Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Please Rethink Dollar Store Junk Collections.

Recently I've seen a lot of discussion of Easter (insert any holiday here) on a budget. The supposed 'miraculous' solution for those with limited funds is visiting a dollar store.

Folks, I'm not saying never go to a dollar store, but I am saying please don't go to one to load up on 'inexpensive' crap that will break in a short amount of time and add toxic chemicals to our landfills. In the name of honesty I will say that I do occasionally visit a dollar store for two things - hair accessories and cotton swabs.

You want to fill up a kid's Easter basket? Give them one quality toy, a good for you but fun snack such as fruit leather and indulge them with one chocolate bunny. Piling tons of crap in a plastic bucket is meaningless. Giving a kid a football to run around the yard with or a handmade wool playscape will be memorable. They'll also be getting exercise - of the imagination and the body, both of which seem to have fallen by the wayside in this electronic age. You'll also not be helping to maintain the poor labor conditions needed to produce that $1 flashlight or plastic ball and jacks. For some truly gorgeous stuff you can give with pride look up The Wool Food Market on Etsy.

We need to move away from the idea of quantity over quality.

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