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?

I don't see a problem with them. It's a magical time of the year. But I can't understand giving Christmas pj's for christmas eve. I give them to them on 1st Dec and get the wear out of them. I'm sick of Christmas tat by about 2nd dec

You give them on Christmas Eve to make going to bed more appealing to excited children. And they get worn until they wear out/ get too small.

But I can't understand giving Christmas pj's for christmas eve. I give them to them on 1st Dec and get the wear out of them. I'm sick of Christmas tat by about 2nd dec

In my family we dont buy specifically "Christmas PJs" we just get PJs at Christmas and my parents would give them to us on Christmas Eve. It was partly because of our tradition of Mass, bubble bath, new PJs, Christmas film etc but also because it meant we were all wearing our lovely new PJs on Christmas morning which looked better in all the pictures our parents took of us opening our presents to accompany the thank you letters we had to painstaking write on fancy letter paper to distant relatives and family friends on Boxing Day

364 days of the year my sister and I had one big drawer of PJs (my brothers had the same) and we'd pull out a top and bottom and wear them regardless of if they were a pair but for one night every year we were guaranteed to all go to bed and wake up in PJs that had a matching top and bottom because they were our Christmas PJs.

It was then followed by a gift of a nice outfit/dress/top etc as one of our presents on Christmas Day that would be our Christmas day outfit and then would be our new "party dress" until we grew out of it

I burn a xmas Yule log on the fire whilst drinking hot whipped cream , mini marshmallow and freshly baked cookies and listening to some carols . Christmas is not just about presents its about spending time with the people who you cherish the most too I think Christmas Eve is the best time to reflect this , while xmas day is stockings and a few presents and dinner with the family and friends . I am old fashion that I don't do the modern day OTT American tradition of filling a room with presents top to floor and a big Christmas box present the night before while sticking a creepy elf on my shelf for whatever purpose it brings , sometimes in life more is less .

My mother was Danish so we celebrated a bit of Christmas on both days !

This is the first time I've heard of them

Christmas is not just about presents its about spending time with the people who you cherish the most

Many find the box a nice way of facilitating this. Books/Films are enjoyed as a family.

There nothing wrong, in my opinion, with a new pair of pyjamas and some hot chocolate, but some people go way over the top, with more presents on Christmas Eve than some get on Christmas Day. I can’t believe how many people with those dratted elves (which never turned up in my house, unfortunately!) post pictures daily of the elves bringing yet more presents throughout December.

Yabu, people have their own traditions as I’m sure you will have yours.

Agreed. But so are people who buy 20 presents for their kids at Christmas. It is all way over the top nowadays. Raising a bunch of spoiled kids imo.
And it is all about mums outdoing other mums. This shit wouldnt be happening if it was up to the dads 😂.

@threatmatrix
Thank you thank you thank you I didn’t think there was anyone left with common sense. Total American shite

@NewModelArmyMayhem18
I'm sure it's just another way for shops to make some more money - bet it's originally an American tradition!

@LoisLane66
To my mind, it's an American fad that floated its way over here, along with KFC and buckets of popcorn.

@grifffendor
I am old fashion that I don't do the modern day OTT American tradition of filling a room with presents top to floor and a big Christmas box present the night before...

Lol, nope.

This is 100% a tacky, commercialised British Thing.

YABU, what does it matter to you how other people choose to do things at Christmas? Personally I’ve never done a ‘Christmas Eve box’ as such, but growing up DM would always give us a new pair of PJs and buy a new movie for us all to watch whilst drinking hot chocolate and eating some of the Christmas snacks on Christmas Eve, and I’ve carried on the tradition with DS, except with so much streaming content available these days that often I just pick a movie already on Netflix/Now TV or I’ll pay for one to download on Amazon.
If some people choose to gift small presents though, then that too is absolutely fine if that is how they choose to celebrate things.

I didn’t do a Christmas Eve box last year, bit this thread is really making me want to do one... and post it on social media!

I agree but I am a misery! 🤣 Gender reveals, baby showers, Xmas boxes......never had this stuff when I was growing up!

it is all about mums outdoing other mums.

Lots of people have explained why they do it. If you must make up bad motivations to justify your moralistic objections to something that has no moral value, please try something that isn't misogynistic to boot. To be fair, you're not the first one to do it here, but many others have given equally stupid, unjustified and sanctimonious criticisms that will serve your purpose without the added offence of using it to bash women too. Or shall we just add "it's all about women being bitches" to whatever traditions you happen to enjoy?

New winter pjs at Easter was a thing in the country we lived before, which I think was good timing. Christmas is a bit late I think, you need new in October if your child has outgrown them over the summer.

