I am SO behind Dutch's idea of skipping big box stores and mass manufactured crap for Christmas [&c.] and buying--IF you're buying, which I'll get to later--independent, handmade, and local stuff, which rocks a hundred times better anyway.
Check out his list, which is very Bay Area-centric [all those crafty hippies out there], but cry a little on the inside, too: I already bought Little Bunny Foo Foo for the kid.
Dutch's Holiday Shopping Guide for the Anti-Materialist Indie Sonofabitch Parent [sweetjuniper]
previously [although Dutch picked up on most of these already, too]:
- Plush Ninjas from Ninjatown
Treehouses & Blocks--made from trees
Stupid Creatures [now $60-80, btw, not $40]
O.C. Punk Flyer bodysuits, etc.
my favorite thing about the anti-materialistic movement or whatever is that they profit off it, oh and your buying materialistic goods. go figure!
so if you really want to be hip and cool and ultra-rad then make something yourself. ;)
[don't get ahead of me, Ken. -ed.]
baby steps, Ken. I'm not buying my kid anything for Christmas, although I may buy a little something for my family members who don't understand my pompous ideological leanings. I created that list to offer an alternative to Wal-Mart, Babies-r-us, and even nice mass-produced products like Uglydolls and Tea Collection, just for those who aren't ready to completely stop buying stuff or not ready to make things themselves.
In my own case, I do a lot of stuff myself, but a lot of the ideas I get have come from others who are also doing it themselves, like the people on this list.