To feel sad that a £2 chocolate advent calendar is no longer enough?

[Ricekrispie22]

There are so many toy based advent calendars around these days and I feel they're just getting bigger and bigger. thetoptoys.blogspot.com/2018/09/toy-based-advent-calendars-sequel.html#more
I much preferred it when you could just get them a good old Cadbury choc calendar and that was enough. It's not like I need any more plastic tat in my house. Is it just me?

I only realised last year that Christmas Eve boxes were a thing. Silly me, I thought a stack on presents on Christmas Day would be sufficient. I imagine what we’ll be seeing next is advent calendars with a full-on present for each day because the “plastic tat” is no longer enough.

YABU. It's early Sept ffs. Ask admin to move this to the Christmas section.

I’ve never had an advent calendar, my mum hated Christmas for a long time when we were kids mind you as she was a single parent and couldn’t afford to give us the Christmas she thought she should give us. Kids don’t need to be wound up for a month before. I get it if you’re religious, but I don’t understand the obsession with advent calendars.

Sally I think people are allowed to chat about anything at any time of year, on different boards.

But the main bulk is in Xmas to keep it all together. Lots of posters won't seek out Xmas section but want to chat about this.

So personally I don't feel this should be moved

NameChanged - I love Christmas and can easily get sucked into the whole Xmas Eve boxes then realised it was absolutely ridiculous. The only thing we do and have always done is on Christmas Eve they get new PJs which they would have had on xmas day if they didn't have on xmas eve. They know it is me that puts them out now but we play along with the pretence.

I don’t buy any anymore. One out of three doesn’t like chocolate and I didn’t want any extra toys.

Two years ago I went round and collected every Christmas themed book, magazine and dvd in the house and put them in a box. Every day I put one out on the table under a little tree ornament with a star with a number clipped to it. The kids love it and are convinced elves bring them (they made that bit up by themselves). Means all the Christmas books get read, the films get watched and I don’t have to buy calendars. Win win. If I have some in the cupboard, I occasionally leave them a choccy each too.

In our house they are the limit.

Good idea Imp!

I'd say the chocolate ones are the worst - what have you got by 20th Dec - a cardboard box with open doors and lots of lumpy plastic empty holes - not even a range of pretty Christmas pictures or a Christmas scene to look at - just a scraggy, torn, box. Isn't an adven calendar meant to be a decoration - but a chocolate one, once even partly opened looks horrible.

Personally I'd go for a picture one (prob re used each year) or maybe a reusable one. Playmobil strikes me as reusable and decent, but some of the ones with crappy toys or stationary like Smiggle or TInc are a bit of a waste of time. That said, it's surprising how much pleasure a bit of plastic crap can give a small child every day for a whole month - often more than an expensive toy on Christmas Day.

I'd say that if your child would really enjoy a piece of tat each day,Nathan get a toy advent calendar and reduce the Christmas present spend accordingly.....but don't bother with the horrible chocolate ones, unless you've got one that you fill yourself with sweets and leaves a decoration behind.

I’m old fashioned and don’t even like the chocolate ones, I always get one with pictures! WH Smith and garden centres do nice ones.

Christmas will always be evolving and changing.

Elf is creepy I admit but we tried it one year.

I made my own special letter and reason as to why she visited us (5 days before Xmas eve)

We had our own sweet elf, her own reason for coming which was nothing to do with spying.

We did it when dd was 5 she's 10 now and never been back. It amazed and astonished her. Especially when we said dd.. You have black pen on your face and she looked at us and pointed.. Mummy and daddy so do you. Waking up to the tree covered in pants....

It was fabulous. There is no way I could have done it every year though or for longer than 5 days.
But don't knock it unless you have tried it.

Can’t believe I have read this and spent half an hour googling advent calendars despite it still being the kids summer holidays. Got me thinking about the plastic tray and rubbish left from the chocolate ones which we normally have . I think my DH is wondering where my ‘ I think we should have an eco friendly Xmas’ comment has come from

Until recently DS got the ones with pictures. This year he'll have a lego one.

I love the Christmas build up. And contrary to general mumsnet sentiment, we are big fans of elf on the shelf.

Another lovely idea of advent calender was to make our own.

I loathed mils charmless chock ones so we made one of our own.
Collecting wall paper samples, and cutting them out Xmas shapes, stars, stocking etc. Sewed them.... And put then on our homemade white spayed branches. Then put choc in. Looked really pretty.

When we were little we reused our picture advent calendars each year. First task of Christmas was to close all the doors with tiny blobs of blue tac.
I prefer the picture ones too .

I feel sad anyone wants to discuss advent calendars in September but even sadder that I will never be the recipient of one of these: www.amazon.co.uk/Very-Rare-Whisky-Advent-Calendar/dp/B0759XFQ6G/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=whisky+advent+calendar&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1535876903&sr=8-16

I think a lot has gone too far. Why do they need a Christmas Eve box as well? Don’t they get enough on Christmas Day?

I look longingly at the elaborate and very expensive glittery nativity advent calendars. But my teenage dc would feel really deprived not to have their disgusting Poundland kinnerton chocolate advent calendars last year they did suggest lindt.

@AjasLipstick - DM brought the most incredible picture calendar back from Vienna. It gets carefully packed away and comes back out every year. I love seeing it when I go home. There's still something so magical about them.

There is no such thing as "enough": you don't have to do an advent calendar at all.

And actually I think the chocolate ones are sad. A cardboardbox full of plastic boxes with cheap chocolate in. They look ugly and the chocolate tastes vile. Absolutely no religious references, just whatever is the latest best seller in the cartoon world. And then you throw it away.

Something reusable and actually Christmas-themed is much better IMO - a toy one, wood, fabric (pockets of you want to do chocolate or presents) or one of those cardboard German-style ones (no chocolate, no presents). Much prettier and it actually means something... this coming from an atheist.

Can we please just fast forward 4 months to 2nd January when the Christmas tat-fest is far behind us?

We do not need 4 months of Christmas chat. You do not need to be discussing advent calendars on the second day of September. Hate Christmas. Hate even more that people spend September, October, November and December planning for it.

Urgh.

I'll buy them playmobil ones if I can find them cheap (they tend to go on 2 for £20 at some point in the leadup) but playmobil gets played with to a ridiculous extent in this house so I don't begrudge that.

Other than that we've got a wooden one I'll fill with random bits and bobs for over the festive period and they'll get like one sweetie each a day.

You are sad about the commercialisation of Christmas . I think you might be at least 40 years too late.

Also lego have been making advent calendars for at least 10 years. What’s the big deal. We made a beer advent calendar for DH last year. It was fun.

Personally I love a nice religious advent calendar with pictures, no chocolates.

Well... I've got the playmobil / Lego advent calendars for my DC the last few years and I think they are great! I count it as one of their presents (they don't get many from us anyway) and they are still playing with the toys regularly. Plus I am keen to avoid any extra chocolate consumption, they eat enough as it is!

I'll put my tin hat on now