A mum is planning a second-hand Christmas this year - by only shopping at charity shops, eBay and online marketplaces.
Jen Toll said she first began her alternative shopping method last year after seeing what her kids were really playing with during lockdown.
The 36-year-old realised that her children didn’t care much about original packaging or the condition of the toys, so she decided to stick with second-hand shopping going forward, particularly as it saves money and is more environmentally -friendly.
Jen, from Oxfordshire, said: "We had a lot of time at home, of course, to play with toys rather than going out.
“I just felt that, given the state that they were in a lot of the time, they didn't need to be brand new.
“I'd always kind of done it but I really embraced it mid-2020, particularly also for my second daughter who was born in February 2020.
“I knew that she was going to have a lot of secondhand stuff anyway from her sister.”
For Jen, the most important thing was being more sustainable.
Along with her husband Ed Toll, 43, the pair focused on buying wooden toys, but they knew there would be some things their children wanted that would contain plastic, so they felt buying them second-hand was the best option.
The mum said: “I felt that we just don't need to keep creating more plastic. That was the number one reason.
“Very closely tied with that was just how the kids treat the toys.
“I'm not saying they're constantly breaking them but when they do get played with, stuff does happen to them - they're not always going to be pristine.”
Some of Jen’s best purchases last year were some fancy dress items, particularly as she knew her daughter was growing and they would quickly need to be replaced.
She said: “She wanted everything from Star Wars to Elsa but each outfit if you get it full price, is really expensive.
“My daughter is five and a half but the height of a seven and a half-year-old, and I didn’t want to spend lots on outfits that would only last five minutes.
“I focused on getting those second hand.
“It was quite funny as getting the right size for her was tricky and we had to pretend Father Christmas had conveniently also got a second one in case the one in her stocking didn’t fit.”
This year, the mum has picked up more fancy dress outfits, some talking cuddly toys for her youngest daughter who loves Shrek and even a den building kit for 99p.
She said: “Most of it is in good condition and some of it is brand new as people sell on things that maybe just have never been played with or were bought as duplicate gifts.
“Some things do come with holes or stains and you just have to be prepared for that.
“Last year we got one costume that smells really strongly of fabric conditioner and we never got rid of that smell.”
As well as being more environmentally-friendly, Jen says she saves around 50-75% on most gifts by buying them secondhand.
She said: “Sometimes you can get an even bigger bargain.
"If I take a lot of the outfits I bought last year, typically if they're new, you're looking at £35 to £40 pounds.
"I picked most of them up for around about £10.”
And Jen says her kids haven’t even noticed their toys aren’t brand new.
She added: “My kids are young enough that they have no idea if they're brand new or not.
“Within minutes, there's something scratched so it really doesn't make a difference.
"They certainly don't know or indeed care as far as they're concerned. It's coming to them brand new.
“When they're a bit older, they might be able to tell and that might bother them but I'd like to think that actually, we can talk to them about the reason why buying secondhand is important and that they will embrace that at the time.”
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Although saving money was never her main aim, Jen says it has helped her put a little more to towards experiences for the girls.
She said: “I'm a psychologist and know that research does support that having stuff doesn't make you happy and the boost to well-being when you get gifts doesn't last.
“If I'm going to spend money, what I'd like to spend it on is experiences.
“It might sound like I'm scrimping and saving but I'd much rather get much cheaper toys and bits and pieces and spend money on a ticket to go and see something in theatre, to go out for lunch or to go for a day out.
“The studies support that spending money on experiences makes you and that person much happier than on actual stuff.”
