AIBU to buy my children traditional picture advent calendars?

[MissPB]

I have always bought my children (ages 3 & 6) "traditional" advent calenders. I had them up to being a teenager and have very fond memories of them.

Eldest has cottoned on to the chocolate calendars now because her school friends have them. She hasn't asked for one yet but I wonder if she will this year.

AIBU to keep buying the old-style calendars so that they enjoy the simple pleasure of the count-down to Christmas and wondering what picture they will get?

Yanbu! Definitely definitely not. Chocolate advent calendars are the work of the devil. Much nicer to have one with a picture behind each door as you never know what you're going to get, a chocolate's a chocolate and no surprises

YANBU! Traditional far, far nicer. I find the chocolate ones v depressing and not in keeping with spirit of Christmas (and I don't mean in a religious way)

This was my plan from the outset, but my DM scuppered my plans by buying them a chocolate one. I wouldn't mind, but she was the type of mum who would never in a million years have bought one for us when we were kids. Bloody grandparents.

So stick to your guns, OP. Although you do realise that when they're having the 'how horrible were my parents' conversation when they're grown-ups, this will be dragged out .

OTOH, if you want your grown-up chocoholic friends to love you forever, buy them an advent calendar from Hotel Chocolat!

blimey.. just get them a 99p chocolate one... I would rather have a small chocolate once a day than look at a picture of a bloody donkey...

I would rather have a small chocolate once a day than look at a picture of a bloody donkey...

Yeah, me too. I've bought chocolate ones for my lot, but I do concede that the picture ones can be very beautiful so I may get a family advent calendar that we can re-use every year.

My only problem with today's picture-only calendars, is that there seems to be so little thought put into the overall design.

When I was little, I always had a picture-only calendar, but the pictures on the inside tied up with the main picture. So a street scene would involve opening windows and doors and getting a peek into what was happening inside the houses - not just a random cartoon of a drum or a star. It seemed magical to me at the time, but it's really hard to find calendars like that now.

In recent years we've bought one picture calendar and one chocolate calendar - the DCs get to share and open windows on alternate days.

YANBU DS is only 2 but so far he has only had the traditional picture one, a nativity scene with glitter - they are very hard to find. He enjoys it and doesn't know the others exist so I'm certainly not going to introduce them.

We never had chocolate ones. I just don't like them, part of the whole greed culture of Christmas IMO.

Yabu- my dcs would be well upset if they didn't recieve a tasty chocco calendar.

YANBU I loved traditional advent calendars when I was a little girl. My brother got a chocolate one and I insisted on a picture one. I have been buying DD (6) a traditional one since her first Christmas. They are not that hard to find online. DD seems to be like me as she finds the picture ones "more exciting".

The chocolate ones my dcs get have both.

DD (aged 12) has asked for a traditional calendar for the last couple of years, as she hates the chocolate in the chocolate ones.

DS (aged 8) has had choc ones so far, but I'm not bothered which he has.

We get one traditional one and have a refillable drawer one, I put two choc coins in each drawer (one for each DC). There is an independent gift shop in our town which sells German picture ones they are beautiful and not expensive.

I've got my DD a Lego one this year, piece of Lego everyday that builds a small winter scene

We had this one last year - it was very beautiful.

www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Night-Advent-Calendar-Schroeder/dp/1558584374/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1350825460&sr=8-20

Thats the one we had too Fishfingers. It is indeed beautiful. In fact its been saved so we can use it again. Might get this one too....

YANBU

Am in the same situation. Have always done traditional ones but do find it harder to get a nice one and they are definitely more expensive. Pleased to see the nice ones on amazon. To overcome the chocolate thing this year might let them have a coin from the tree.

Must remember not to eat them myself this year...

piprabbit I remember the calendars where the pictures tied into the overall scene, my mother still sends them to us!

YANBU. Children get so much chocolate and sweets at parties and things all through December anyway.
I'd hold out for as long as I could - there might come a time when your DD is desperate for a choc one and feeling like she's the only one who is denied this essential part of Christmastime- so unfair etc etc. Then you might not feel so bad about the advent gluttony thing.
I remembered NOT being given choc calendars and feeling hard done by until, aged approx 35 my DM heard me telling my DCs this and made sure my DCs and DH knew that every year I got a choc calendar and scoffed the lot on Dec 1st!! I'd completely forgotten about it!

YANBU. It's exciting to see what picture you have each day.

Plenty of time for chocolate at Easter, anyway :)

Mine have Percy Pig ones this year; both the same so they can't argue over who has which one or who might have the better one. They are almost 18 and 14 . I just get myself a decent slab of chocolate and try to make it last for the whole of Downton for the month before Christmas

DS has a wooden advent calendar tree just like this which MIL got him the other year.

We put things like raisins, apricots, sometimes chocolate drops / chocolate raisins, and some days a little present - but very small as the drawers are tiny!

Lots of traditional ones here

Never had chocolate ones here and mine are 16 and 13.
Nasty cheap chocolate anyway.