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.

I am glad to find this thread because I’d heard about these boxes but had no idea what they were or where the idea came from. I wondered if it was a European import, like Christmas trees.

That BBC link someone posted upthread suggests this all a homegrown, modern-ish thing though.

I couldn’t care less what people do in their own homes. Good luck to them.

But why pyjamas? Why not socks or skirts or trousers?

It does feel a bit ‘everyone else does pyjamas so I’d better join in’.

Of course, thinking about it, a lot of european countries celebrate on Christmas eve. Maybe its partly from that?

We have had full christmas meal and gifts on occassion when we have been off work on Christmas eve but working on Christmas day.

My MIL did table gifts as well

Maybe its a MIL thing

My children have a similar sack to this...its supposed to be a sack for Christmas presents but at the moment i use it for their unwrapped book, sweets and pjs on Christmas eve

But why pyjamas? Why not socks or skirts or trousers

They get socks and pants and pjs

Ive been doing it for 19 years (well not the socks and pants to be fair)

To answer the PP question about “why pyjamas”....

.... because then the kids look semi unkempt on all the Christmas morning photos without new ones DD would prob have pen or paint on hers and that’s not a great Christmas morning photo op

I like them, but I don't go overboard.
My kids get new pjs (not Christmassy though so good until they grow out of them), mini marshmallows for hot chocolate, popcorn, and a carrot for the reindeer.

They open the wrapped cardboard box, we all put on our pyjamas, and stream a Christmas movie with our popcorn and hot chocolate. The carrot goes on a plate, with some milk for Santa before they go to bed.

I don't want to buy Christmas mugs or Christmas pjs, or bedding that will only get used for a few days every year. I like having the box though, the kids get excited and it makes it a tiny bit more special than just sticking a film on.

I do it now and use it to collate all the little family traditions we have already, so it tends to have a DVD to watch and nice chocolate, popcorn and drinks etc and some games so we play those on Christmas Eve.

Also handy to pop any more food gifts in it and use it to dip into over Christmas and New Year so it's got an ongoing purpose

I did it for a couple of years a few years back but am not bothering anymore.

I would rather put the money towards a nice christmassy day out.

Nope - don’t do it. I quite like the idea of it but they already get so much on Christmas Day. Having them opening another present on Christmas Eve just seems a bit excessive to me.

We have a tradition of getting our PJ’s on with loads of blankets, hot chocolate and a Christmas film. Then it’s off to bed before I start freaking out about present wrapping and Christmas dinner!

We've always had a December box, opened on the 1st. I put all of our Christmas dvds in there each year, our cosy bedding, some new pj's, and a few sweet treats for watching the films with. Mostly it's the same old stuff just gathered together and opened up by us all at the same time, but we love our little tradition and have been doing it years.

We started doing it once we had DS (well, once he turned 3. He would have got it before.) This is the second year. He’ll have new Xmas pjs, a Chocolate Santa or reindeer and possibly a Christmas film. Last year, he had the previous year’s Xmas pjs in the box because he hadn’t outgrown them (aged 2-3, he’s not a big child) and I hadn’t put them on him since January - so they seemed new to him. And he had a film and some chocolate. I don’t mind doing it, traditions have to start somewhere after all so it doesn’t bother me that it’s a new thing for us. But I love Christmas and all the preparation and have bought nearly all the gifts for everyone already. So it’s not an added stress.

And surely it’s PJs so you can go to bed in them and feel all Christmassy?

I'd never heard of them. Our school PTA is selling Christmas Eve bags as a fundraiser. Apparently they are what the Elf on the Shelf leaves behind

I have a question about the pyjamas. Do you wash them first?

(I usually wash clothes before I wear them.)

I don't wash any new clothes before wearing them! So dont wash the pyjamas either.

@PoptartPoptart You can buy personalised Christmas Eve boxes for your dog

i am guilty of this well sort off each of my 4 dogs has a felt stocking from poundland i put their names on them, (i hang them up too ) Fill them with a new bone from the butcher purchased xmas eve (£2). new tennis ball each (4 for £1) new collar (usually about £15-20) and new squeak £1 each... but they dont get it until xmas morning and its so they go off and it their bone and leave us in peace to open gifts, .

can someone please tell me what twee means ive seen it on a lot of threads now ive no idea what it means

I've only ever come across Christmas Eve boxes on Mumsnet but we always got to pick one a small present from under the tree to open on Christmas Eve (a nod to the fact that one side of my family has European ties and that is how they would have celebrated). I will probably carry on doing that with DC. So, I guess it's kind of similar except that the present we open is fairly random (with some steering from my parents!) rather than Christmas eve specific.

