29th November 2021

Responsible Christmas gifts—the right choice

Like every year at this time, the race for Christmas presents is on. In exactly three weeks, dozens of gifts will be piled up at the foot of Sophie and Marc's Christmas tree that will delight their little Lily, but Sophie has been fed up with this unnecessary waste for years.

Yes, Christmas is magical for kids, but Sophie feels that apart from the magic of Christmas, a trend is growing within her family which does not reflect her principles in any way. She wonders why Christmas parties have become so commercial, and no longer understands why everybody should bend over backwards to give gifts that are destined to collect dust, increasingly expensive and not at all sustainable.

A more responsible Christmas. Sophie’s fact or fantasy?

Everything Sophie reads tells her we must act to save the planet, and for her, Christmas is an opportunity to educate those around her to make more responsible purchases.

Is there such a thing as responsible gifts?

The number of gifts Lily has already received, whether for her birthdays or other occasions, and which are anything but responsible, make Sophie’s head spin! Her little one's room is overflowing with non-recyclable plastic toys. Once Lily doesn't play with them anymore, where will they go?

Sophie refuses to let them end up at the bottom of the ocean as "food" for fish. She usually entrusts them to non-profit organisations that will give them to children in need. However, Sophie would very much like to challenge her family this year by asking them not to give gifts that contain plastic.

Plastic gifts—a thing of the past!

Sophie finds that it has become so common to give gifts from the biggest children's toy brands that consumers have forgotten that these items, which are usually plastic, are harmful to our planet. Some may also be harmful to children’s health if they don't have specific inspection labels.

Rather than seeing her daughter receive a plastic kitchenette, Sophie prefers to educate Lily’s grandparents so that they opt for a wooden model instead. As for the accessories, instead of plastic fruits and vegetables, why not go for a set made of wood or fabric, for example?

Sophie knows that it will be very difficult for her to make her in-laws and her parents understand that no more plastic toys will be welcome in her home.

A long-term gift

No parent can deny the fact that the toys their children receive for Christmas will be yesterday's news by the summer. For Sophie, this is unthinkable.

That’s why she plans on making a suggestion to the family for Lily's gift—to simply transfer the amount they would invest in a toy into her Speedinvest investment plan instead.

Marc has a Speedinvest that he reserves for Lily's future in hopes of financing her education many years from now or her first home, for example. It's been a few years since he started investing for Lily and he was right to do so. With the way his investment has performed over the past few years, Lily already has much more in her account than she started with, which she can use wisely later on.

With that in mind, Sophie prefers to take care of the gift herself for certain occasions and ask relatives to pitch in when it comes to larger expenses, encouraging others to invest for Lily.


Investments Family Sustainability