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?

Blooming heck do I need a megaphone here sheba? Never said I dont like Christmas eve boxes and even said it was a lovely tradition many times. You have taken anything I've said twisted it out of context here. I wont spend my night repeating myself as this is awful

Never said I dont like Christmas eve boxes and even said it was a lovely tradition many times.

You said it had been ‘tainted’ by commercialisation, but seemed unable to apply that same judgement to many other Christmas traditions (presumably because you approve of those )

Yes kids that get Christmas Eve boxes are likely to get too much anyway Be good poor children could get a Christmas gift box tho !

Have absolutely no idea what a Xmas box is - ? Instead of a Xmas stocking ? Never heard of this

We do them. We enjoy them. That's all that matters to us.

What cracks me up are the amount of posters saying they do new pjs and have a mince pie plate etc

But its not a Christmas eve box

Cos its not actually IN a box

Its the box that seems to be causing the issue

I didnt have a box for many years .....eventually i got a bag, so I’m not 100% sure where That puts me

@Yesterdayforgotten

Blooming heck do I need a megaphone here sheba? Never said I dont like Christmas eve boxes and even said it was a lovely tradition many times. You have taken anything I've said twisted it out of context here. I wont spend my night repeating myself as this is awful

Are you serious?

These all within the last half an hour or so:

No because it isn’t the same thing whatsoever (when asked why your advertised turkey isn't comparable to the film box)

I don’t feel there a need in that personal special tradition being commercial

You agree with the commercialism of what used to be quiet special traditions than that is great.

And the bit where you tried to say that being personal is different to being personal to a family.

I'm responding literally to what you've been saying, all the judgement and accusatory moral superiority (and I'm leaving out the guff about hitting nerves and what a dreadful person I am because, well, who gives a shit). It's just ridiculous. Don't do the boxes if you don't like them, but don't pretend that your traditions and, by extension, your money, are better than other people's because theirs are commercial and yours apparently aren't.

We don't do it in our house. Have good intentions and thought about it, but a lot of the ideas like Christmas movie and baking stuff I kind of do anyway in the run up to Christmas eve and it just doesn't get put in a special box first (probably because it creates an expectation each year).

Like the idea about pretending an elf has delivered it though.

Oh and the posters blethering on about tat, when 90% of box lovers have stated time and time again there is no tat

AND

I don’t really understand why you can give a child new pjs on the 24th of November but hold out a month and maybe put it in a box and all hell breaks loose 😀

Ive been doing this pj and book thing for 20 years

I LOVE my crass, consumerist, planet-destroying, meaningless, tat-filled Christmas Eve.

There's no work that day, so I get a lie-in, and then get up and do some baking with the children. We make biscuits and sausage rolls. Then I leave the children to decorate the biscuits with DH while I go to church and help the vicar set up for the Christingle service.

I go home and then we all head out for a walk in the woods, with sausage rolls fresh from the oven to act as hand-warmers and then lunch. When the children were little we would look for elves and signs of Christmas magic, and we still aim to stay out until everyone has found some magic. .

Then we head off to the Christingle service, and give bags of biscuits to our friends and neighbours on the way home. Then we listen to carols while preparing the veg for the next day's lunch. At some point, either DH or I will nip to the loo, and, by a strange coincidence will hear a knock at the door on our way back. When we open the door, we find a basket decorated with fairy lights. Inside there are Christmas stockings to hang up, new pyjamas for the children, the traditional Christmas bedtime stories, a pack of thank you cards, and a candy cane each. There used to be a bath bomb, but the children prefer showers now, so I'm going to replace that with a bottle of home-made pillow spray.

We finish the veg, have a bowl of lentil soup, the children get washed and changed, watch a film, drink hot chocolate, leave food/drink/a letter for Father Christmas and the reindeer, read the stories and the DC head off to bed.while the adults set out the presents.

I go to midnight mass and come home in time to eat the carrots and mince pies and fill the stockings before heading to bed.

It's one of my favourite days of the year (along with Halloween, because I don't really belong on Mumsnet with my love of celebrating every festival going).

Then those posters aren't referring to those posts, are they?

Posters on the thread are apparently tat-less, so no landfilling drama then.

Its the box that seems to be causing the issue
To be fair our box is usually pretty shit - empty box from something that's been delivered in the last few days before, a badly scrawled 'To Hazey's Kids' and some gaffer tape...it probably looks more like something a kidnapper has delivered to the hostages family in order to lever more money out of them.
Does the trick though....my kids are so bloody spoiled.

My poster was to rufusreindeer, yours crossed with mine, VirginiaWolverine and quite honestly, your celebrating sounds fab to me. Especially sausage rolls as handwarmers!

I had that conversation on Gransnet this time last year. The consensus was that it's a kind of 'preparation' for the 'big day' itself.
Boxes usually have new pyjamas, new slippers, quite often a bag of new bedding (drawstring bags sold with matching duvet cover and pillowcase) a comic or bedtime story book and maybe...just maybe...a pack of Percy Pigs.
Some might get less, others more.
To my mind, it's an American fad that floated its way over here, along with KFC and buckets of popcorn.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

Then those posters aren't referring to those posts, are they?

Posters on the thread are apparently tat-less, so no landfilling drama then.

I doubt they are even reading the thread

Some have stated categorically that Christmas eve boxes are filled with tat

No ‘some boxes’

So in fairness you are right...they aren’t referring to ‘those posts’ cos they haven’t read em

@HazeyJaneII

Its the box that seems to be causing the issue To be fair our box is usually pretty shit - empty box from something that's been delivered in the last few days before, a badly scrawled 'To Hazey's Kids' and some gaffer tape...it probably looks more like something a kidnapper has delivered to the hostages family in order to lever more money out of them. Does the trick though....my kids are so bloody spoiled.

