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?

As you can see from my username I love Christmas. Its my favourite time of year but we don't do these. Every Christmas eve DC get new pj's and bedsheets and a chocolate reindeer from their grandparents but we don't present them in boxes. Each to their own though. We don't do Elf on the shelf either.

we wrap PJ's up for a stocking filler not Christmas eve, we don't buy into the fads and just do our own thing.

I suspect the 'PJs and a book' on Christmas Eve serves the purpose of getting excitied children into bed at a reasonable hour (it worked on me!) No idea what a Christmas box in though...

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.

Well there we absolutely agree. Family Christmas traditions should be unique and personal, not dictated by outsiders.

I'm not sure I can muster enough festive benevolence to not be annoyed by retailers pushing the "spend, spend, spend" message to new and dizzying heights, though.

People who fish the same box out of the attic each year and stick in a new pair of pyjamas and a dvd - fine.

People who buy disposable plastic boxes, one per child, new each year and fill said boxes with heaps of plastic tat and then post pics on social media with #makingmemories or #famalam - not fine.

We used to make mince pies on Christmas Eve. That was nice and not that expensive!

It's not the concept I object to, it's the pressure.

But the pressure is self generated. In real life no one else cares what you do.

We don’t do:

New Christmas pjs
Christmas jumpers
Christmas Eve Boxes
Elf on the Shelf
Letters to Santa
Visits to Santa’s grotto
Sept stockings with unwrapped small gifts.

We don’t even do chocolate Advent Calendars. We still have really lovely Christmases. My kids don’t care about any of those things. They enjoy the things we do.

You can choose your own traditions and make them lovely.

The fact that it’s advertised in a shop or that lots of MNers talk about it doesn’t make it obligatory.

Give yourself permission not to care what everyone else does.

No one is forcing anyone to do anything but I really don't get the need for the sneering.

Do one, don't do one it's up to you.

I don't bother but I'm sure they can be nice!

I have always had new PJs on Christmas Eve from my parents so it’s not really a new thing to me and I’m 30.

Saying that, I haven’t gave in to Elf on the shelf either - seems like a bit of a waste. My kids are only little so hopefully that trend (along with many others) will pass.

It’s not really a fad, my mum’s been doing t since the 80s- although nice new PJs and a dressing gown rather than a box.

Love love love Christmas but traditions are something that evolve, not buy off a shelf or copy. I do think overdoing the magic makes it less magical.

I cannot imagine adding one more thing to the Christmas to do list so I'm in on the pact!

We've never done Xmas Eve boxes, and I am HUGE on Xmas, but there's so much to be excited about already on Xmas Eve.

But what I have done ever since my son started school was a 'start of the Xmas Holidays' box with stuff for both of us - and to be clear, this is the start of my Xmas holidays, not necessarily his! So it has sometimes coincided with Xmas Eve lunchtime....

It has Christmas PJs, loungewear (is that still a word?), and bedding in it - not new stuff for me, and only new clothes for him when he was growing. Also the Christmas special DVDs of comedies we like, and Christmas films. I also put in the 'novelty' stuff you get as presents at Christmas but don't wear any other time. A naice mini-wine for me and a Monster energy drink for him. So most of it doesn't cost, but it is a way of marking the start of the Christmas break and fully getting into the mood. It also means we are (mostly) saving all the Full-on Xmas stuff for a couple of weeks rather than all December.

After New Year it all gets packed away again, along with any new novelty clothes etc, ready to bring out next year, with just the drinks to buy. It's a lovely memory thing too - 'Oooh, look, I'd forgotten we had flashing reindeer deely-boppers!'

I don't necessarily think the pressure is self generated. If all of a DC's class have them, and a small DC comes home asking if they will have them, the pressure depends on what else they have throughout the year.

I am aware that my DC does not have meals out, big birthday parties, holidays, swimming lessons, or anything bought first hand. I am aware that my DC may feel left out as she gets older knowing all of her wealthier class mates have those things. She may not mind- she may be very mature and say we have enough love, time etc for it not to matter. Or she may say I wish I had a Christmas Eve box like everyone else, and it will be yet another thing I can't do for her. If we were well off enough to pick and choose as we please that would be one thing, but having the choice and comparison made for us by circumstance is another, and it's another move that makes wealth inequality felt, not because some families do it and always have done but because now it is marketed as an essential part of Christmas.

