Boudicca Fox-Leonard: why I’m giving everyone second-hand gifts
Boudicca Fox-Leonard discovers that she’s a convert to the latest trend – buying Christmas presents from charity stores
When one of the three kings decided to take gold to the nativity, I doubt he had spent the weeks prior panning for it himself. Yet this is very much the approach needed when attacking charity shops for second-hand gifts. Sift and scour with an eagle eye and I promise you, there will be some gold as your reward.
That is the spirit of optimism with which I stepped into the British Heart Foundation store in Kentish Town Road, north London, the day before the second lockdown, on a mission to find stocking fillers for my family.
Few would disagree that the Christmas present has long since lost its way.
Where 70 years ago a stocking full of satsumas and a teddy bear filled children with joy, now only the plastic homunculus of a favourite TV character will do; adults haven’t been much less demanding.
So unsure have I been in the past as to what is an acceptable gift, that I’ve kept on piling up the presents in utter panic. Inevitably only a small proportion will ever be truly used and appreciated.
Fortunately, the world is changing. A few short years ago it would have been a struggle to convince a loved one of your sincerity as they unwrapped a present that had clearly been through a past life. But with many of us feeling that we have reached Peak Stuff and concerned about sustainability and the environment, second-hand giving has become the true way of showing that you care.
Tim Hunt, co-editor of the Ethical
Consumer says: “People don’t have any qualms about buying me second-hand gifts. I had a birthday a few weeks ago and I got a stack of second-hand books, which couldn’t have made me happier. People know me well and I think more people are doing it and more people are willing to do it.”
After a challenging year, for many money will be tight this Christmas. Ethical Consumer surveys have shown that more people are making their own gifts; such as biscuits or scarves. “I think if you’re making your own gifts, you’re really reimagining the whole giving process in a meaningful and profound way,” says Hunt.
Tessa Clarke agrees. The co-founder of surplus food-sharing app Olio, where over a million items (including nonfood items) are given away for free every month, is taking a three-pronged approach to gifting this year.
“I’m making home-made chocolates and cakes for my parents, I’m buying handmade food and crafts from neighbours in the new Made section of the Olio app for family and friends; and I’m buying pre-loved toys for my kids,” she says.
She predicts that in five years’ time second-hand gifting will be the norm, not the exception, and we’ll all be happier and better-off for it. “Second-hand gifts are given with just as much love, thought and attention,” Clarke says, “but have the enormous benefit of being lighter on your wallet, and lighter on the planet too.” This progression seems well under way. A study by Oxfam published last week found that Britons are set to spend an average of £200 less on Christmas presents this year – and will buy more second-hand gifts than ever before.
Time apart from loved ones during the pandemic has caused us to reflect on what we truly value. Almost half of those surveyed said they are considering buying second-hand presents, with more than 70 per cent saying they are shopping more sustainably than five years ago. More importantly, over three quarters said they wouldn’t mind receiving a second-hand gift. It helps that charity shops have been through a process of transformation, moving away from mounds of bric a brac, to curated, colour-co-ordinated boutiques. Mary’s Living and Giving Shops for Save the Children led the trend, with Shelter’s Boutiques, which curate vintage finds, close behind.
Hattie Lamb, shop manager at Boutique by Shelter, in London’s stylish Coal Drops Yard, says: “There is something extra special about giving someone a second-hand item that has its own unique story and journey behind it. I would encourage festive shoppers to pop into our boutique, as charity shops like ours offer great value for money – and every item bought helps Shelter be there for the people who need us right now.”
What could be more satisfying than buying a gift that helps support those most in need? Charities have been hit hard by the pandemic, with fundraising events cancelled and their revenues slashed.
The Covid-19 crisis has had a devastating impact on the British Heart Foundation’s income, cutting its research funding by £50million this year – and putting future life-saving discoveries at risk. The second lockdown forced them to close their shop doors, just when they were hoping to make up the losses from earlier in the year.
Pooling the best of their best offerings on their online stores has helped. However nothing can replace the experience of in-store browsing and the joy of discovery.
Getting my eye in at their Kentish Town branch, I easily find gifts for my nephews, a couple of dinosaur toys that have been cleverly bundled together in “pocket money” bags. Such toys used to be sent straight to landfill until the charity hit upon a way to repackage them.
Charity shops are doing a lot to make up for our society’s excessive consumption habits. Last year alone, the BHF helped save 71,000 tons of items from going to waste and prevented 135,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
Statistics from the Charity Retail Association show that charity shops are able to reuse or recycle more than 90 per cent of donated clothing, with the average customer transaction amounting to a budget friendly £4.05. In 2018/19, 339,000 tons of textiles alone were kept out of landfill as a result of charity retail in the UK.
A second-hand gift comes with the karma of knowing you have made a material difference to the planet we live on.
Still, I admit my heart initially sinks as I survey a display of homewares that sends me straight back to my Grandma’s house 30 years ago. I can’t see a single thing I’d give my own house space to, let alone foist on someone as a present.
I keep looking, and then a little blue glass jug catches my eye. So sweet and a snatch for £2. Soon, I’m on a roll, finding a candle holder for £1 that wouldn’t be out of place on Trouva and a number of books, such as The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, that I’ve been meaning to buy for ages.
When I leave the store I realise I’ve fallen into the classic Christmas shopping trap; buying things for myself rather than others. I feel like a selfish failure. I phone my mum from the bus to confess. This, she tells me, is her definition of the true purpose of giving; to take something you love and offer it up to someone you love.
The idea of gifting as some sort of mortification of the soul puts me in mind of that tale of the most purehearted of present-giving: O Henry’s classic 1905 short story, The Gift of the
Magi. A young, penniless couple, very much in love, each sell their most prized possessions, her beautiful long hair, his gold watch, in order to buy the other gift, only to discover that the gifts they receive, an ornamental comb and a watch chain, are now useless. But their sacrifices are gifts money can’t buy.
In 2020, however, my boyfriend was initially horrified when I told him we were second-hand gifting this year. But having realised how many antique whisky decanters and tumblers there are on eBay, he’s become quite the enthusiastic convert.
After all, gifting second-hand is the opportunity to receive something unique, that may not have been Made in China. As the doorbell goes and he receives a parcel from eBay that he quickly squirrels away jubilantly saying “This is more than second hand”, I feel happy for the environment – although I worry I’ve set him on a path to financial ruin.
Second-hand gifting doesn’t need to cost you a penny, though. The cliché might be of the bubble bath gift set being unused and regifted multiple times over, but such repurposing doesn’t have to mean thoughtless thrift.
This year my mother has announced she will be finding her gifts at home. A lifetime of collecting interesting items means that her house in Manchester is a bit like stepping, as Paddington Bear did, into Mr Gruber’s antique emporium. I salute her altruism, but remain suspicious that she’s stealthily trying to get ahead with her Dostadning (the art of Swedish death cleaning), which she read about in this section of the newspaper.
Regardless, I am inspired to repurpose something that I love. Taking out my jewellery box, I hope to find something I no longer wear but that would find a loving home with my sister-inlaw. And yes, there it is: all but forgotten about, a sterling silver Gucci bracelet; something I found in a second-hand shop in my 20s and have long since stopped wearing. I find a pretty box to place it in and close it with satisfaction.
For too long the saying “it’s the thought that counts” has been seen as synonym for second-best. But with some thought and effort, second-hand can be uniquely special.
Time apart from loved ones this year has caused us to reflect on what we truly value