😀

I have never done it. It seems over the top to me. My dc are too old for it now. I never heard of it until I read it on here a few years ago.

With asd dc, we always played down the Santa thing on Christmas Eve as it was too overwhelming for them.

We tried the elf which was ok when dc were 8 or 9. Now I have young teens, I dont bother and to be honest after the first year I found it a faff.

I get that people want to do the boxes and elf and that is up to them. But not for me and dc.

We did it because I started it one year. I'd had a shite year and finances hit rock bottom. My BF supported me through it and often invited me for dinner to make sure ds and I ate well.

Things improved and as we always met Xmas eve as her dh worked that day yearly I did boxes.

Just pound shop stuff. Xmas dvd, mug, marshmallows, hot choc and some sweets etc. Notebooks and pens. And I put in tickets for cinema and we all went that day.

It was a surprise.

The kids loved it (so did my friend who didn't know about that bit!) and we did it yearly.

Some years we wrote letters to kids. Books. A dressing gown or pjs or slippers.
We spilt cost of boxes in half as she has 2dc and me 1 and just brought each other Xmas presents instead which always had a theme and spend limit.

The kids loved their boxes from the elves and got more enjoyment from them than if we'd have brought them gifts from us instead.

We brought them gifts from each other at birthdays.

In Primark Guildford, just before they shut, (actually they WERE SHUT but let me in to buy a mask as I'd lost mine walking to bus station) and it was newly packed out. Shelves replenished. Hangars in neat rows and rails choc full of Christmas red n white patterned nightwear, party wear and gifts in the home section.
I love Primark. Loads of stuff for stocking fillers too. No need to go over budget.

Didn’t even know this was a thing.

Honestly I think it’s probably something I would judge people for (in a light hearted way) and then totally end up doing once my child is old enough! Kind of like how non parents may judge screen time but then give in once they have a screaming toddler to pacify!

If only the rabid anti-boxers would admit that what they really mean is "It sounds a bit tacky and maybe even a bit American shock and not very middle-class, and we don't do it in our family, so it's Wrong" instead of dressing up their prejudices as concern about landfill sites (when their own wrapping paper and eventually the loads of Christmas presents they bought will be going into the same landfill).
Which would be great, if some of us hadn't repeatedly outlined versions of christmas eve boxes thay we like (eg reusing the same plate for Santa, having festive mugs that are used each year, not short term use items or novelty items and general tat).
That would be great, if some concerns about some festive things are also equally applied to Halloween and other increasingly hyped events where lots of short term use/poorly made tat is marketed for use one year and not designed to last.

What actually seems to happen is people express reservations about increased commercialism, the mass marketing of lots of short term festive tat and then a few posters are determined to turn this into some sort of class warfare (because almost any issue on Mumsnet gets turned into a class war).

Believe it or not having concerns about the sheer amount of crap that gets marketed for holidays and the amount of short term use/single use products that aren't built to last also goes hand in hand with trying to change my own buying habits, so no my wrapping paper and presents aren't inevitably going to landfill.

But don't let that ruin the 'mean snobby posters hate all Christmas eve boxes and are couldn't possibly have genuine concerns about consumerism and the environment' victim mentality.

When and why did this tradition start ? My boys are 25 and 23 and it didn’t exist when they were children as far as I know ?

yes and no OP. Yes, it is just another thing and the kids are already getting alot the next day. However no as they can be a great fun tool to keep kids occupied with things you'd have done/paid for anyway.

We didn't have xmas eve boxes growing up. But did I get fresh new pjs and socks? Yes. Did we get out a special plate for santa? Yes. Did we watch a special film and read an xmas book? Yes. Did we do fun stuff like crafts in the day? Yes. Did my parents still have to pay for those things? Yes.

I perosnally think theyre great if you don't go overboard. You can limit what you buy to pjs and socks, and something like a nice hot choc. The rest can pretty much be the same stuff from last near but brought out at a special time in the morning for the day ahead via the box. Little craft kits are cheap and keep the kids busy while you're prepping xmas dinner and you can make up your own kit from craft supplies you already have.

Elf on a shelf on the other hand.... absolutely hate that and will not be engaging in it ever. If my child asks why we don't have one I will be honest that it is a game some parents play to keep their kids well behaved for December but that I don't agree with them) elf spy cams, reporting back to santa etc just takes the whole thing way too far in my opinion). I don't need to trick her into behaving. If she specifically asks for an elf that's different but I'm not going to use one as a parenting tool nor lie and tell her the elf is spying on her and reporting back to santa. To be honest that would have been disturbing to me as a child, if I even believed it. I was a pretty suspicious kid ha

I don't need to trick her into behaving. If she specifically asks for an elf that's different but I'm not going to use one as a parenting tool nor lie and tell her the elf is spying on her and reporting back to santa.

I don’t know a single person who does the surveillance thing.

It’s not a new thing anyway, it was always part of the santa story.

It's just a marketing thing to get you to spend mor money. PJ's that only last half a season and kids may not want to wear past Christmas and won't fit the next year seems like total waste and adds to junk in the environment. If anything the last few years we have really scaled back the materialism of Christmas its got out of hand imo. Growing up we did have a special Christmas even though but it was a reading of the Christmas story by candlelight as a family and some home made sweets. I don't do that with mind though but there can be Christmas Eve traditions that don't involve buying more junk