Exactly Rixera that's the whole point of this thread really, I think. The turning of certain things into generalised Christmas rituals, and the consequent pressure on people to provide these things for their children.

ElectricMonkey, don’t be so bloody dour. Wanting to take some photos/videos of genuine joyful reactions to FC’s visit is hardly turning DC into exploited child models - and it’s no skin off their noses if they’re wearing new comfy PJs instead of scruffy comfy PJs.

Not doing them either - the magic round here all happens on Xmas day! No need for extra new stuff the day before

If we were well off enough to pick and choose as we please that would be one thing, but having the choice and comparison made for us by circumstance is another, and it's another move that makes wealth inequality felt

I think that’s a very fair point Rixera

Oly5 so if your children don't get any christmas things before the actual day are you happy to sit with them on Christmas Day and help build the Lego Santa they have been given or help them sew the little tree decoration set from hobbycraft or sit down and read Mog's Christmas several times in a row or use the christmas shaped cookie cutters to make cookies or do you say "sorry I haven't time I am trying to cook dinner" or "no don't open the Lego now granny might trip on it" or whatever. Christmas is more thsn one day and as mostly it's 'over' by the 27th when people are back at work doesn't it make sense to do some christmasy things before the 'day'.

Christmas seems to be sprouting arms and legs in terms of all the stuff people do now, especially those with children. It seems like endless consumerism throughout the entire month of December. I have multiple friends who do a '1st December' box for their children as well as a 'Christmas Eve' box That's on top of all the Christmas jumpers, fancy advent calendars, pyjamas, slippers, party outfits, soft toys, games, puzzles, general treats, Elf on the Shelf crap, etc. they introduce prior to Christmas. There is something new every single day it seems. It's like an ongoing Advent Calendar, the theme of which is: How much shite can we buy our kids before Christmas Day?

I don't know about anyone else, but the more obscene Christmas becomes throughout December, the more I find myself scaling back and aiming for something much simpler and sweeter. I want a Christmas filled with all the wonderful 'Hygge' feels, not the meaningless plastic one being marketed at me, screaming 'YOU MUST HAVE THIS TO ENJOY CHRISTMAS!'

I've always given mine new pyjamas, a Christmas book, a bath bomb and a tree decoration on Christmas Eve. For over 10 years, and I know lots of others do too. The new thing is the box. I'm still not bothering with a box.

Competitive frugality is more annoying than rampant consumerism if you ask me, the latter I do enjoy oogling at.

Never have, never will. Or the Christmas jumper. Or the elf on the shelf. Or Christmas pyjamas.

Hate it all. How has all this shit become standard?

I’m impressed with people having the storage for boxes used one day a year to put things in then take out again.

Umm, you store Christmas decorations in it the rest of the year. It's hardly rocket science really. Or was it a veiled dig? It certainly reads more like the latter.

I have a lovely wooden box with pictures of vintage teddies on it. At the moment it is in the attic full of glass and ceramic decorations. Then it will be mostly empty for a few weeks, apart from the stuff that goes in it every year. On Christmas eve I'll get it out and fill it with the rest of it's usual contents. Every year it contains a stocking shaped USB drive that I load a short Christmas onto (though last year we also watched Angela's Christmas on tv). A book I wrote, illustrated and self-published about Santa coming to our city and house while DS prepares and sleeps. A bath bomb. Some biscuits and jellies. A magic bell that DS rings when he is ready to sleep, that lets Santa know he is going to bed now. A vintage(looking) Christmas teddy - the same ted each year. A bath bomb. And a new board game which we play after DS's bath. The board game is DS's gift from me and he absolutely loves the tradition of getting and playing a boardgame right up to bedtime. (It's why I always pick a short Christmas movie as we spend most of the night playing his game.) This year I've found a secondhand 80s Pacman boardgame that he is seriously longing for, so he's going to be ecstatic.

And yes, you could argue that he'll be getting lots of presents the next day, so why should he get a new boardgame the night before. But spending the main part of the night playing a game he has longed for is incredibly special. It's a great way to help him through the fizzing anticipation and excitement about what's to come. And it's deeply looked forward to as already when he talks about past Christmases, getting and playing the boardgame is talked about more than anything else.

So do it or don't do it. But don't try to shit all over what is for a lot of people, one of the most special parts of the season.