to refuse to buy into the "Christmas Eve Box" fad?

[HearMeSnore]

I mean, when did this shit start? I never heard of it until this year but now I keep hearing about it in every shop as if it's as essential a part of Christmas as trees and turkeys.

Fortunately it doesn't seem to have made it into DD's hearing yet but I'm dreading being asked "will I get a Christmas Eve box this year?" as if I wasn't already spending most of the Christmas budget on her actual presents.

I'm not a "bah! humbug!" person. I love Christmas. But this is just unashamed capitalist exploitation. Like when the greeting cards industry tries to introduce "secretary's day" and shit like that.

Seriously. Can we make some kind of pact to not do it? Make it die a death before it catches on and we're all pressured into buying even more crap that nobody needs?

I’m guessing it must be regional- I’ve never heard of Christmas Eve boxes being done in that format, either as a young child still believing in Santa, or as an adult discussing Christmas plans with friends or colleagues. Some elements like the new pjs or watching a movie yes, but I’ve never known people to have a ritual around it.

I don’t care if other people “do” them, but what does annoy me is how all of a sudden this year I’ve noticed the supermarkets and department stores have introduced them into their marketing as if they’re some kind of widespread, longstanding Christmas tradition on a par with stockings etc. And of course, they’re ready with plenty of suggestions of what to fill the box with, all handily available in store!

Of course supermarkets have tapped into it as a marketing opportunity, that's what they do! They want to make money.

As many have said here, it is not a new thing, and I hardly think chucking some new pyjamas and chocolate or whatever in a box you'll use year after year is some kind of capitalist nightmare. I'm gonna use a gift bag I've already got.

I hate the superiority on threads like this. "I'm not buying into that!" whilst doing stockings, tree, crackers etc

Yanbu. No Xmas eve boxes or elf here. It's like we're on a challenge to reach peak consumerism and I don't want to be a part of it.

Tbh there is a lot of excess at Christmas and of course the supermarkets etc try to make us buy more! I fail to understand who buys all the stockings and Christmas trees every year. The excess around food consumption is ridiculous too. But surely most people just buy what they want to / can afford to / fits their traditions. I wear pyjamas for roughly 12 hours a day stealth boast as they're comfy and practical for pottering at home. I will continue to add to my collection annually courtesy of "the Elves".

Yabu but do what you like.

I have been doing a christmas eve box for Ds sone he was about 3 or 4. He is 12 this year. Usually it contains sweets or chocs, sometime hot choc (a mug one year), and some pjs. Oh and reindeer dust to sprinkle. When he was small I would buy a craft activity, one of those supermarket ones for a couple of quid - make a garland etc and a chriatmas dvd.

This year he is getting a dressing gown instead of pjs, chocolates, hot choc (will look for stirers or unusual flavours), maybe a puzzle or some top trumps (or other small card game) and the obligatory reindeer dust. No point buying a DVD as we have netflix and prime (unless a new release jumps out at me when I am shopping).

I think it is a lovely inexpensive tradition. We actually use a giftbag which I replace every few years. They need pjs /dressing gowns anyway. It always signals we are ready when the bag comes out and can settle down for the evening, cosy, film on, chocs out, lovely.

Oh and I cba with elf on the shelf, to much commitment there!

I would be the one in bed thinking ‘oh shit, I haven’t done the bloody elf!’

😀

Purple

Thats me and dh with the advent calendar

Oh dear OP, you will be most horrified then to hear I do both a December 1st box and something special for Christmas Eve for DS (3) hides. However it doesn’t have to be wasteful. Here’s what I do:

December 1st:
Hamper we have had and will have for years
(Used to store Christmas stuff the rest of the year)
Our small Christmas book collection plus maybe one more age appropriate book
Last year’s Christmas jumper for DS because it still fits (no Christmas attire for DH or I)
New pyjamas which he needed anyway. It makes more sense to me to have then at the beginning of the festive season. He’ll wear these until he grows out of them, same for the jumper.
Chocolate advent calendars for all of us
Any Christmassy toys we already have

Christmas Eve
I get out our 1 ceramic Christmas plate, some reindeer food we will make earlier in the month, the same Christmas PJs to put on, maybe a gingerbread man we made together and we will watch a Christmas movie.

