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 wouldn't have said I did Christmas Eve Boxes, but when my dc were little they were always allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve , which always happened to contain a new pair of Pyjamas. Not for taking pictures in or anything, just because I thought it was a fun thing to do, ramped up the excitement a bit. For the record, I have very few pictures of my DC at Christmas, I always forgot to take them.

I started about 10 years ago, ish. I do it because it makes me spend the evening with DDs instead of faffing about with other things that may or may not need organising.

The contents vary but I’ve never been a fan of plastic tat so I just don’t buy it.

There seems to be no end to the many ways marketing men can come up with to separate parents and their money at Christmas time

This! I'm just surprised so many people fall for it.

But then it's about showing off and keeping up with the Jones'. I feel for the people who don't have as much money to spare and feel pressure to keep up with everyone else though because otherwise they feel guilty that their kids are missing out.

Really. They're not. We've never done Grandparents' Day, Elf on a Shelf, 1st Dec presents, 24th Dec presents or anything else. I did do the 6th December sweets in shoes a couple of times as that is a German tradition that is quite sweet and worth borrowing (and not expensive) but I refuse to get suckered into spending money I either don't have or could spend more wisely.

All that said, I bought myself an Elemis Advent Calendar (but tell myself it's my no deal Brexit cosmetic stockpile :) ).

It's interesting to see how many people have always done it! I'd never heard of such a thing til recently.

In spite of my above post, I'm really not a bah humbug sort of person and do strive to make Christmas magical. I had an interesting conversation with dd14 recently, where we both agreed that Christmas Day is always a bit of an ant-climax but that we loved the anticipation building up to it. We agreed that from now on we would regard the whole of December as one long Christmas and then make the day about making the family happy.

It probably has a lot to do with upbringing as well. I was brought up by my df who had a horror of all things consumer. We got educational presents at Christmas. I'll never forget the year I asked for a Sindy wardrobe and instead, got a set of encyclopaedias... definitely no Xmas Eve boxes there! I hope my dc have enjoyed Christmas more than I did - but boxes and elves are still not on my radar!

I’m not far off 40 and we had it when I was little....

We don’t have a Christmas eve box or do elf on the shelf, etc. Eldest (awaiting ASD assessment) can be funny about new things, so would probably refuse to wear a new pair of pyjamas or watch a new dvd, and he would be utterly freaked out by a toy that came to life in the night.

Our little family tradition is that the kids get to pick a new bauble or 2 for the tree each year. I’m imagining when they grow up and leave home they’ll love to take their decorations for their very own tree, but in reality they’ll probably say “eh, no thanks mum” and I’ll have them on my tree forever.

I'm over 40 and had never heard of it until I read it on MN! The Elf on a Shelf thing is new(ish) though - at least I think it is!

The closest we got to a Christmas Eve box was putting a carrot and glass of whisky out for Santa. And I had an Advent Calendar (with pictures) and DS has one with chocolates.

Oh, and it was my grandmother who did it because her father had done it for them when they were little, and she was born in 1921.....

They were very poor and it was pretty much the only time they had new PJs/something new to wear the next day, albeit ones that were donated by their church.

Laura Ingalls Wilder writes about boxes with new clothes being given out on Christmas Eve at church in her ‘Plum Creek’ book, and that’s set in the 1870s, and was published in 1937.....

Iv done it for 7 years for my kids. It’s nothing new.

If you don’t want to do it then don’t.

My dad's parents were Polish - my grandfather saw the way things were going and came to the UK to join the forces shortly before WW2 broke out - and like most of Europe they celebrated Christmas primarily on Christmas Eve, including the gifts.

This was how it was for my father's childhood. When we were little kids we'd have something on Christmas Eve because that was the special day for him.

I'd imagine a lot of families had a token celebration on that day due to a parent or two from Europe who wanted to keep a little bit of their tradition, so it doesn't seem strange that a lot of people would remember this as a family thing (and others would regard it as something new.)

We're very much in a minority doing the 'big day' on the 25th!

Although the concept of the 'Christmas Eve Box' sounds very formalised and I'm guessing that yes, there's a cynical commercial drive behind it.

I'm not against Christmas Eve boxes as such. My DP always got us new pyjamas which we were given on Christmas Eve and I do the same - never Christmassy ones though, something that they can wear for the next year. Lst year my SIL got my DC a Christmas Eve box which had lovely dressing gowns in, a mug and a book, can't remember what else, but it came in beautiful wooden boxes with their name engraved on the top. I will be popping their Christmas pyjamas in them this year. I think you just have to make them your own. Mine certainly won't be expensive, along with pyjamas they will get some hand knit socks I have made, and a new book (possibly semi-festive), anything else that goes in will evolve naturally over time.

