From Santa Cruz, CA The Alarm!Newswire <[log in to unmask]> wrote:From: The Alarm!Newswire To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [Dryerase] The Alarm!--Alternatives to shopping Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 20:31:07 -0800 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. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site