Guest Article by Louisa Limbo, The Lane Cove Toy Library Supervisor/Volunteer
(Intro by In the Cove)
We’re excited to share this festive fun from Louisa Limbo, one of the brilliant supervisors at The Lane Cove Toy Library. Louisa and her friends have mastered the art of turning unwanted gifts into a gladiator-style Christmas game — complete with steals, suspense and plenty of laughs. It’s a Lane Cove tradition we just heard about and we absolutely adore it.
Sustainable Santa by Louisa Limbo: A Lane Cove Tradition Worth Borrowing
It’s that time of the year, a mixture of anxiety and excitement, when we package up our gifts for Sustainable Santa.
My friends and I have been playing Sustainable Santa for years. It’s like Secret Santa, except we don’t buy new useless things that nobody needs or wants that will end up at Vinnies. Instead, we take those new unwanted gifts and pass them on to our dearest friends.
The rules are simple:
- Bring a wrapped unwanted gift, or if you are lucky enough not to have any unwanted gifts, an item that is Vinnies-worthy.
- Everyone pulls out a number which determines the order of picking gifts.
- When it’s your turn, you can either pick a gift or try to steal a gift from someone who came before you. The choice must be made before you open a gift.
- If you try to steal someone’s gift and they don’t want to let it go, you play rock-scissors-paper. Winner keeps the gift; loser picks a new one.
- Each gift can only be stolen twice, and each person can only be stolen from twice.
- Previous Sustainable Santa items cannot be regifted in future years.
The stakes are high. The emotions are higher. Past years have seen hard-fought battles over a 1kg jar of artichokes, and a prized odd bunch Kensington Pride Mango. There was cries of despair as a brand-new iRobot 7 spare roller was unwrapped, and an equal joyous cry of schadenfreude from the rest of the participants at their near miss.
Then, the entertainment does not stop after the game is finished. The stories afterwards create ongoing amusement: someone’s kid played with men’s size 7 second-hand rollerblades for hours! Someone’s sister is happily using the sedan car cover they won, and I still use an unwanted spice rack I won many years ago.
So, this Christmas season, instead of playing the usual Secret (Landfill) Santa, why not play a game where the joy keeps giving, long after the season ends.
Love the idea of Sustainable Santa? Keep the joy going all year round.
If re-gifting and reducing waste make your heart sing, you’ll adore what’s happening right here in Lane Cove.
The Lane Cove Toy Library helps local families borrow toys instead of buying more plastic that ends up forgotten in a cupboard. You can browse the catalogue online, reserve your toys, and use easy book online + click and collect — simple, sustainable fun for kids (and sanity-saving for parents).
And if you’re into borrowing more than toys, check out The Sydney Library of Things. It’s filled with useful household items, gadgets, DIY tools, camping gear and party equipment — perfect for when you need something for a moment, not a lifetime. It’s a brilliant way to save money, reduce waste and share resources across the community.
A more sustainable Christmas? Absolutely. A more sustainable everyday? These two local resources make it easy.
