Xmas - time to ditch buying cards, chocolates and biscuits?

axisus

We stopped sending cards about 6 years ago, and we don't get many now. None of the houses that I have visited this xmas seem to have many cards. A daft tradition that costs money and is a lot of hassle. I think that people on the whole are losing interest.

Our house is now awash with tins of biscuits and a shop's worth of chocolate. We go to see Mrs A's relatives for new year and bung some biscuits/ chocs at them to get rid of a few, and theirs come back our way! We all stand there smiling with that 'oh look, more chocolates' look on our faces.

The world should wise up and stop buying all this garbage that no one wants. I eat none of the biscuits and none of the chocolates, and by January I want them out of the house! Wife and 4 kids eat quite a bit of them - too much, but we always end up literally binning some stuff.

The madness needs to stop!

pmbomb

fine by me.

TheBlueWolf

I'm rather fond of cards, biscuits and chocolate so no

darthed1981

As with all such things, at the minute our culture is rather over-the-top, but that doesn't mean we get rid of them all

Just cut back a bit...

GoldenEraGuitars

 Cards? Yes, totally pointless imo. But do not speak evil of the chocolate and biscuits!

rolls1392

Biscuit and chocolate fan here.
So no, not them.
Cards? Pah!

sev112

Cards are important for the e.g. uncles and aunts who are now living alone, that aren’t part of the computer generation, and a card at this time of year can be really important for them

Grunfeld

God I never want to see another tinned chocolate again.  Chocolates were an occupational hazard working in hospitals.  It was insane this time of year.  Probably still is.

I always wanted to see a bit of proper research noting how long the chocs and biscuits could last in the different common rooms: 

The Dieticians all seemed to have eating disorders and gave off vibes of fear and avoidance so no patient dared give them anything with calories;

Physios had crates of unopened tins and were annoying paragons of sensible moderation ("Choc?  Let's see, I had a biscuit on Tuesday...);

OTs and nurses just gave in and wallowed in it.  Their common rooms were like those ball pits kids play in but it was all shiny foil wrapped goodies.  You'd see their bodies protesting, "No, no, not another pink Quality Street" while their brains pushed them harder, "Come you pussies, you can do the whole tin, it's only 50,000 calories so nothing a brisk walk can't fix in the New Year;"

The medics' common rooms were a mess, mainly because they were in there, always slumped around like zombies numbing themselves on crisps, cigarettes and alcohol, and I have no feckin' idea what the orthopods were on.

breakstuff

We stopped sending cards last year and now donate the equivalent amount of money we would spend to charity.

As for chocolates, I say every year about not getting any as we always end up opening them in February or later. Still bought some this year, and yes, you guessed it, they're still unopened and probably won't be for a couple of months,with the ones nobody likes being thrown in the bin. 

fretmeister

lonestar said:

 Cards? Yes, totally pointless imo. But do not speak evil of the chocolate and biscuits!

This.

Spend the money saved by not buying cards on more chocolate and biscuits.

axisus

I got a big toblerone bar last year. I am half way through it now

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

What annoys me more than anything is the sheer amount of waste packaging in most Xmas related gifts. As if cards and wrapping paper weren't bad enough (given that they all just end up getting chucked out anyway), there seems to be increasing amounts of pointless plastic packaging on everything.

I got given numerous toiletry gift sets from people, mostly with just 2 or 3 bottles/cans of stuff, yes they all came with ludicrous amounts of plastic and cardboard packaging. Completely pointless for the sake of a couple of cans of deodorant or shower gel. I dread to think the strain this puts on the recycling centres and the poor refuse collection guys in the next week or two.

I'm hoping the anxieties brought on by Blue Planet and the recent 'war on plastic' that is currently gaining momentum that manufacturers will be swayed to use lest pointless, wasteful packaging tat!

Sassafras

It's because of miserable cheapskates like you that the cards selection in the shops this year was absolutely dire. I didn't buy a single one, they were that bad.

Winny_Pooh

sev112 said:

Cards are important for the e.g. uncles and aunts who are now living alone, that aren’t part of the computer generation, and a card at this time of year can be really important for them

Gotta plan ahead for wills and probate.

Sporky

Winny_Pooh said:

sev112 said:

Cards are important for the e.g. uncles and aunts who are now living alone, that aren’t part of the computer generation, and a card at this time of year can be really important for them

Gotta plan ahead for wills and probate.

Also they might run out of roach material and neck shims. 

WiresDreamDisasters

Sporky said:

Winny_Pooh said:

sev112 said:

Cards are important for the e.g. uncles and aunts who are now living alone, that aren’t part of the computer generation, and a card at this time of year can be really important for them

Gotta plan ahead for wills and probate.

Also they might run out of roach material and neck shims. 

taxi firms give us enough roach material.