{"id":1043,"date":"2024-12-02T11:10:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T11:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/?p=1043"},"modified":"2025-04-08T10:39:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T09:39:30","slug":"second-hand-santa-and-other-sustainable-swaps-for-your-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/2024\/12\/02\/second-hand-santa-and-other-sustainable-swaps-for-your-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Hand Santa: and other sustainable swaps for your office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Well it\u2019s come around again \u2013 what some claim is the most wonderful time of the year! But amongst the lights, sparkles and glad tidings there is a less merry reality to our festive celebrations&#8230; the waste they create. So why not shake it up this year and start a new sustainable tradition? Take a look at the ideas below!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1215\" height=\"487\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2024\/11\/image-1-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1044\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Second Hand Santa\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Hubbub\u2019s poll last year (2023)<strong> \u00a3280 million was spent on Secret Santa gifts for colleagues. <\/strong>However, only a third of these were reported as useful. Many of these gifts didn\u2019t even make it home from the office party!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buck the trend this year by opting for a Second Hand Santa. It operates identically to a Secret Santa apart from one detail. ALL gifts are thrifted, regifted, or handmade. Charity shops are the gift that keep on giving here. Practical and genuinely useful gifts are the most sustainable, and charity shops can offer a spark of inspiration for truly thoughtful presents that actually stick to the Secret Santa budget! If gifts to provide a laugh are more your m\u00e9tier don\u2019t worry! Charity shops also provide\u00a0a long list\u00a0of weird and wonderful items you can entrust to your colleagues to treasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1209\" height=\"218\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2024\/11\/image-3-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1045\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thriftmas Jumper Day&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you previously been a victim of Christmas Jumper day? Many of us have found ourselves making a last-minute jumper purchase that <em>we know<\/em> we will never ever wear again. But we bought it anyway to avoid becoming the office Grinch.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why not take the pressure off this year? With plenty of early warning and an active encouragement to wear already owned, thrifted, borrowed, and festively adapted jumpers, sustainable festive fun is possible! Extra points if you can source an authentic ugly or vintage Christmas jumper lovingly knitted for a festive season long ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1206\" height=\"304\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2024\/11\/image-2-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1046\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Positive Party Planning<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Excited to celebrate the past year of hard work? Why not add to the reasons to celebrate by making some sustainable swaps to your seasonal shindig? You could:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Organise carpooling \/ lift sharing to and from the event\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make sure the menu has a GOOD plant-based option (so it\u2019s more likely to be chosen)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An entirely vegetarian\/ vegan menu (or even just the sides\/ starters)\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Encourage colleagues to bring Tupperware to take any leftovers home\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Consider skipping crackers and just buy paper party hats instead!\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>DIY\/ purchase 2<sup>nd<\/sup> hand\/ rent festive decorations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/hubbub.org.uk\/secondhand-santa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hubbub<\/a> for more ideas and resources for this December (and the new year). Happy celebrating!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well it\u2019s come around again \u2013 what some claim is the most wonderful time of the year! But amongst the lights, sparkles and glad tidings there is a less merry reality to our festive celebrations&#8230; the waste they create. So why not shake it up this year and start a new sustainable tradition? Take a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12025,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,13,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-blogs","category-lifestyle","category-sustainableholidays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12025"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1050,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions\/1050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}