Christmas Eve Boxes

[DBN1]

Since when did they become a thing? I'd never heard of them before this year but they seem to be mentioned as if it's a normal part of the Christmas traditions.
Do you have these and if so, how long have they been part of your Christmas?

Not knocking at all, just genuinely curious.

We do it without the label. Hot chocolate, a Christmas book or cheap DVD and something nice to eat with the film.

We leave it on the step as we go to Cristingle, and then it’s there for them to ‘find’ when we get home.

I don't bother, I always buy new pjs for Xmas eve as it's what my mum did but I don't wrap them just hand them over for after bath/ shower it is an extra and unnecessary expense my sister do it and get really stressed over them x

We do it, it’s always the same, and it’s from the elves...PJ’s, for me and DC, a Christmas movie, hot chocolate for the kiddies, chocolates for me) a bottle of whiskey for DH. It’s also where we put the reindeer food( kitty biscuits) and a mince pie for Santa, carrots, and I nab one present from under the tree as it was always tradition for me to open one present on Christmas Eve. There’s also a letter from Santa...DC are 5&7 and love it! They open their pressie, put on their pj’s, put out the mince pies and reindeer food, and then we cuddle, in the sofa to watch the movie. Not extravagant but the kids are so excited Christmas Eve is nice for them to have something to open. For those who think it’s just wasteful spend, it’s what they would get on Christmas Day anyways, just an evening earlier. It’s nice to spread the holiday cheer (and presents) over a longer period of time. If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it!

My kids absolutely love the Xmas eve box and the oldest is 19! I've done it for the last 10 years or so.
I don't see it as extra expense as it is things they would likely get anyway, I just time shifted it so that they get new PJs (which last a year) plus hot chocolate, snacks etc, all packaged up as a surprise which has arrived when we get back from the Xmas eve crib service.

Only ever heard of them on here.

They aren't a thing in my circle.

We have always had xmas eve boxes, and im 40. As kids we got new pjs slippers, a hot water bottle or new cover, a book, posh hot chocolate and cream and a festive colouring book and pencils. I do similar with my kids and buy little £1 craft kits from The Works. They also get PJS, slippers, fancy hot chocolate and a book like I did.

I've never heard of a Christmas Eve box but I quite like the sound of new pyjamas,hot chocolate and a Christmas DVD!

I've also no idea what Elf on a Shelf is although it sounds like something that involves spending even more money on tat we don't need.

We always got new pyjamas on Christmas Eve when I was a child, and would leave out a mince pie and some sherry for Santa. My baby is too young to care but I will almost certainly do this when he’s older.

Never done it. Never even heard of it until MN. But I think it's quite sweet. No child was ever spoiled by a new pair of PJs, a book and some hot chocolate once a year! I'd have done it if I'd read about it when DC were tiny but they were about 7-8 and I didn't want to start a new tradition.

We put food out for the reindeer with a mince pie and sherry for Santa (tradition when I was young) and hang stockings by the fire. We read a Christmas story together. That's traditional enough.

onemore

Weve loved making new traditions...even when they are older just yelling 'its tradition' at them makes them accept it...even though we may only have started it the year before, they are easily confused

We have done them for about 5 years . New pj’s, same Christmas mug with a sachet of hot chocolate . A dvd or Christmas craft thing when younger . That’s it . It doesn’t need to be a huge present

My D.C. always get new pyjamas on Christmas Eve. Sometimes they get a Christmassy book but not always, they get pyjamas without fail though. And yes they need them - they've grown since last year and it's nice to have nice new pyjamas on for the Christmas morning photographs.

We've always done Christmas Eve hampers and my eldest is nearly 16. My parents did the same for us so it is nothing new. I just think social media makes it easier to share our traditions and some get picked up on.

We didn't exactly do that but I was always allowed to open one present on Christmas eve. It was always pyjamas, although Christmas ones weren't really a thing then, I think mine were normally Barbie!

It’s only a thing if you make it a thing. Invented by marketing departments to extract more sales from consumers. Boil the planet with more emissions in the process and flush more plastic particles into the sea, but hey we’re only doing it for the little ones. What shite.

"It's not a MN thing. We've always done it in our family. The commercialisation of it is more recent."

I disagree, I'm mid 30's, we've had a hamper since I can remember and I grew up in care, as did DH who did not grow up in care, it just wasn't labelled back then.

Xmas even plate, was milk, cookie, carrot, and we also attend church every Xmas Eve.

A friend has bought her adult daughter some perfume as a stocking filler. To me that’s a main present. Also a stocking for an adult?.....just no

Everyone in our house gets a stocking. Always has, always will.
The elves leave xmas pjs, dc need nightwear so it's not extra stuff. They will happily wear them all year round.
I am struggling to see the harm of putting hot chocolate in a box with a dvd. None of this is huge consumerism. I'm not really understanding the distain shown for it.

I've never heard of Christmas Boxes (I'm not in UK) but I've always left Xmas PJs for the kids in the fireplace from Mrs. Claus, never a particular date just any day in December. I also used to enclose a letter from Santa, detailing all the good things that had happened to them that year and instructing them to always listen to their parents ! My kids now range between 14 and 21 and still look forward to their PJ delivery every December.

@TheScottishHighLander

Not sure why you've quoted me to "disagree". Aren't we saying the same thing?

Every time I see a new tradition like this I give it a swerve, and then pat myself on the back smugly a few years later when my friends are locked into bullshit about placing the elf in a different pose and what to put in the Christmas Box... It just all seems to cause stress rather than create joy.

Plus, I dunno - it feels like artificially trying to manufacture something that is magical anyway! We may well have a DVD, drink hot chocolate, scatter reindeer dust or read the Night Before Christmas - we sometimes even have new pyjamas around then, but it hasn't become A THING so we are free to enjoy it as we like. Anyway, everyone is just fizzy and waiting for bedtime.

We don't do any of it, we're all at my Mum's on Christmas Eve as that's when Christmas is for her. I reckon the pyjamas originate from the idea - as PP suggested - that the kids look ok in photos the next day as they're wearing new clobber and you don't need to make them stop playing to get changed. That makes sense to me anyway.

I don't see the harm in any of the activities, whatever they are, but the harm is putting them and paying heed to them, on social media. That is the scourge of society really, so much competition for nothing.

Do what you like just don't benchmark with me!

plaidlife you don't understand how buying DVDs and hot chocolate count as consumerism? Really? You think either of these things is necessary? New pyjamas when they aren't needed?

Our children are not going to thank us for the unusable planet they get left. In fact I can imagine them suing us for every piece of unnecessary tat, christmas related or otherwise.

As kids we always got new Christmas pj's, a little treat (a choc etc) and a Christmas film to watch Xmas eve just without the box. I had a lovely personalised wooden Xmas eve box made for my daughter, she's only 15 months old so last year's consisted of a 'my first Christmas' sleepsuit, Christmas bibs and a muslin clothes. This year will be Xmas pj's, the night before Christmas (My favourite Xmas book and she is already a little bookworm!) A choc treat for her and a mince pie and carrot to leave for Santa and reindeer!
I don't believe in putting presents in it though she'll get plenty of them Xmas day!!

The new PJs and cocoa seems to me to have been done as a thing to get the buggers to sleep on NYE