fill it in) to tell the non-profit why they picked their charity. I’m also going to include a card that they can send it in and a stamped envelope to mail it.

My hope is that they can find some joy in picking a cause that means something to them and feel those good feels when you can help someone less fortunate.

And for the adults, my partner has a friend who roasts and grinds his own fair trade coffee so we bought a bunch of bags from him to give as gifts. It’s hyper local and won’t create waste but it’s also not your typical unhealthy fare like chocolates and baked goods (which are fine too, but I have a lot of family who are diet conscious so it’s a win from that perspective).

My family does secret santa, so I buy 1 gift per year.

My strategy for this year was to keep a text file on my phone where I kept a list of the people I intended to buy gifts for. Throughout the year whenever a good gift idea occurred to me I’d update the list. While this might not be what you had in mind as avoiding consumption, my plan was to give a gift that was useful as well as thoughtful. I don’t want to give someone a cheap blob of plastic that will end up in the trash by the end of the month just to check a name off my list. I did buy one gift certificate for a locally owned microbrewery. In years past I’ve made Christmas ornaments that were tailored to the recipient but no good ideas came to me this year

I’m OK buying quality mass produced items, and if Trump follows through on his tariff nomsense, it makes sense to do it now.

For example, Le Creuset is imported from France (cast iron) or SE Asia (ceramic), prices on all that will explode under Trump.

Nordic Ware is also great stuff, and it’s made in the US, but tariffs on imported aluminum will move demand to US sourced aluminum, which will also raise prices. :(

The King’s Touch, mercury, and prayer.

Oh wait I thought you were asking about tuberculosis.