Friday 6 December 2019

What to Buy Me, or Not Buy Me for Christmas

VeganKind Christmas Selection Box 2019

It seems that most the vloggers and bloggers that I follow on the internet are doing sustainable gift guides.  Lovely to watch even if they are getting slightly repetitive with the same products being recommended here there and everywhere. 

I was thinking about it the other day, and I thought I must be the hardest person in the world to buy a gift for … mainly because I don't want one ... but also because I only use the things I use.


 I am allergic to perfume, so therefore allergic to most things with perfume in them.  I have a couple of body creams that I'm fine with, but only one that I love so I tend to stock up on it when it's on offer three for the price of two at Boots.  When I travel I have a couple of mini sized pots that came free with magazines that I fill up from the larger one.

  I'm pretty safe with hand creams, and strangely I am okay with most bath foams, although anything lavender is a favourite, so that tends to be what people get me if they really want to buy me something … and I don't mind having a stock of those tucked away out of sight in the bathroom cupboard.

To go back to what the vloggers that I follow are suggesting as gifts ...



I don't need a thermos style travel mug or a bamboo travel cup as now own more bamboo cups than I will ever get through in my lifetime, thanks to that being a 'good present idea' in lots of peoples minds, it really was.  But no more … please!


I have a brilliant set of metal drinking straws, not that I like them that much but they are better than plastic straws.  Obviously these will last me a lifetime, unless I do a Uri Geller and bend them out of shape 😄


I have a bamboo toothbrush and absolutely love it, and I will be investing in more once I have used up all the new plastic ones I seem to have both here at the Van and back home in Wales.  Why have we got so many .... I have no idea!!   Once they have outlived being toothbrushes they go into the box under the kitchen sink to be used as little cleaning brushes for round taps etc ... really useful.

VeganKind Selection Box 2018

This year like last year I have treated myself to the VeganKind selection box.  It's good to have a little assortment of goodies in the house that are suitable for me to eat when Alan tucks into his milk chocolate covered brazils and other assorted Christmas goodies while we watch a film.

So as well as being the awkward bugger who can't be bought perfume for, I also can't be bought a box of chocolates, a cheese board or even an off the shelf hamper.  Which is drummed home to me every year when Alan's hamper arrives from the agency he works through, and out of the thirty or so items there are if I'm lucky one or two that I can eat. 

This isn't a whingy, whiney post  (or is it 🤣)  it's just me talking to myself and wittering away.  Trying to explain why I'm not the easiest person to buy presents for.  

One thing that a lot of folk are coming around to realising this year though ... and about time too ... is that why buy for buying's sake.  Why has Christmas got SO commercialised that we are swapping presents with people we hardly know, not knowing what they want or like or need.  If we all just stopped, after sorting it out with the people we used to buy for, we could draw things back to how it used to be.  Buying presents for our immediate family only, or if they are all on board pull back even further and give that most precious gift of all time.

A visit to an elderly relative or neighbour with a small bunch of flowers and time to sit and have a chat, a meet up for a coffee in the run up to Christmas with time to exchange hugs, a catch up on news and a flurry of good wishes are both surely more heart-warming than a gift set of talc and perfume arriving through the post to be put into the cupboard with last years, and the years before.

However you do Christmas is right, it's good if that is how you want to do it.  I'm just whittering, stop me now, force feed me dairy free chocolate and tell me to shut up 🤣🤣

Sue xx
(not Scrooge honest ...)



24 comments:

  1. I am allergic to lots of 'smellies' too, perfumes, fabric conditioners, scented candles etc all give me horrendous headaches and dizziness. I really don't want presents either and if I do receive them, I would rather have something useful.

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    1. I think some candles are starting to affect me like that recently. Oh well another gift opportunity to cross off the list!!

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  2. I have coeliac, so anything with gluten is out - that includes most boxes of chocolates, biscuits obviously and many more foods that seem to find their way into our house as gifts. Yet everyone knows I can't eat gluten. You are not alone!

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    1. Thank goodness, it's not just me. I have just re-read my post as I thought I had come over as a right funny bugger 🤣🤣

      It's amazing how many people offer me dairy chocolate saying 'a little bit won't hurt will it'. I feel like screaming, 'yes it will actually ... for three days after eating it!!'

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  3. oh hurrah someone else who is allergic to perfumes and all things smellie and I am allergic to candles too.
    I am also allergic to soya, it started about 10 years or so ago and I put it down to GM soya(genetically modified!)
    As my daughter said(also allergic) --"mum, do you realise there are whole isles in the supermarket that we have to avoid"
    Soya is in everyting especially chocolate and bread as it is a cheap filler and I have even had the comment, "oh just have a sandwich you have to eat something" no I don't, don't enjoy staying up all night itching, scratching and drinking copious glasses of water to flush it out of my system.

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    1. Up to now I'm okay with soy, and to try and keep it that way I try to limit how much I have.

      I hate that allergic itching, especially that deep inside the ear one that I get after accidentally consuming something with dairy in it.

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  4. I think that many of us have reached an age where we have everything we need. I know my husband was thrilled when our oldest son did a Plan Canada gift for him.

    God bless.

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    1. Exactly, we have what we need and know what we like to use. Ooh Plan Canada sounds exciting 😃

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  5. Oh so pleased I'm not alone in having problems avoiding gluten, dairy, eggs and nuts. I get neck ache trying to read ingredients labels and end up not bothering.

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    1. I just get fed up fishing out my reading glasses over and over. It seems there are lots of us with problems with ingredients 🥴

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  6. You are not on your own, I don't like chocolate at all, there are only a number of toiletries/cosmetics I can use, otherwise I have a rash that is red and itchy. I don't like clothing bought for me. As I have to try everything on these days. Can't eat gluten or dairy and numerous other things, too many to mention. Most people, have now given up and give me money or vouchers which is great as I can then buy what I want, like or need. Rant over. Helen S.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That perfume rash us so awful isn't it,
      red raw skin that still you have the urge to scratch 😬

      Feel free to rant anytime ... it feels good to get it out doesn't it 🤣🤣

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  7. My feelings exacrly - it has all got out of hand. A contribution to a worthwhile charity in someone's name is a good present too.

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    1. Totally out of hand, and the pressure on parents to get their kids so much is immense. Yes, this year apart from a very few I'm not sending cards, most of the family are doing donations to charity instead.

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  8. Worn out tooth brushes can be used for applying polish or wax to boots. It gets into the cracks and around the laces, and where the upper meets the sole.

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    1. That's a brilliant idea, I'll add one of the old brushes to the shoe cleaning box 😃

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  9. The Gift of being present in the Moment for someone and giving of our Time is the most Priceless of Gifts that just about anyone could use, even if they're impossible to buy for!

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    1. It's absolutely priceless isn't it ♥️

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  10. Never going to tell you to 'shut up', you write more sense than nearly anyone I know. xx

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    1. Haha ... thank you. And for the smile 😄

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  11. You're nbot Scrooge-ish at all, you talk much common sense. What a waste of money and time and resources to get an unwanted gift for anyone.
    I like to give home made gifts, where appropriate, but family know that I love them and any gifts are small and made with love.
    xx

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  12. Welcome, I hope you enjoyed your first visit :-)

    I wonder what it is they put into perfumes these days that makes SO many of us allergic to them?

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  13. So happy to see, that you are planning on continuing to use your plastic toothbrushes, until they "are done." Since I do not care for all the..... "Throw out the plastic, and buy my safe solution." advertising.

    📗🌲📗

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