WEEK 9 Challenge - RETHINK YOUR CELEBRATION and REDUCE HOLIDAY CONSUMPTION

People celebrate things for so many reasons and in so many different ways, and all the holidays, parties, life events can present so many challenges for anyone trying to cut their waste. It is more difficult to reduce waste if you follow those commercial advertisings or the perfect Pinterest party ideas.

If you find joys, by all means, go for it! You may want to find alternative ways to make it less waste. But have you ever had a pressure to celebrate some traditions that seems excessive and wasteful in your opinion just because everyone else is doing the same, and you just want to keep up?

Well, if that's the case, everyone is different, choose to celebrate what matters to you and your family, and don't just do things out of the pressure when you don't want to.

Today is the last day of February, so we're sharing two events in February that we did differently.

First, we did not take part in Valentine cards and gifts exchange day in our daughter preschool. It's her first year in preschool and she is our first child. It's not a thing for kids to bring cards and gift exchanges where we grow up, Valentine always means for couples. But we are fully aware it is a "thing" here in North America and still chose not to participate this year. We would, when our daughter will be the one who picks out the cards/gifts or even makes them, write them to whose she remember the name, but it won't happen this year as she is too young and does not really care about all of that, not even remember more than 3 names of her classmates. We just don't see the point to take part in it this year, and so glad that it is not a requirement. 

Secondly, February is also her birth month, but we did not throw a traditional birthday party for her, we actually never do except for her first birthday and that was just a small party with a few close friends and family. Our family "birthday tradition" has always been  an occasion that we spend time together as a family, taking her out for a day trip or a weekend gate away, fully pay attention on our child and don't have to worry about decorations, guests and their children. When she is old enough to have her favorite friends, we would love to invite her close friends to join us, and she can choose to celebrate a birthday party or a gate away weekend with the family. And the last thing we wanna do for our child is introducing her to the expectation of receiving birthday presents or gifts in general from others. She does not need any more stuff. We collect memories, not stuff. There are so many reasons that we don't throw a birthday party for our child and it works for our family. We don't have the pressure to do thing just because other parents would do for their kids. Our child does not seem to care if she has a birthday party or not. She had fun, she had a fancy dinner, she had her cake, she felt loved and felt celebrated. That's all that matters.

At the end of the day, its all about the memories we make, we'll choose experiences over things in a heartbeat. 

How's about you?