I'm 40 and we've always done it. Calling it a box I think is the only update. No one is forcing anyone to do it - put on your big girl pants and do what you want and fits in with your family

That's different though because it was something your family did, and a genuine tradition, not something that's become commercialised and sold as part of the Christmas Package by cynical marketing men and women looking to flog yet more stuff to parents.

Exactly. Family traditions are lovely. But when retailers pick up on them and exploit them by trying to make them an expected part of everyone's celebrations the charm is lost. In one day's shopping yesterday I saw "Great ideas for their Christmas Eve Boxes" advertised in M&S, Lakeland, Asda and Sainsburys. Then this morning I had a browse on Not On The High Street and there it was again. It's not the concept I object to, it's the pressure.

Bit confused as to how this is considered a new (and offensive) fad. I’m 36 and I always got new pj’s and a book on Christmas Eve. So I carry on the tradition and my kids get new pj’s, a new book and a little cuddly toy. Not in a box, if that makes it less offensive...

Haven't RTFT but no, I won't be doing this!! Admittedly my DC are 27 and 19 😂 but it's just the horribly commercialisation if Christmas taken a step further. No one needs that many presents! I did buy my kids pyjamas but they got them in the stocking in Christmas morning.

This year, I'll be trying to streamline even more. Just don't want tat that gets put aside and chucked out. Food, drink, soap, books, maybe a candle or two - things I'll use and enjoy.

I remember reading about Christmas boxes a few years ago on here and I thought they were a nice idea however, the idea I read about was having a ‘December’ box which comes out on the 1st and just basically contains Christmas books, DVD’s, CD’s etc. It got added to over the years but was largely just a collection of stuff recycled each year.

My kids have always had one of their presents on Xmas Eve - it used to be an annual (like my parents gave us) but now it’s usually a onesie/pj’s.

Whatever about sneering at Christmas Eve boxes, I’m gobsmacked that people on this thread are sneering at the notion that you might want to gasp, take a picture of your children at Christmas!

Come off it folks. Literally every house in the world takes pictures of their children at Christmas. Be it meeting FC, decorating the tree, leaving a carrot out, etc. Every single family ever takes one of these pictures. Most people try to take the same one each year. Putting some new PJs on for a pic with the mince pie plate is not “throwing a photo shoot” and sneering at it is the most try-hard rubbish I’ve seen on this site in ages (and that is, as ever, a high fucking bar).

the only context i ever heard about a 'christmas box' was back in the 50s/60s/70s my granddad used to get a box of goodies from his employer. Some firms did that. Nobody forces anyone to celebrate in a particular way, i won't be doing this box or elf on the shelf thing.

flowery where do you store your Christmas Decorations? If you have a place to store those you have a place to store a Christmas Eve box. You could actually store your decorations in one of the boxes. I am thinking of getting some of these Xmasy looking boxes to store all my Xmas stuff in all my stuff is currently in a variety of supermarket bags kept in a cupboard. Actual boxes would keep things in better condition.

I had a handmade fabric advent calendar with non-plastic little gifts in and was allowed to open one pressie on Xmas Eve. My stocking was also handmade and always contained a satsuma and some nuts in the toe plus little games and toys, right up into my mid-twenties! My mum loved it all.

DS will have the same because that's our family's tradition. Hot chocolate and movies are pretty much standard Xmas stuff anyway.

Never heard of it

If people want to do it, let them do it, I guess. But I find the endless 'traditions' that we're all supposed to buy into pretty ridiculous.

Put up a tree, buy some food, buy some presents. Any more than that gets on my tits tbh. The endless Christmas parties that people 'have' to attend. The work nights out. The elf on the shelf. Crackers. A Christmas pudding AND a trifle or whatever. Christmas Eve drinks with friends. Cards. Crackers. New Christmas pyjamas every year. Christmas jumpers and earrings and brooches. New Christmas decorations every year. Stockings and associated stocking fillers. Christmas home interior crap. And on and on and on. It is absolute madness, and yet people fall for it.

Just buy what you can afford and what you like instead of feeling guilty that you used last years napkins.

Nobody is forcing anyone else to do it. Christmas varies in each family, that’s all you have to say to any child that queries it.

The only ‘pressure’ is that you are allowing yourself to be sucked into it .... I don’t feel any pressure to do Christmas Eve boxes, Elf on the Shelf, new pyjamas, Easter Bunny, dressing up for Halloween etc etc.

I do what I enjoy & what makes me and my family happy. If my DS actively asked for a Christmas Eve box I am confident enough to explain why we don’t do them, I wouldn’t allow myself to be guilt tripped into something by a child.

imm we must be the same generation, I can remember gifts from my Dad’s supplier colleagues, and really good old fashioned Christmas parties for children .

I never heard of christmas eve boxes untill last year on here what is elve on a shelf i don't have any shelfs