To suggest to the dc that we move from the wooden and Lego advent calendars to shop choc ones?

[Retropear]

Dc 10,10 and 9.

We have done a wooden draw thing with a sweet in and the same battered Playmobil one that is forever falling over from their 1st Christmas.

Kinda getting weary of them(and remembering to fill the wooden one each night).

Dd was lovingly stroking choc advent calendars in the Co-op and pointing out they'd never had one.

Considering suggesting it's time to switch but wondering if that would kill Christmas and be the beginning of the end re the magic.

Ie would I regret it?(obviously what the kids want is neither here nor there)

Actually I think the very fact they've never had a chocolate one before would mean it is quite magical for them IYSWIM? :)

my dh likes his wooden one, i fill it up ache beginning of December, but think if your dcs want a cardboard one, i'd buy them one!

As a chocolate fan I have to say that on the whole the quality of chocolate in the shop ones (Kinnerton?) is dreadfully apalling
Generally children dont mind though if it has a picture of Ben 10/Spiderman/Scoody Doo on it.

Mine are 12 & 10 though - I still fill up the fabric Santa and Reindeer with sweets.

That's what I thought but once we've changed that'll be it won't it.

Elves coming in each night to fill the drawers is wearing a bit thin though now.I'm sure they're humouring me.

Will come back after pick up and see what the general consensus of opinion is.

2 3d calendars and a choc one each isn't an option though!

My 10 year old is desperately holding on to the Santa/Elves/Reindeers theory - he knows its not true but he wants the magic

Could you do the special one and perhaps a grandparent buy the other one? It is much cheaper to just buy a calender but for us setting up the calendar is part of our christmas tradition.

Mine have a calender with a pictures and nice to think what will be behind the door rather than just getting a chocolate

Will come back after pick up and see what the general consensus of opinion is.

But you're only asking if you should make a suggestion?

Just suggest it and see what they say.

Personally I hate the cheapo chocolate ones, won't have one in the house, - but that's my family and our conception of what is Christmassy and magical. I think if you all enjoy it and want it and it feels like Christmas to you then that's what you should do.

we have a wooden one my dad bought years ago, but we don't put sweets in it, we collect little Christmassy odds and ends (eg a tiny snowman, a few gitter stars, a little bauble, a few red berries off a decoration). I find it magical and my kids get really excited but having been on MN since 2005 I am aware that for some people I am a boring joyless tryhard

I am getting snowman/snow dog ones from thorntons this year I think.

I do both!

We're all having chocolate ones this year. My one is from Lindt, and always delicious.

The children have Gruffalo and Snowman ones from THorntons. I am interested to see what they are like because I am not a fan of THornton's chocolate. I prefer real Belgian and Swiss chocolate.

Let them choose their own chocolate ones.

And then announce that you want sweets in the wooden drawer one and loudly wonder, in the presence of dh and dcs, if the elf will still come when it's you opening the drawers. Sit back and wait ...

I feel I should just get a normal one this year for the DCs especially as I forgot last year I had told them the previous year the elves filled it up each night if they had been good, the look on DS1s face when he said but i thought the elves did it still haunts me!!

I still do traditional paper ones - no chocolate. My mother think it's terribly abusive and cruel that I don't give a 4 year old and 1 year old a daily dose of chocolate that they don't want nor expect.

I wish I had a proper posh one, though. Actually, a whiskey one.

Well if you already have a Playmobil one then you can buy a chocolate one if you want and still bring out the Playmobil one at no extra cost as it does make a nice little scene. We used to have two that we dragged out serveral years on the trot.

I also have some draws I made myself a few years ago and I fill those with chocolate as it is nicer than the stuff you get in the shop bought oones.

We have a pocket one and just vary the sweets. Normally chocolate coins or Quality Street type of thing. The shop ones seem to be such a disappointing little fragment of chocolate.

Lindt ones are nice! Or why not get a new Playmobil one for a change?

We've got a fabric tree with pockets that we can hang on the door. We've had it since dcs were babies so it's a 'tradition' but we can put decent sweets in it. They've had the cardboard ones as well a couple of times when my mum bought them but the chocolate really is vile, plus it's just the same thing every day, rather boring.

Got to admit I miss the days when we were excited about opening a little cardboard door to find a picture of a robin or something. It was the countdown that counted!

My two are adults now but we (and they) used to insist on a "proper" Advent Calendar with pictures - not chocolates. I used to also buy them one of these each www.lakeland.co.uk/40556/24-Advent-Chocolates I know they aren't cheap but they are lovely.

Get the kids one that they want, and fill up your usual one with nice treats for yourself... I'm making a quilted advent calendar with a plan to make it a new family tradition, not sure what to fill it with yet though!

I would go with the chocolate ones for the kids plus one of the type motheroftwo suggests (I'm in my late 20s and still always get one choc one and one beautiful illustrated one) I get mine from the local Steiner shop but this is the kind of thing: www.traditionaladventcalendars.co.uk/advent-calendars/german-advent-calendars.html

I still get really excited about opening those, the miniature pictures are so beautiful!

We have one with little wooden drawers we lovingly fill up with minstrels. We have an old Playmobile one we have had forever that youngest DS (7) gets very excited about. Occasionally I go mad and buy Thorntons or Cadbury's ones for a change, but nothing is set in stone. No need to be tied up by your own traditions.

If you were only getting one between them the Lindt ones are lovely - they are £5 though which is a lot more than some of the other brands.