[Dryerase] The Alarm!--Alternatives to shopping

[The Alarm!Newswire]

Join others, don’t shop, feel better

Here are some things you can do that’ll keep you out of stores on 
November 29, Buy Nothing Day:

• Write letters to everyone you’ve been neglecting.

• Sew sock monkeys out of those sad loner socks whose partners have 
been lost in the black hole of laundry. All you need are two socks, 
some buttons, a needle and thread.

• Go for a walk and gather neat looking seed pods, dried leaves, pine 
cones, acorns, spark plugs, street sweeper blades, buttons, messed up 
coins and anything rusty. Clean out a nice looking quart jar. Arrange 
the items in the jar leaving room for the recipient to add their own 
findings. Hide a note inside (if you want to be super-sneaky). Put a 
lid on it. INSTA-PRESENT!

• Find one of those tin boxes from those pesky AOL CDs (you can also 
use old Altoids canisters, etc). Decoupage the outside with cool images 
from all those magazines you’ve got laying around. Coat with clear nail 
polish for a glossy finish. On the inside, paste photos. Voila! A 
picture frame.

• November 16 is free appliance pick-up day all around the city. Go 
scavenging for an old TV. In preparation find a fish tank/bowl (try 
thrift stores), a light socket, a pump, rocks, a plastic castle and 
some fish (living). Then on Buy Nothing Day, gut the TV, put the fish 
tank inside and light it from behind. (P.S. maybe some of the insides 
of the TV would look good in a glass quart jar.)

• Go to the beach (make sure it’s not a state beach). Look for polished 
stones, sea glass and shells. Dig some bottles out of your recycling 
bin. Remove the labels and clean them. Put your treasures inside.

• Organize a marching band or theater troupe. Dress up. Get creative. 
Make flyers about Buy Nothing Day and bring them to shopping areas to 
pass out. Play music. Have fun.

• Visit old people in nursing homes. Bring gifts you’ve made (like sock 
monkeys and decorative jars).

• Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Just because it’s the day after 
Thanksgiving doesn’t mean people aren’t hungry.

• Make a care package for someone you miss.

• Go through your closets and figure out all the stuff you can donate 
to a local shelter, the Drop-In Center or the Walnut Avenue Women’s 
Center.

• Go to the public library before Thanksgiving (they are closed on 
Thanksgiving and the day after) and check out videos or DVDs for free. 
Host a movie day.—H.J. and B.W.

Check out adbusters.org for stickers etc.

       All content Copyleft © 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except 
where noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed 
freely in whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial 
purposes or by government agencies.