I totally agree about the grotesque pointless consumerism of plastic tat but you can have Christmas rituals without that. I do it because it makes the whole season really special for my child, we all love it and I don’t give one shiny shit what anyone else has to say about it

How's a book with some bits and bobs on Christmas Eve going to ruin presents on the day lol
Why bother with pj's when that's really only for the adult to enjoy dc's don't care what they are wearing.
My dc have always open a gift on Christmas Eve, usually something small from family or a dvd.
Like a previous post, most things start as fads.

There seem to be a lot of people on here incapable of understanding that different families may have different traditions to them. If it's not for you just don't do it, I really don't understand the problem. There's always someone out there doing more than you, you can't control that. Just do what makes you happy.

We do Christmas Eve boxes. I buy a small wooden box for the girls each sometime in November. When December rolls around I'll wait until they are both in bed and then decorate/personalise them. I really enjoy the crafty side of it all and it's a great way of getting into the Christmas spirit when accompanied by a little drink and some Christmas songs. When they're done they will be filled with some new PJs, a new dressing gown, a Christmas DVD and cup/hot choc. The boxes are left out on Christmas Eve morning for the girls to find. It is a thank you from our Elf who has returned home to help Santa get ready.

In truth I much prefer Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. I find on the big day I lose a lot of time to preparing dinner and the girls are busy playing with their new toys. It's just more chaotic. It feels like we have more quality family time on Christmas Eve - we watch a film together, have some nibbles, play games. We save the hot chocolate for just before bed when we start to demolish the ginger bread house they made with Daddy the day before.

BlueOooChristmas well said!

It has been a tradition in my family for generations! I guess it has caught on more recently to other families due to social media, word of mouth and how lovely of an idea it is to some people,

@BlueOooChristmas Christmas Eve is my favourite day of the year, I LOVE Christmas, as a season , rather than just "the big day" all the preparing and getting ready is my fave!

I prefer Christmas Eve too as well.

Same here

It's the endless stream of presents throughout December that I dislike, not a child getting a new pair of pyjamas on Christmas Eve.

But nowadays it seems to be
Special presents on 1st December
Advent Calendars enclosing a gift a day throughout December.
Another box of presents on Christmas Eve.
Then an absolute pile of presents on Christmas Day itself.

I'm not saying everyone who does a Christmas Eve box does this. But the whole idea of presents on Christmas Day just doesn't seem to be enough for some people nowadays. They have to overload their kids with stuff throughout the entire month.

A few presents that would have gone into a child's stocking on Christmas day (book, dvd, colouring set) is far more entertaining and worthy on Christmas Eve, than buried under a pile of presents on Christmas day. Some people begrudge their kids a new pair of Pj's for Christmas? 🤔 Ok then.

DinglyDoorDancer your traditions sound lovely and are actually very similar to what we do.

Like I said, there's nothing wrong with family traditions. There's nothing wrong with hot chocolate and new pyjamas and bringing out the Christmas toys/books/ cups and plates with a bit of fanfare when December comes around.

What's distasteful to me is being hit in the face with "GREAT CHRISTMAS EVE BOX IDEAS" as soon as I enter a shop or open a website when Christmas already puts so many of us under financial strain. It feels a bit like being shaken upside-down in case there's 5p left in one of my pockets.

But clearly there are many who feel differently. And of course we should all celebrate in a way that suits us and our families. Cynical marketing stunts just piss me off. That's all.

I have to say I also find it a bit cringey when people start posting stuff about 'snuggling up together on the sofa with hot chocolate and a Christmas DVD.

I mean, if a family kinda do that spontaneously then that's lovely. But when it's planned and photographed and posted about it sounds more self consciously 'Christmassy' than cosy and magical.

