The Challenge: A Preowned Christmas

I've been mulling something over, and  with the advent of October upon us, I am ready to commit.  As you all know, I'm like super green. Heck I am Neon Green. So green the Sierra Club calls me for advice on how to reduce their carbon footprint.  To be sure, the Sierra Club's greeness is due to a passion for Mother Earth and my greenness is due in large part to a lack of green backs!

Nevertheless,  What I have decided to do as part of my green initiative is to not purchase anything new for Christmas. 

Everything we give this year will be preowned/used/swapped for and/or crafted. I will be going to resale shops, hanging out on etsy, ebay, Paperback swap, thredUP and so forth.   To keep me on track and on target, I am setting down some rules for my challenge and will post updates and pictures on how it goes.  
 
What about the people I give gifts to this year?  How are they going to take getting someone else's treasures as a gift?  Good point.  On my side of the family, they won't mind--they are all pretty crunchy. My kids?  To be honest, let's see if
they notice! 

The man?  Really he shouldn't get any gifts as he has a well- documented history of buying everything he wants and then asking me to  return whatever I get him. For everyone else, I will have to make sure to put  more time and effort into picking a gift than I would normally and that is why this is a challenge, right?  Can't make it too easy.

The Rules:

1. Buy no new stuff for Christmas.  Would something NWT (new with tags) purchased off Ebay be OK?  I say yes because it isn't new from the store.  It is still preowned.

2. What about crafts?  If it is a craft that is primarily re purposed then yes it is OK.

3. What about making a craft?  Same as purchasing a complete craft.

4. What about food, for example:  giving cookies?  This is a great question, I am going to say that if I am making cookies to send to school or because I am going somewhere, that isn't a 'gift' and doesn't count.

5. What about the packaging?  I will not purchase any packaging either. I will re purpose basket or find gift bags at resale or thrift shops.

Am I missing anything?  Let me know!  Do you
know of a great resale shop?  Brick & Mortar or Virtual?  Let me know!

The hardest part will be not doing Black Friday. Those of you who know me, know Black Friday is like the Super Bowl to me.

This blog was originally posted at http://victoria7401.blogspot.com Building My Dreams One Beer Bread at a Time.