The holiday season is on the horizon. Twinkling, multicolored lights are lining rooftops, snow has begun to frost the streets, and almost every commercial store has transformed into a Christmas wonderland full of both decorations and deals. During this season, it’s tempting to drop the budget plan and go all out. After all, it’s hard to resist the pull of fancy new gadgets, endless decorations, and delicious seasonal treats. 

But this temptation has consequences. 

According to the UK Environment Agency, household waste increases by up to 30% during the holidays. Feeling festive is no excuse for trashing our planet. Giving up sustainability just for fleeting holiday sentiments is an active betrayal of our environmental responsibilities. So why do we do it every year?

Societal, cultural, and even psychological factors can all be blamed for our tendency to overconsume during the holiday season. Many wintertime holidays, especially Christmas, are portrayed as times of abundance, with bounties of food, lavish decorations, and extravagant gifts. This is rooted in ancient Pagan and Christian wintertime solstice traditions. Because the winter solstice is the longest night of the year, it represents a “turning point” where the days slowly become longer. Many cultures celebrated this with huge feasts, wine, and Yule log traditions. 

These traditions become a little less wholesome when translated into modern times. Images of mountains of food, dazzling lights and decor, and indulgent piles of presents, rather than sparking hope and joy for the coming season, often trigger our FOMO (fear of missing out). It feels as though in order to fit in with the crowd, we have to overspend, overconsume, and overwaste. Overall, this makes it difficult to truly feel festive without conforming to our society’s ideals of what the holiday season should look like. 

To make this worse, corporate interest reaches an all-time high during holidays. In 2022, holiday sales alone accounted for a staggering 19% of all retail revenue. Obviously, companies are feeling the need to profit off of the large amounts of sales that come with the holiday season. 

Many will begin to push aggressive marketing campaigns that convince their customers to buy, buy, buy. Between Black Friday deals, new waves of designer decorations, and endlessly cycling holiday trends, marketing this time of year is quite literally designed to get you to overspend. In fact, many classic Christmas traditions are actually rooted in corporate greed. The brand image of “Santa Claus”, with red clothing, a white beard, and a jolly smile, was popularized by Coca Cola in the 1930’s in order to boost sales during the colder months.

Finally, our cultural obsession with buying the biggest, best gifts for our friends and family is the cherry on top of a giant sundae of waste. Small, thoughtful gifts, especially less materialistic ones, can be a sweet way to show your appreciation for your loved ones during the holiday season. But oftentimes, we spend money just to spend, and the competition and high expectations of the gift-giving season feeds into a ruthless cycle. Picture how many lost kids wander into Target every year, needing to give their mother something for the holidays – only to end up buying the same cheap candle or pajama set that ends up in the landfill. Buying people gifts that they don’t need or want (simply from societal pressures to give something) is a waste of both money and the materials that were used to make those gifts. 

These are all factors that contribute to our overconsumption habit during the holidays. But what are the actual impacts of this phenomenon?

To start, 305 million pounds of Thanksgiving food alone went to waste in 2022 (almost a pound per person). The greenhouse gases emitted from the production of this much food would be the equivalent of driving 169,000 cars for a full year. And when we consider that 13.5% of all US households reported food insecurity in 2023, this statistic isn’t just disheartening. It is blatantly disgusting. 

Besides food waste, even gift-giving has serious financial implications. Finder predicted that 53% of American adults would receive an unwanted gift in 2024, which comes to a total of $10.1 billion spent on unnecessary and unwanted presents. 

And as I mentioned before, household waste increases by up to 30% during the holiday season. What I didn’t mention before? This spike equals 1 million extra tons of waste per week….all in the name of holiday cheer. Merry Christmas, everybody. 

To counteract this cycle, we MUST redefine our cultural habits and think more deeply about our personal impacts during the holiday season. The responsibility is individual, but the solutions are straightforward. Change is possible, but only if we implement these mindful, consistent adjustments.

First, we need to buy more thoughtful gifts. Rather than a piece of junk that will end up in the landfill, try gifting experiences like tickets to an event or a class. Handmade gifts are also a great alternative – baked goods, personalized decor, DIY spa items, or wearables (crocheted or knitted items) can make your gift not only more sustainable, but more personalized. 

To reduce household waste, it’s important to consider packaging as well. Always save and reuse bags, boxes, ribbons, or any other decorative gift-wrapping items, and avoid single-use plastics or items that are difficult to recycle. 

Most of all, we need to switch our mindsets. From preparing the correct amount of food to prevent waste, recycling and composting when possible, or self-reflecting on the differences between needs and wants, there are dozens of ways to safeguard our communities from wastefulness – but it requires our full effort and mindfulness. 

It’s time to redefine what the holiday season actually means. Shake off the grips of consumerism and instead spend time with loved ones while you can. Let’s enter 2026 with a mindset of gratitude, simplicity, and sustainability.