To do Christmas eve boxes December 1st

Have yous seen the latest brrr baskets. So similar to boo baskets but Xmas themed. I do a box with stuff in it to keep them busy over December for example hot chocolate, colouring book and fake snow stuff like that and pj's

The whole concept of "Christmas Eve boxes" is ridiculous. Buy them an advent calendar, and Christmas pyjamas if you really want to (how long do they wear them for? Don’t they grow out of them by next Christmas?) but needing extra toys and tat the day before Christmas is just a marketing ploy that seems to have been horribly successful. (Bah humbug.)

We've never done a Christmas Eve box but from DD's first Christmas 15 years ago when she just a few weeks old, 1st Dec was when I began putting her in Christmassy babygros.
Yesterday, they had their advent calendars & new PJs (DD had a wintery theme; teen DS' were plain) and we put the Christmas bedding on and got out the Christmas crockery as well as decorating the house,
I do a load of washing most days so just put the PJs in too and they can wear them pretty much every day in December or as and when but making sure they are being worn on Xmas Eve

I hate all these boo baskets, December 1st boxes, Christmas eve boxes.

Just buy them a pair of Christmas pyjamas and an advent calendar. It doesn't need to be a thing or go in a special box!

Isn't Christmas exciting enough on it's own?

Celebrating the start of advent, sounds like a nice thing to do. You could drip feed on all the holy Sundays between now and Christmas Day.

I think a December box would make most sense if you’re going to do them.
I don’t do them but if you are into it then at least let them get the use out of the stuff.

We do December boxes. It has advent calender, any Xmas clothes/ pjs/ crafts/ some Xmas sweets/snacks, a Dec for the tree.

I prefer it to the constant trickle of buying Xmas tat through December. More special. They get it the day after the tree is decorated. They save the Xmas sweets/ snacks to take for Xmas days out.

On the basis of this thread, I've just brought my home-made wreath indoors to enjoy it whilst it's still fresh rather than hoping it'll last in the shed until I'm ready to decorate later in the month...and I can see this new approach being one of our traditions from now on :)

I definitely agree that most of the suggestions for "Christmas Eve boxes" make a lot more sense to be used all month/whenever you start the festive season rather than Christmas Eve itself. It seems silly to give Christmas pyjamas on Christmas Eve and barely get any wear out of them.

We have a box of things that comes down on December 1st for use throughout the month, and a smaller box that has the Christmas Eve/Day specific bits and pieces in. So technically we do both, but really it's just storing the things we'd use anyway in nice boxes and going "ooh" as we get them out.

People moaning about Christmas Eve boxes makes me roll my eyes though. Yes some people go OTT with them, but what a fucking killjoy you'd have to be to moan about the concept as a whole.

You could call them advent boxes?

Btw Christmas is 12 days long and starts on Christmas day and finishes on the 6th of Jan.
A lot of people don't realise this nowadays.

I don’t recall my dds ever needing anything to ‘get them into Christmas excitement’! Nor did I at the same age. Children who still believe in 🎅🏻are usually fizzing with it anyway on Christmas Eve.

But if I was going to do 🎄boxes at all, I’d do them on 1st Dec, to get a lot more use out of whatever was in them, and maybe call them Advent boxes.

No my friend bought for all family then gets the same set out each year. Having 4 children she reckons that the largest set will be in use for about 10 Decembers by the time child 4 gets too big to wear them. That sounds quite a bit of wear to me.

We do advent boxes not Christmas Eve boxes. The kids get:

• Hot chocolate
• Marshmallows
• A Christmas sticker book
• A couple of Christmas story books
• Christmas pyjamas
• Christmas jumper
• A Christmas baking kit
• Gingerbread house
• A chocolate coin

I buy myself a new Christmas candle, some Christmas music and some nice chocolates. And we usually get a few Christmas crafts.

The idea is that it's some things we can enjoy/do together during December. Personally, I always enjoy the lead-up to Christmas more than Christmas itself, which is always a bit too busy.

I think it’s fine to do it whenever suits you, but I also think it’s good if the Christmas Eve box contains things that can either be consumed immediately, used throughout the year, or saved for repeated use every year. My son’s has pyjamas but they’re not explicitly Christmas themed so he wears them all winter (they’re usually tartan), a hot chocolate and an iced biscuit that he eats on Christmas Eve, a Christmas decoration to put on his tree and a book (not usually Christmassy specifically).

Mine are still wearing last year's and have all year 🤣 they are spring born so I always size up. I play the game of "can I get two Christmas's out of them 🤣

No ‘boxes’ at any time here but on the 1st the DC get an advent calendar and new Christmas Pyjamas. They get plenty of wear; I size up so they’re still wearing the ones from last year and the year before, and they wear them all year! Candy canes also appear on the tree to have with their hot chocolate throughout December, as well as chocolate tree decorations. The same Christmas books get brought out every year (as we built up the collection over years and there are lots of them!).

I’ve never got the point of a Christmas Eve box, I just used to take mine for a long walk to exhaust then so they slept.
However, this makes much more sense to me and I absolutely can get on board with an advent box.

Do you repack the advent box and put it away for next year?

kids like traditions and having a special December cup that is reused will become a fond memory. You can add age appropriate items as they get older and obviously consumables but it doesn’t need to be brought from scratch year year,

they will probably want both!
i never did christmas eve boxes though

It's funny, I was only thinking this yesterday when I bought their pyjamas. But we'll stick to the Christmas eve thing as we've done it forever and the oldest is nearly 17 now so it's a bit late to change!
I might give them the Christmas PJs and swap them out for ordinary but still warm ones though.

I get my children Christmas Eve PJ's, not always matching each other, but sometimes they do, I have them wear them then til they outgrow them, they just wear them like any other PJ's through the year. My religious mother gives my children small gifts every Sunday through advent- our Christmas Eve box has books, PJ's and things like the plate for Santa live in there, and the Christmas door nob hangers etc that are used every year. My mother magics everyone a book on Christmas Eve (and has done this all my life) so we would read quietly as children that evening. The books wouldn't be Christmas related as we got older. I've got a big box of the Christmas books that we spread out on the bed at bedtime, and all pick ones that we read through together- always finish with 'Twas the night before Christmas'. I love this time of year.

We have always done this. Before I even knew Christmas Eve boxes were a thing.

In my experience kids don't need any ramping up on CE but a Dec 1 box just means getting out the decs, advent calendars, nice hot choc and some Christmas books. It kicks off the run up to Christmas in our house. Minimal cost - hot choc and marshmallows and maybe a new Christmas decoration.

Isn’t part of the point of Christmas Eve boxes (when did that become a thing?) was that new PJs and a book was supposed to get the kids into bed and hopefully to sleep?

We had a boggart who lived under the stairs in the house -it was to blame for any misplaced items, mysterious spills etc… but did give a Christmas gift on Christmas Eve, often PJs as it did get the then toddlers changed and in bed. But they weren’t Christmas themed ones, just a new pair of PJs that would then be worn throughout the year.

You don't need anyone else's permission to give your kids whatever you want, whenever you want 😉

I do Christmas eve boxes, with the idea of making them actually want to go to bed! They wear the Christmas pyjamas all year though, and think it's hilarious.

That sounds a really good idea. An Advent Box!