Christmas Eve boxes

[Chuckle94]

do you do Christmas Eve boxes? I’ve got a four year old boy and I was thinking of doing one for him. Put pyjamas, books, chocolate in it ,
but make an inexpensive one. i know some people don’t do them. I might not even get round to it 🙈

I do Xmas eve boxes and have for at least 12 years. Same stuff mainly every year - plate, book, key, bell, reindeer food. New PJs, a tree decoration and a snack new.

Not to be an absolute killjoy but for those getting”reindeer food”, please do get the organic stuff which doesn’t have glitter in it which is awful for the wildlife!

We’ve done one since dd1’s 2nd Xmas I think.

i tend to work until around 7 on Xmas eve (hospitality) so it magically appears in the garden around the time I get home. I come in through the front door saying ‘has it come yet??’ And they say no so i prompt them to go and check and low and behold the elves have been!
They need to be stealthy though as dd2 is much more enthusiastic with her ‘elf watch’!

Its a hamper basket that contains the plate for the mince pie, reindeer food, a book (for years it was the same one), festive friends biscuits, hot chocolate (nowadays it’s festive hot chocolate bombs or spoons) and pjs. It used to be a dvd too but Netflix fills the gap now!

So the pjs are the biggest spend, the rest is either free or cheap and it’s just a nice thing to get them ready for bed and for me to enjoy some of the magic that I’ve missed whilst I’ve been at work. It’s definitely a tradition I’m glad I started and this will be our 11th box this year 🎅🏻

Well they are teens now so will probably put in fags, condoms and booze I guess, if Christmas Eve's are anything like they used to be.

In the past I’ve been a wee bit sneery about Christmas Eve boxes but my kids have had a tough year so fuck it I’m doing it!
PJs
Hot chocolate
voucher to watch a movie before bed
a new blanket

I do a 1st December box too so we can enjoy it for longer. I put in new pj's (if last year's don't fit - if they do, the same ones go back in), xmas books (again, same each year with a few new ones added, I'm a teacher so will usually borrow one a day anyway to read to my class) and DS got the wooden nativity set from Aldi a couple of years ago so that makes a reappearance. I also made a fabric advent calendar for us as a family so I put chocolate coins for DS and a chocolate from hotel Chocolat for me in each pocket with a couple of hot chocolate sachets in the pockets that fall to weekends. DH gets a mini whisky bottle but only on the weekends. I also wrote out a whole load of christmassy activities on Lolly sticks so one of those goes in the pocket too. It might be a film suggestion, a craft or a walk to spot the Christmas lights (so all very cheap or free).

Yes we do and have done since before Christmas Eve boxes were a thing.

We live overseas so grandma sent out a key for Santa, magic Reindeer food and a tiny stocking and it's gone from there.

The kids are 11& 8 now and don't believe so it's more symbolic thank "keeping Santa alive". They get their pyjamas, stockings, magic reindeer food, hot chocolate, baileys (for us) etc.

Everyone loves it, don't need to go overboard. They've never opened presents on Xmas eve, it's more prepping for "Santa's" arrival.

I've always dreamed of doing one with their best existing toys to remind them to play with what they have. They received these amazing large spinning tops one year and then slide whistles over the summer - things like this...

We don't. Never have, never will.

But we do always have a popcorn / hot chocolate / Christmas film in our festive PJ's evening.

I have a makeshift box with PJs, hot choc and a book.

My kids love their Xmas eve boxes. They get non Christmassy pjs, hot chocolate, something for the bath, a book, a new toothbrush and an amazing prime voucher for a film. It’s generally money I’d spend anyway.

Be aware you will be making a rod for your own back, possibly for the rest of you life.
Many moons ago (thanks to fecking mumsnet) I started giving my daughters new pjs on Christmas Eve.
In September I tested the water with dd1 who is now 18 if she would mind if I stopped doing this.
Turns out she would mind and my suggestion was festively-akin to breaking into the church, dousing the nativity set on fire and burning the whole place to the ground on Christmas Eve. Apparently her entire Christmas joy has its foundations built on a pair of pyjamas.

Mine get new pyjamas, a bathbomb and a book

Can I just point out that nobody bursts into flames if you wear Christmas PJs out of season. I get mine Christmas PJs and they wear them until they don't fit. It's not like you're walking down the street in a Christmas jumper in July, nobody sees them.

