The Amazon wishlist idea sounds great. May be something I can get the whole family (and friends) in on!

Also, my family members are big fans of Amazon wish lists.  You can put anything on your list -- it doesn't have to be something Amazon sells.  It can take a while to get people in the habit of checking them, but those lists have been tremendously useful for us.  This year I bought my brother a knife sharpener I wouldn't have known he needed, and he bought me a book he never would have heard of. 

Most of our Christmas plastic came as packaging around items ordered online.  Ugh.

Thanks so much for the tip!

Something like: "Dear Santa, this year we would like..."

The message can contain some environmental concerns, like fair trade, local gifts, less waste, non plastic etc. It has potential to raise awareness and spark some interesting discussions.

To see a change, timing is paramount. The message should be sent ahead of time.

This is tricky in my family where being grateful for whatever you get is ingrained in us, and complaining, or otherwise asking for something else might be considered rude. I don't want to make the request in any way, shape or form, that will seem that I have been ungrateful for what we have received in the past.

I just want to reduce the plastic flow into our home. Plus we have a very small apartment and reducing the number of gifts to begin with would be great as well. I'm not a fan of consumerism, especially the hyped up consumerist Christmas we are faced with today....we don't have room for all this stuff!

Anyhow, since a lot of the stuff just breaks, they are just wasting their hard earned money. Any useful tips on how to make such requests with as much etiquette as possible and thereby not upset grandmas? Much thanks & happy holidays!!