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 think it’s just another commercial enterprise that some parents (especially women) easily fall for especially when a few other parents they know do it and they mistakenly believe they have to keep up with them or they will somehow be failing their child.

It’s another step making Christmas all about greed and receiving stuff.

No! You're essentially giving children everything they have in their stocking the night before madness.

Don't do boxes, but we have a tradition of giving them a new christmassy book on Christmas Eve which we read together before bedtime. It's a good way of getting them to wind down a bit because excitement is usually at a fever pitch by that point. At the start of December all the Christmas books come out and we read them in the weeks leading up to Christmas then the new one gets added.

Never, ever done it.

If people don’t want to do any Xmas Eve traditions then don’t but don’t assume anyone who does is ‘buying into consumerism and giving them essentially what’s in their stocking’. Doesn’t work like that in my house.

Isn't that an advent calendar? Rather than a Christmas Eve box?

I do an advent box now, Christmas jammies, Christmas jumpers, Christmas outfits, Christmas hair clips/bands (again reused from last year!), Christmas books (mostly reused from previous years!), Their advent calendars, stockings to hang up, stuff to write Santa letters, their plate for Santa's treats on Christmas eve. It's fun and stuff they would need through December anyway! I don't know why MN is so miserable about these things.

We always go out for dinner on Christmas
Eve and when we get back Dobby Jeff the elf has gone back to the North Pole and has left 4 Xmas eve boxes for the kids.
They've got pjs, a bath bomb, Xmas Percy pigs, a cake in mug kit and some fluffy Xmas socks this year.

@SnotRag22 RIP Christmas pyjamas grandma.

Good to know that I’ll be purchasing Christmas Eve pyjamas from now until my death.

This warning should be pinned to all Christmas Eve Box threads from now on.

I don't understand this talk if Christmas pyjamas being wasteful etc, because we all wear ours like you. We get a family set every year, but even dp, who never wears pyjamas in bed, gets use out of them because he puts them on to go and make coffee in the morning. We have no problem wearing them in July.

No no no. Xmas pjs and a special Christmas book at the most!
I think you set a precedent and as they age the box gets more expensive every year. Don't do it! And don't do elf on the shelf either!

I’ve never done them, but I’ve always been too skint, it would take away from Christmas presents that they want/need.

And pyjamas would be a waste as no one wears them, we are a pants/t shirt for bed family.

But I can see how they are a nice idea.

I still think be careful what you start. Might seem like a novelty for a year or two when they're little but could turn into something you don't want to do any more and you're still doing it when they're 30, because you didn't feel you could stop.

I feel the same about Elf on the Shelf, again not a thing when mine were little but seems like something that could turn into a chore year after year.

Each to their own obviously but no never done them never will. Way too much consumerism at Christmas anyway without sodding Xmas Eve boxes to add to the list!

Never heard of them until I read about on MN a few years back. Fair enough if you can afford of DC not likely to get presents from elsewhere, but most receive a good amount of presents anyway .

We used to take DD into town before Xmas and give her a budget to buy a gift for a child in homeless family. Also, a pound in a charity box to write a positive message on put it on xmas tree in shopping arcade. She used to enjoy doing this and it's something really positive to think about others who don't have the extravagance of Xmas.

No, none of my family with young children do either. Another example of creeping expenditure upwards.

I do pj's (matching for dh ds and i), chocolate, a little cup or mug for hot chocolate and a dvd usually. It's a nice thing to and bar the pj's we would be costing up together anyway so not much different

Yes but nothing fancy and same stuff reused each year mostly - jingle bells which DS likes to shake at the back door as he sprinkles 'reindeer food' (porridge oats), night before Christmas book and a new set of pjs and chocolate Santa/coins or something. Just a nice little tradition for us but absolutely wouldn't spend a fortune. Only costs me the new pjs each year and the chocolate. Don't do any fancy/additional hot chocolate, yes we might have one but just with the stuff I already have in the cupboard!

Why do so many people need new PJs every year? Mine last much longer than that!

(Missing the point....)

Children grow?

I am curious about the hot chocolate. Seems essential but not really related to Christmas Even in any way.

I imagine if you drew a Venn diagram, the crossover between "christmas eve box" people and "snuggling on the sofa with blankies, hot choccy and the famalam #blessed" people would be rather large.

Common.

😂❤

How?