I've seen some ridiculous hand crafted , personalised , Christmas Eve boxes around that get filled with presents..at first I thought it was horrific consumerism..but then..

What if just spreads the Christmas presents over two days? you haven't spent anymore, and you are not wading through stuff on Christmas morning?. Last year my DC was 5, and they were obviously bored and wanting to play with what they had opened and they still had loads open. As fair about opening as we could be, Grandma was still sat there waiting to see DC's face when she opened her gift, but DC had done it by then and couldn't be less interested.

If a Christmas Eve box spreads stuff over two days, then I'm all for it.

Elf on the shelf , however, is just stupid and is lying to kids for the sake of it. I cringe when I see friends with them.

DD announced she'd like an elf on the shelf this year, i said the last thing I needed right now was to have to arse around every night repositioning a piece of plastic and felt tat into humorous position. She was very surprised that it was actually the parents doing the grunt work - bah humbug you may cry but to be honest I think it would send me over the edge (plus she's 10 - hardly a sensitive tot).

I am keeping the Santa myth alive though.

My oldest is 15 and I started a Christmas Eve thing when she was small. I don’t do a box usually a gift bag it has new pj’s maybe a film, some fizzy juice and some sweets and when they were little maybe a colouring book and pens or something like that partly because I was often running about busy on Christmas Eve and it was a wee treat for the dc with something to keep them amused at the table or watching the movie together while dh or I was hitting the shop for last minute bits or prepping the food for the next day.
I also started a kind of elf on the shelf when they were little too not quite the same as it is now but it was a bit of fun that meant December actually passed quite quickly because they weren’t counting down the weeks they were excited about what the elf would have been up to the next day. The youngest is 8 now and he knew a couple of years ago the elf wasn’t magic and now all three dc enjoy coming up with an idea for the elf and executing the idea for their siblings to wake up to the next morning. Do it, don’t do it but it is pretty sneery to complain about other people doing it.

@picnicinnovember me and my husband have been doing that for years - pre social media and I will carry it on with my own LO. So not everything is driven by Facebook. We always tried to get Christmas Eve off work, we’d get a load of Christmasy nibbles in, some new confies and make endless Baileys or Tia Maria hot chocolates and watch Home Alone 2 and Its a Wonderful Life - always. And if we had to work we’d do that but on the closest Sunday before.

Christmas Eve presents have been a tradition in my family since I was a child, so 40 odd years, it’s not a new thing! I do it with our three now, as do my siblings with their children. it’s always a new pair of pyjamas, some Christmas sweets/chocolates and a small present each. It’s definitely not ruining Christmas, or buying in to mass consumerism, what a weird viewpoint!!

I don't think the OP means that families doing small Christmas Eve boxes are 'buying into mass consumerism'.

She is talking about the way businesses have piggy backed onto what used to be a small tradition in some families and are trying to make it into a big Christmas 'must have' with ever bigger and more expensive items finding their way into the Christmas Eve box.

It's not a new thing, my mum used to do a Christmas eve "box" for me and I'm 30. I used to get new pjs, a new video and a new book. I loved it and have carried on the tradition with my dcs. They get shower gel, new pjs for after the shower, a new dvd to share, popcorn and fizzy pop. I put it all in a cardboard box covered in wrapping paper like my mum used to.

The ridiculously expensive personalised boxes filled with presents that are all over Facebook is the epitome of a nice, simple family tradition ruined by consumerism.

Don't get me started on elf on a shelf. When I first heard of it the idea was to have an elf and move it every night so the dcs would have fun looking for it and occasionally doing something funny like hiding in the cereal box. Maybe have the elf bring tickets to see Santa or the panto but mainly just moving it round. Now it's gone insane.

A friend of mine does this and spends hundreds on extra presents, trips and props for every day in December. Her dcs loved it the first year when she mostly just moved the elf round the house with a few treats like cake for breakfast. She's ramped it up every year and now it's treats or presents every day and a trip every weekend. The kids end up fed up with the avalanche of stuff every day that it's ruined the excitement for them and they look utterly bored in the million photos on Facebook.