Our only ongoing Christmas Eve traditions are that we have smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for lunch (my excuse for a break) and we have roast ham with baked potatoes and cabbage for dinner. We don't need pyjamas to open presents in because we get dressed before coming downstairs on Christmas morning

We don't, it's just an added expense although we will all put on Christmas pyjamas, watch a Christmas film before bed anyway and no doubt munch some junk food too, so basically everything these boxes have anyway!

I do one for DS (will do one for DD as of next year, but she'll only be 4 months old this Christmas so there's little point). It has things in we bring out every year (his stocking, the Santa key, the Santa Please Stop Here sign, the Miracle on 34th Street video which was mine as a child). I then put in bits for us to do together on Christmas Eve, which is money I'd be spending anyway as it's traditions from my own childhood which I'm carrying on, so there's the bits to make paper chains which we'll make and hang, then a new cookie cutter to make gingerbread (I have a fair collection from my own childhood as I was always given a new one to bake with my Nana) and some bird friendly reindeer dust (which I make myself). I also made the box myself, so it's not cost me an arm and a leg, nor is it filled with loads of extra gifts.

i posted earlier in the thread, that i dont do it and i just buy new pjs as its something mum did, i asked why today (im only 30), when xmas came up, and she said because it was what her granmother did for her mum, so my gran did it for her kids, my (greatgran and gran never had much money so pjs (nighties for girls) were worn until you outgrew them, then handed down or used to make patchwork quilts(i actually have one i didnt know was old pjs)/rags/hankies if not wearable again, then they would all sit play board games eat a few sweets and watch the tv in front of the fire together.

mum just remembered always being excited on xmas eve as a girl for her new nightie, sweets and everyone sitting together as my grandfather worked alot so was nice to have him home in the evening (he ran a cinema), so she carried it on,
we werent allowed many sweets as children either, and nor is my DSS, i loved getting new pjs and sweets on xmas eve and carried it over to my home too, just for the fond memoriesi had of it, DH didnt have a little tradition like that and he loves it he is usually diving in the shower at 6/7pm and asking for his pjs. (shorts for him usually) i had no idea it stretched back generations,
my sisters are still adamant on doing xmas eve box with a toy, sweets pjs, games etc in.... its uneccessary in my book,

DSS doesnt believe in santa anymore and hasnt done for a few years but asked can we still do stockings though FOMO i think!

plus her kids are always really over excited and wound up xmas eve DSS has always been asleep by 11 at latest......i text every year saying goodnight off to bed!!! i wake and her reply is always bitch....brats still awake! and then 2/3am yay bedtime! another text at 6am.....arent you up yet?!......defo wining there!

I don't mind if people want to put a few everyday things in a box (book, pyjamas, hot chocolate), bring it out on Christmas Eve and call it a Christmas Eve Box - I'm a great believer in the power of branding - as long as I don't have to do it.

But what I really dislike is the arch tweeness of the descriptions - loads of 'cosy' and 'fluffy' and 'snuggling' and 'cuddling up together' and 'sweet treats'. Isn't that, apart perhaps from the 'sweet treats', pretty much any winter evening in an affectionate household with children? Pyjamas on, bedtime drink, book or TV programme cuddling parents on the sofa or in bed...

Don't get me wrong, we have Christmas Eve traditions that have evolved as our children have grown, but now they mostly involve a meal at a favourite walking distance restaurant, some wine and a Christmas film.

Apologies if the apparent 'arch tweeness' of my descriptions offends you, Ontopofthesunset , but no, life is really busy and most evenings are nothing like that as a standard, winter no exception. We're very rarely all in for a full evening at home. It does feel special.

WHAT DOES TWEE MEAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME!!!

any winter evening in an affectionate household with children? ideally yes but the reality no, most parents work opposite shifts on days one evening or nights thats if they are two arent households and many households have kids of various ages, for example, my DSS is 11, he has things he needs to do after school (he doesn't get in until gone 4pm) such as homework, and he has his meal, then a few days a week he pops to the youth club, helps me walk the dogs, then its shower and bed, i have studying to do and DH works odd shifts so we arent always together to cosy up