With Christmas slowly approaching, the stress of Christmas shopping is closing in. What to buy? How much? Where from? These are all questions we ask ourselves as we go about our day to day lives, spending far too much on others and far too little on ourselves. Often it can be overwhelming to decide where to start in the massive commercial shopping centre near you, and with all the hustle and bustle you may end up getting the same thing for your relatives as someone else.
Around 1 in 5 unwanted gifts end up in landfills every Christmas, while others donate them to charity.
Stuck on Christmas? Visit Parmiter's Christmas Fair!
Christmas Fairs (traditionally markets) offer markets full of food, drinks and seasonal items for sale and there are usually many around Christmas time. Many schools offer these as well, full of individual small businesses and donations, perfect for your shopping needs.
It not only is a great opportunity to buy presents and enjoy the Christmas spirit, but it also supports small businesses and charities.
Parmiter’s School Christmas fair has a variety of things going on each year, including drink and toy tombolas from 50p, candy floss stalls for the support of peace hospice, carol singing, food and drinks being sold and of course the small businesses offering so much in terms of gifts: candles, ornaments, jewellery, knitted presents, baked goods and of course, the much awaited fudge.
“The Christmas fair is a wonderful time for small businesses and for people who can’t really get their businesses online and gain traction. They can come to our Christmas fair and display all their goods and sell them to many people that both go to the school and those who don’t.” - A Parmiter’s School Student
I asked a few short questions to a business called ‘ Beads by Bernice’ about how the fair benefited them. This business has beautiful jewellery, all delicately hand made.
The Christmas fair benefits them as it helps them sell their items, more than anywhere else. There is a website, but they mostly go to fairs and if fairs like this didn’t exist, then there wouldn’t be anywhere for them to sell.
Overall, The Parmiter’s Christmas Fair is a wonderful place to get unique presents for your loved ones but also to support small businesses that you might not find elsewhere.