We’ve been doing a Xmas Eve box for about 8 years. It’s whatever delivery box is around at the time, containing new pjs for my 3 kids, a Christmas ornament for the tree each, a new board game or jigsaw, some kind of snack, and that’s it.

I make about 10 treasure hunt clues, hide them round the house, and hide the box.

All three kids say it’s their favourite thing about Xmas - and the oldest is nearly 17.

It’s not lots of money or flashy, and I don’t post it on social media 😉

Hmm not sure I agree that “this shit would not be happening if left to the dads” Dh and kids arrived back from buying the Christmas tree with not one but two huge trees 🙄😁. Twice the needles to deal with and tree disposal etc

Household purchases related to food and festivities usually fall to the woman. And people notice when she doesn't do them. Which is fortunate, because it means you can do the "competitive bitches" thing when you don't happen to like what she's buying for her family traditions. Your own, of course, be they trees, decorations, food, gifts or whatever, are absolutely fine.

I do a box that comes with the elf (he's a lazy elf who doesn't make much mischief but he is Santa's lookout for naughty behaviour), on 1st December that contains advent calendars (often a Lego or Smiggle one and a chocolate one, Christmas pjs (so they get a month of wearing them), Christmas books and teddy's (ones we already have now as I've been doing it for a decade for 3 DDs), Christmas chocolates and sweets, sticker books and crafts, and tickets for the Panto.

If the first falls on a weekend we have a special Christmas breakfast where I make a menu and buy all the different food and drink options they could want (they always choose pancakes in the shape of a Christmas tree and a breakfast wrap though), and I lay the table and put out crackers, Christmas plates and mugs etc.

On Xmas eve I used to do a box with a Christmas DVD etc but now I just put reindeer food, some chocolates and snacks to watch with a Christmas film. Probably some other bits if I have any.

For us this is what Christmas is all about, it's not the gifts it's the fun of it. In fact typing it had made me all excited for 1st December...how many days is it now?

@grifffendor
"I I burn a xmas Yule log on the fire whilst drinking hot whipped cream , mini marshmallow and freshly baked cookies and listening to some carols "

Seriously? Marshmallows, and cookies ? Not only a crazy excess of sugar on a day which is traditionally for fasting, but tacky American-style sugary foods. Not to mention the environmental consequences of dairy farming and open fires. I hope you don't have your central heating on while the fire is burning. I dress to think how the younger generation will grow up with thus level of indulgence from their parents, although it's probably all done for the parents to brag about.

I'm not being serious - your Christmas eve sounds lovely, but also pretty much indistinguishable from that of people who put the hot chocolate and marshmallows in a box along with their old copy of The Night Before Christmas.

I like the idea of them and I do them for my three, even though my eldest son is now 21 and my daughters are 19 and 13. I put in a mug with sachets of hot chocolate, marshmallows, Christmas socks, Christmas pjs, I just think it’s a nice idea. Not all of us spend £100’s of pounds on presents I just think it’s a nice little bit extra. Some people buy tons of chocolate and sweets to put out over Christmas which must cost a lot, we have chocolate and sweets over Christmas but only ones that have been given as presents. We all do different things and if it makes you happy and your family smile then do what you want x

I don't do them either Christmas doesn't have as much meaning the longer it's dragged out and all the magic is gone.

I did one box before Christmas eve boxes were a thing but it was because we'd all been ill - it was just fancy Christmas shaped marshmallows, posh hot choc and homemade woolly snowballs. We had a huge indoor snowball fight til we were exhausted, had hot choc and mallows with the muppets Christmas Carol, hung stockings and then bed. My kids are late teens now and still remember that as the best Christmas (also the first as a single parent) it's not about the money at Christmas - it's the magic you make yourself that counts.

@bemusedmoose

I don't do them either Christmas doesn't have as much meaning the longer it's dragged out and all the magic is gone.

I did one box before Christmas eve boxes were a thing but it was because we'd all been ill - it was just fancy Christmas shaped marshmallows, posh hot choc and homemade woolly snowballs. We had a huge indoor snowball fight til we were exhausted, had hot choc and mallows with the muppets Christmas Carol, hung stockings and then bed. My kids are late teens now and still remember that as the best Christmas (also the first as a single parent) it's not about the money at Christmas - it's the magic you make yourself that counts.

Sounds like a very standard Christmas box: film and indoor fun stuff that doesn't cost much and isn't wasteful. (Woolly snowballs are a great idea.) If your kids remember that Christmas as their best ever, it's hard to see why you think boxes ruin the magic.

From skimming this thread, I have concluded that, irrespective of individual positions on Christmas Eve boxes, as a society we are preoccupied with pyjamas and hot chocolate.

also, mind boggling at a special santa plate. This seems to be a fertile are for research in its own right