Yep. This is law in our family. I'm 36 and have always had new PJs on Christmas Eve

Ours is just stuff we reuse each year. Excellent for PJs and slippers. It's the the stocking arriving ready to hang. One of our Christmas DVD's (that we already have) the Santa plate. Reindeer food (old sprinkles tub with oats and bird seed in. The nice badge. Some paper and a pencil to write FC a reminder/thank you, we leave this with the carrot and mince pie( I have them saved in a file hidden away as mementos.) I may include a festive mug for hot chocolate this year as my DC have just discovered that they like it! It arrived Christmas Eve morning.

You'll get people going 'its mindless consumerism, don't you care about the planet!" When quite often it's just reused, recycled stuff. You'll get people going "it's an American import!" And then others explaining they've been doing it for years, it's their traditional things that have then been packaged in a box. (My American family members have never heard of a Christmas Eve Box, so it's not necessarily prevalent over there either).

Some people do a 1st of December box where they have all the craft stuff you see in shops and others have the bloody elf. It's up to you what your traditions are going to be.

But if you want Christmas Eve Box advice then you might be better posting in the Christmas topic as people go wild to be as disgusted as possible in aibu and chat about them 😂

Like a previous poster I am doing a 1st of December box. I got fab little boxes from b&m they were £3.50 for 2!
They have their advent calendars, Christmas PJ's, kinder chocolate Santa, a Christmas cup, Christmas book, Christmas themed bath stuff, elf on the shelf stickers and a gingerbread making kit for the eldest. Oh and I attached an elf on the shelf on each of their boxes. My two are only 3.5 and 1.5. I absolutely loved making them up tbh I think I do it more for me than them!

I have also made a box for myself, Xmas jammies, a free panettone I got from John Lewis and the m&s shortbread sky light tin. I might throw in a face mask on mine and a wine miniature 😂

She's not wrong tbf. My grandma bought mine (and all the kids in the family) Christmas PJs until I was 26 and she died.

Which seems an extreme way of getting out of doing a tradition, so maybe don't do that.

I do a 1st december box instead. So they can use the PJs on the run up to Christmas.

The Elves bring the box and it has:
The Christmas bedding
PJs - non Christmas ones
Chocolates
A new book
A letter from Santa

We all have new PJs on Xmas eve here - not in a box but it's definitely a well established tradition. I usually get asked anxiously by one or more DC in November/early Dec whether I've got the new pyjamas for xmas eve yet. So yes agree with PP that there's no messing with that tradition once you start!

I don't get Xmas themed pjs, just ones I hope they'll like, so they wear them for several months until the change of seasons.

We do one but for whole family and it's given once tree goes up first week December. Elves leave it under tree once tree is up.

Contains advent calendars, December treats, maybe fluffy socks. Sometimes I put in pjs but not bothering this year. Usually some bubbles or colouring book it's mostly treats to eat throughout December by whole family.

We have a box, stored in the attic with the Christmas things, that holds the things we need for Christmas Eve and it’s a tradition in our house that the kids go up to the attic to find it, just because it’s pretty exciting when you’re small to do that.

It contains the special plate for Santa’s cookies, the big candle for the window, the tableware for our Christmas Day breakfast, the stockings, a storybook for Christmas Eve, etc.

So it’s very much a Christmas Eve box, and a traditional activity that keeps the kids busy, but it’s not an early present, and it’s not more stuff.

I love it. It feels like a definite start to Christmas and a segue to bed.

Since my kids don't like hot chocolate and don't wear pyjamas I've never bothered

Simple

No never started this we wanted the excitement to build to first lot of presents being their stockings.

I do a 1st of December box. It contains all the Xmas books from previous years plus a new addition, then some colouring/sticker books, Xmas jarmas and Xmas craft things. It’ll be waiting with the advent calendars when she wakes up.

I’m toying with the idea of the elf on the shelf delivering them but undecided atm, don’t know if I can commit 24 nights to that 😂

I don’t do a Christmas Eve ‘box’ but since DS was a baby on Christmas Eve I will lay out Christmas pyjamas, and christmassy bath bomb from lush on his bed. It was from ‘the elves’ but he is 9 now so not sure the elf story will fly this year but will keep doing it!

I also used to put out a Christmas picture book for us to read together but since he is too old for picture books now, on 1st December I put his Christmas bedding on and buy a new Christmas book that we read together, last year it was boy called Christmas and this year I have picked up Christmasaurus.

We have a box when the Christmas tree comes down, so a few weeks before Christmas and time to enjoy the things. It has the same things in every year - Christmas books, Christmas plates and cups, playmobil Nativity scene to build. Usually I will add a new sticker book or craft activity, but most of it is reused year on year.