To think Christmas Eve boxes are absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary?

[dressinggownwearer]

Just that really. Do children not get enough at Christmas without giving them even more the day before?! What are Christmas Eve boxes even for/full of that can't wait until Christmas Day?! Am I being mean and a grinch or do people agree?

We exchange our gifts on Christmas Eve. And do a Christmas morning Santa Sack with hot chocolate, fluffy socks, lounge wear, magazines, nice chocolates and snacks. All are appreciated and used right away 😊

Completely agree they’re ridiculous. There’s always the same ‘New Pj’s’ and fecking ‘hot chocolate’ bingo. Any minute now we’ll have the tortuous ‘something you want, something you need’ and we’ll have a full house
I want to shout you can have hot chocolate 365 days of the year you sad bastards

I can remember getting these as a child in the 1970s. My box had a satsuma, 10p for the meter so we could have the heating on, a needle and thread to darn the hole in my PJs, and a sheet of purple cellophane to drape over the telly so we could marvel at Mrs Slocombe’s pussy in glorious colour.

@hypochondriacseveywhere

Why does it matter what a family does or doesn't do. I never had a Christmas Eve box as a kid but I do it for my children as they enjoy it. If something makes my kids happy I'll do it no matter what other parents think. Keep your opinions to yourself.

Err likewise

Wow @GarlicSoup a little box to put a smile on the kids faces has really got you angry hasn't it?

@GarlicSoup

Completely agree they’re ridiculous. There’s always the same ‘New Pj’s’ and fecking ‘hot chocolate’ bingo. Any minute now we’ll have the tortuous ‘something you want, something you need’ and we’ll have a full house I want to shout you can have hot chocolate 365 days of the year you sad bastards

Funny, because I always want to shout ‘why the fuck do you care what other people give their children and when, you sad bastard? ’

I don't mind the idea of reindeer food, pyjamas and a book. But I do find elf on the shelf is more for Facebook pictures than the kids. It's abit over the top. But we are just over the top in general now as people. One women on my Facebook does book advent calenders for her daughter. I think 25 new books is abit pricey. But it's not affecting me. I am just being judgey. .
Perhaps this year the kids deserve abit of extra magic though. Although we are having to cut right down this year to save money. We are abit skint.

Oh FFS. Let people have their bit of joy, especially this year.

@GarlicSoup

Completely agree they’re ridiculous. There’s always the same ‘New Pj’s’ and fecking ‘hot chocolate’ bingo. Any minute now we’ll have the tortuous ‘something you want, something you need’ and we’ll have a full house I want to shout you can have hot chocolate 365 days of the year you sad bastards

I bet you're a joy to be around.

I want to shout you can have hot chocolate 365 days of the year

I’m pretty sure everyone knows that.

But wrap it up, create a bit of ceremony around it, do it every year, it becomes a ritual. Humans like those, they’ve been popular for millennia.

If hot choc isn’t your thing, absolutely fine, move on. It’s not compulsory in any way.

These threads are like the equivalent of seeing the Coca Cola truck - you know Christmas is on the way!

Reminds me, I need to order a box for my DD for her first Christmas 🎄

(Ps they're not new. I'm 35 and my mum always did us one)

But I do find elf on the shelf is more for Facebook pictures than the kids

Isn’t this classic availability bias? You see it on fb therefore you assume that’s all there is. But how would you know how many people are doing it/not doing it who don’t put it on FB? You don’t.

DS (6) loves the elf more than Santa. I don’t put anything child related on FB and never have.

I buy those things for the kids anyway it's just presented in a nice box. A book for reading together, some coloring to do together, a cup, from poundshop, hot chocolate with marshmallows, PJ's they would have got the next day anyway. I don't see the extravagance and it's all things to do together.

On 1 December the family get new PJs, slipper sock and a bag of chocolate coins/movie. It launches the 'Christmas period' in our house and coincides with decorations going up etc. We do elf on the shelf and Santa, we're probably considered very tacky by most on mumsnet. No exterior lights though

@GarlicSoup

Completely agree they’re ridiculous. There’s always the same ‘New Pj’s’ and fecking ‘hot chocolate’ bingo. Any minute now we’ll have the tortuous ‘something you want, something you need’ and we’ll have a full house I want to shout you can have hot chocolate 365 days of the year you sad bastards

You do? And with a red-faced, angry emoji too!

I'm pretty sure most people do realise you can drink hot chocolate all year round. If you can't understand why they like to make a point of drinking it then, or why an element of "always the same" is how traditions work then, well, you'll just have to trust us that there's a reason behind it. The good news is, you don't have to if you don't want to. No need to shout!

I don’t really agree with them, but reading all your posts are making me sad that my kids have grown up. 🎄

I do a Christmas Eve box for my children. I reuse the same box each year and I reuse several items that go into the box, I.e the kid’s stockings, a tray for Santa’s treats, night before Christmas book, polar express dvd, Christmas mug, a ‘nice list certificate’ etc. The only things I buy new each year are new pjs for DC which cost me about £6-£7 each and they wear all year round anyway, a Christmas themed bath bomb each, usually from home bargains and costs me less than a pound, and then just a couple of bags of sweets and sachets of hot chocolates. All in all it costs me less than £20 to put together. Their isn’t anything extravagant or expensive that goes into the box, but my kids love it anyway. I don’t do it to keep up with the Jones’s I do it because I genuinely enjoy putting it together and of course my kids enjoy receiving it too. Everyone has their own rituals and traditions, if it’s not for you then don’t do it.

My mums been doing them for us since I was small. So 20 odd years ago, it's tradition in our family to get new pajamas on Christmas Eve and a small token gift (usually a book or a dvd) that's all that goes in DS' Christmas Eve box now. Although last year I went all out and even put a colouring book and a sachet of hot chocolate and a new mug in there. I find it helps to wind down on a very exciting night for most DC. I used to get a nice hot bath, new pjs and read my new book with a hot chocolate before falling asleep to a dvd. I just think it's nice but guess it's not for everyone!

We don't do this. But I always wonder if people wash the pyjamas first?

I quite like it, but I do love Christmas in general! Ours are geared towards bedtime and we open them when my partner and I get home from work. Usually contain, magic key, reindeer food, bubble bath and a new book for their bedtime story.

100% and it's getting worse and worse. The only thing I can see is Christmas pyjamas and maybe a special Christmas film for the family to watch. The last thing we need is more consumerism. I have a family member that puts months of effort into them, she and her friends easily spend a couple hundred on them. I can't fathom it.

And do your children still wear the Christmas pyjamas in the spring? Or is it only during the Christmas period? In that case they only get a couple of weeks wear out of them .

Why are you assuming it’s glittery tat? Books, dvds, pjs, bubble bath, hot choc. I don’t class any of those as tat

Because a few other pps have suggested that it's small, cheap presents. Books, dvds, pjs and bubble bath are the kind of things I'd buy as main presents - that's maybe £40 worth of stuff isn't it?

I honestly don't get comments like this.If you don't want to do it then don't do it. If others do why can't they and why do you need to judge them on doing so?

In our house, we celebrate hugely on the 24th as I am from Scandinavia so our main Christmas is on the 24th in the evening. Then we do it all over again on the 25th the British way. Its great fun Our children love it and when they were younger it helped a lot as it spread their presents over 2 days.

I don't do them as its extra expense.