To ask what the hell is a Christmas Eve box?

[tallulahturtle]

Is this something people are doing? What is the point?

Don't see the issue to be honest, we bought a personalised wooden box in flat pack form for about £10. Glued together and painted it looks great, add in some PJs etc total cost < £25 and in future years will prob be cheaper as we will already have the box. Hardly consumerism gone mad, not much you can do for that sort of money these days.

We have slippers this year! Oh the decadence and waste. .

We have moved from boiling house to house with wood and tile floors so everyone will be delighted.
And pjs
Christmas tea
Mulled cider
Hot Chocolate stirrers
Snowman toilet roll
Night before Christmas book
Scented candle
Family puzzle
CDs to singalong to in the car (Bowie and Elvis)

We sometimes have Christmas shape pasta but not this year. It's basically stuff I buy anyway plus family stuff but it appears on the hearth all at once. Tis all.

Our December 1st pile contains advent calendars, Christmas craft (this year decorate bauble kit from Lidl or Aldi), Christmas stories and DVDs (old ones), winter bedding (gets used till spring).

Shuffles back to Christmas board

Have a lovely day everyone however you choose to spend it

It is just another way to get you to buy more stuff though. I never had a Christmas Eve box as a child and yet somehow managed to enjoy the magic of Christmas. Dd(6) does not get one and we don't do any other made up 'traditions' like elf on a shelf. Like others have said where does it stop. Boxing Day box to get over the Christmas slump? Last Saturday before Christmas box because the kids are getting too excited? It's a Wednesday box because the weekends too far away? Marketing pure and simple.

PrOvOkeTheGrinches

That's lovely

I did it one year...then I thought what a load of shit...waste of time and money.

Our December 1st pile contains....

Damn!!

It is just another way to get you to buy more stuff though.

So what? I'm happy to buy a few things from Poundland. Christmas doesn't stress me out at all as I don't buy much.

Why was it a waste formerbabe? - just trying to avoid pitfalls

I don't do them but I do like the idea of them. It does sound like it's mostly stuff you'd buy anyway so it's not really waste or consumer madness.

I'd always get mine Christmas pyjamas on Christmas Eve because they used to have so many cute ones in asda when they were little. This year they have asked if they're getting Christmas pyjamas and I've said no, as I simply couldn't find nice ones for their ages and wasn't that bothered as 12 year old has had quite a lot of new nightwear recently anyway. Feeling a bit bad about it now
Instead they've got cadbury Christmas mugs which I picked up in tesco which come with hot chocolate and a santa, ( £3 reduced to £2 today), and a Lush bath bomb each which is a santa face.

Why was it a waste formerbabe? - just trying to avoid pitfalls

My dc weren't very bothered or excited about them. Maybe I just have ungrateful children . Christmas is exciting enough for children without these extra "traditions".

I don't get why you need a box for it - I always got my dc new pjs for Christmas. Christmas Eve was dinner, bath, pjs on, they'd pick a movie and have Christmas goodies and help set out the milk, mince pies for Santa and some carrots and bucket of water for Rudolph before early bed. Then I'd get sloshed wrapping and making everything ready for when they got up in the morning. We had everything as described in these boxes, just no box. Seems redundant but each to their own.

I have a box as we have six children of our own and usually at least another three or four staying. I can't be bothered wrapping

My reason for the box is presentation use only. Looks better than wrapped in my opinion.

It's just a fancy name for something I've done for years

My mother used to give my brother and me new PJs and a book on Christmas Eve

I carried on with my own DC

That is exactly it PrOvoke
It doesn't matter who does it or who doesn't, what each family's 'box' looks like (I put some PJs and a magazine in a Poundshop sack in case anyone is interested).

I don't think people are being snarky if they say 'we don't do that'.
I think they are being snarky when they say 'we don't do that' and then give you all the reasons why people who do do it are stupid, gullible, wasteful, are killing dolphins and teaching their kids to be grabby little bastards.

How is a pair of PJs given on Christamas Eve rather tha Christmas Day, a book or magazine, some hot chocolate or sweets etc wasteful?

It doesn't matter how many people say 'we have been doing this for 40 years' there will always be posters who insist its new, its made up, its American.
Why do they do that?

The stuff in the box for my DC is just stuff they'd have had the following day anyway. I actually think it helps them to appreciate things more. They get very excited about the new PJs and some chocolate. They would get lost amongst the excitement of the other presents if they had them the following day.

Everyone has their own traditions. I really don't see why people get so wound up about it. If you want to do a christmas box/elf box then fine. If you want to do (spooky) elf on the shelf then again fine. It's the year after year repetition that creates the family traditions and memories and IMO that is worth the extra effort.

Namechange then it must be equally 'snarky' to give reasons WHY people do things? People who say they don't like it for x, y, z reasons are just giving their opinions as it relates to THEM, not to you or the wider public.

Why post on a thread where an OP clearly doesn't know what these things are? It's clear that people will post for and against but if it's going to offend or upset you when people say why they don't like these things then why leave your (general) Elf-&-Christmas-Box bubble to read it?

Honestly, people are not out to offend you, they're giving an opinion for themselves and of their own actions/feelings on the subject, not about you and yours.

It is the sneery attitude that tbh I only ever see on here that irritates me. I know nobody in real life who enjoys belittling others or the things they enjoy doing with their children. This place is rife with people enjoying trying to make others feel crap

No it isn't Lying
It would be snarky to say 'I do this and those that don't are stupid'

Its not snarky to say 'I do this because we like it and its fun'

Similarly its not snarky to say 'we don't do this because its just not our thing'

But those are not the posts I am talking about. As you are well aware.

a letter from Santa with a nice list certificate

I like this idea HoHoHammered. Will include this in ours this year.

We do a Christmas Eve hamper - actually it's a cardboard box wrapped in festive paper! It always contains pj's, bath bombs, a different homemade sweet treat for everyone from me and a Tree Dec - sometimes it contains dvd's, games and books but often things we have already. The dcs really love it and now add little things of their own in. And yes it's just another bloody thing to do, but Christmas Eve is my favourite day so I don't mind so much.

The RSPCA have issued a plea that people DON'T liberally sprinkle "Reindeer" food that contains glitter and sparkle on their lawns - very harmful to all sorts of wildlife......other wise - no harm in the boxes if that's what you want to do.

Reindeer eat carrots anyway not glitter

Well my two will be wearing their new (non Christmas themed) pjs (Paw Patrol and Batgirl in case that's of interest ) when I take the Christmas Eve photo and put it on Facebook. But thanks to this thread the reindeer will be getting plain porridge oats. We took a vote and decided that we'd rather the reindeer did without their sparkle than little hedgehogs ate glitter.