For many parents of young kids, the holiday season inspires a combination of fear and dread of the growing mountain of plastic stuff. Is it possible to give your kids a happy holiday without adding to the clutter in your house — and, eventually, in landfills?

Toy industry analysts and parents say it is and toy makers are starting to offer more sustainable choices, too.

“Sustainability is important to the toy companies right now because it’s important to Gen Z and millennial parents, who are the prime toy buying moms and dads,” said independent industry analyst Chris Byrne. Nearly 3 in 4 parents with children under 11 said that sustainability is important in their toy purchases, according to research commissioned by Byrne’s site, thetoyguy.com.

Still, making (and buying) toys sustainably is easier said than done. Earlier this year, Lego said an experiment with making its bricks out of recycled plastic bottles failed to reduce carbon emissions.

There are ways to mitigate the impacts of holiday toy shopping. Here are some tips from experts and parents to keep the holiday season happy — and more sustainable.

Seek out greener toy makers

Byrne said a number of greener toy companies have popped up in recent decades to meet the needs of new generations of parents. Because of concerns over the use of plastics, toymakers have begun experimenting with more environmentally friendly materials such as bamboo and plant plastic made from sugar cane. There has also been more focus on reducing packaging.

At the same time, kids may ask for toys that don’t meet the sustainability standards their parents have in mind. If they want a Barbie DreamHouse, Byrne said, they probably won’t be happy with a “hemp yurt.”

The most sustainable toy is the one your kid will actually play with, he said, because that won’t end up in a landfill.

Buy toys second hand or participate in a toy swap

One way to buy toys more sustainably is to buy them used, which has the added advantage of costing less.

Mallory Domingue, a mom of two in D.C., has always been concerned about sustainability, but when she had her first daughter six years ago, the stakes suddenly felt higher.

“The state of the planet and what bringing a child into that looked like and the consequences of that was a tipping point for me to just do everything in my power to mitigate what I could,” she said.

Her solution has been to look to her community through a neighborhood internet mailing list and Buy Nothing groups.

Byrne, one of five kids, notes these can also be opportunities to communicate your values to your children.

”My mother used to say Santa’s sleigh is very big, but it’s got to carry toys for all the children. So be careful what you ask for,” he said. “So my brothers and I would sit down with our lists and we would do horse trading. Okay, you ask for this. I’ll ask for this.”

This taught Byrne and his brothers about sharing and being thoughtful about how much they asked for and the trading was kind of fun.

”But it was brilliant because they didn’t have a huge budget for the holidays,” Byrne said.

Gift experiences instead of things

After filling their houses with toys during the pandemic, many families now want to move away from the clutter. Instead of toys, consider giving the kids in your life an experience.

That’s been a big part of the solution for Domingue and her family. Her go-to gift for other kids in her life is a Mason jar of homemade sugar cookie mix with rainbow sprinkles and a cookie cutter on top.

”I can’t tell you how many moms stop me and say, what a great gift. It wasn’t clutter. I got to spend time with my child doing something fun,” she said. For the adults in her life, she’ll give them an IOU for a home-cooked meal. “Time is the one thing that we have a very finite amount of.”

If you are interested in gifting an experience — consider an ice skating outing or tickets to see live music. Or, try collaborating on a kid-friendly recipe to get some quality time, and a delicious meal together.

Get friends and relatives involved too

Molly Braverman is the director of the Broadway Green Alliance, an organization that’s working to make theater more sustainable. She’s also a parent — which has made the mission feel more urgent — and has issued a whole new challenge of “stuff.”

For Hanukkah this year, she’s going to visit the local children’s thrift store to find gifts for her daughter. When she is done playing with the toys, Braverman plans to sell them back.

Her greatest victory, though, has been getting her mom to use Facebook Marketplace, she said.

”She loves buying stuff for her granddaughter,” Braverman said. “But it doesn’t need to be new. And she has so much fun chasing the deal, finding her the perfect play kitchen. She’s a wizard.”