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 usually get them new PJs at Christmas cos they're normally washed out and knackered by then - but I don't tend to get the festive themed ones - unless they have cool robins on and then I'm usually tempted - but that's because I've got a child called Robyn who thinks its hilarious (she was gutted when she outgrew her rocking robin ones).

I don't generally tend to buy Christmas specific anything - Christmas jumper day ones get bought about 3 sizes too big to eek a few years out of before getting passed on and I really do hrumph about buying them. My mum has special Christmas sofa cushions and everything - we even have a refillable advent calendar so don't go Christmas mad there.

DD1 wants warm fleece type Harry Potter ones and can I fuck find any for her size anywhere?!

So pyjamas are only acceptable gifts if they are beyond your budget? Do the people you know carefully sort through their children's clothes picking out the ones with a Primark label in order to throw them out? Because that's just weird. Surely most people buy clothes they like within their budget and keep them until they wear out/no longer fit/don't get worn any more and then give away the ones in good condition.

We don’t do boxes or Elf on the shelf, I personally just find it too much tat but I know other people love them and I’m a chronic Christmas overspender in other ways so I won’t polish my halo too hard.

YANBU. We've never done them as I think it takes the shine off the day a bit. I also fear raising spoilt brats!

I’m even worse than Christmas Eve box. I do a homemade advent calendar with something different every day. This year we have craft supplies (bauble paint, card making supplies, paper chain components, stickers, Christmas ribbons for making a wreath, canvases to make footprint Rudolph’s), baking stuff to make mincemeat, Christmas cake, truffles & fudge, Christmas gloves, pjs & hair accessories, various Lego builds, some new books and a couple of movies with popping corn. We always go nuts decorating the house and make an extra effort to do things as a family every evening after school and at the weekends in December. It’s 100% unnecessary but I don’t really care because we can afford it, we all enjoy it & it’s a good way of guaranteeing I make the time to do crafts and baking with the girls while they are small enough to want to do it.

I think it's something if I become a grandma I'd like to do, with.... WITH my dc permission I could imagine a beautiful box with tissue and ribbon containing Christmas day outfits...

Something like that, but as a dp who creates the Xmas production... Absolutely not for me.
. It's hard enough doing a ginger bread house!

*I’m even worse than Christmas Eve box. I do a homemade advent calendar with something different every day’

Yes i used to do this, the children loved it

Oh bum

Bold fail

Dd wore her primark pjs out in the same way she wore her marks and spencer and next ones out

She didnt bin them just cos they were primark

@Quirrelsotherface

YANBU. We've never done them as I think it takes the shine off the day a bit. I also fear raising spoilt brats!

You won't make your children into little shits by doing pyjamas and film night once a year.

*I’m even worse than Christmas Eve box. I do a homemade advent calendar with something different every day’

Yes i used to do this, the children loved it*

Mine love it too. I’m sure kids really enjoy the Christmas Eve boxes and elf on the shelf and going on santa train rides and loads of other very commercial things too. Just because it’s a bit of a marketing plan to make you spend money doesn’t stop it being fun

Absolutely

So anyway, OP...got the discussion you wanted?

I’m even worse than Christmas Eve box. I do a homemade advent calendar with something different every day

My DC are a bit older (don't believe in Santa anymore ).
I usually have a mix of riddles, word games and math equations that need to be worked out or put together in order to find treats every 3- 4 days.
It's a lot of work to pull it all together... but so worth it !

Of course they are unnecessary but so are presents on christmas day and eating until you feel sick 🤷‍♀️

We do a christmas eve box, it has 3 new books (we have 3 children), a dvd, popcorn, hot chocolate, chocolate, the plate for father christmas mince pie and new pjs in. We open it after dinner, put pjs on and watxh a film, then we read the new books and go to bed ready for father christmas.

The pjs get plenty lf wear as we wear them all year round in fact my 2 eldest are wearing last years elf pjs tonight and youngest wore hers last night.

They aren’t unreasonable if they are done without filling with extra presents. My daughters is just new jammies, hot choc and marsh mellows, Xmas bedtime story and girly face masks and bath bomb . They point is on Xmas eve night we open it and then get night bath and new jammies on then hot choc with pampering face mask and Xmas movie before bed. I think it’s a lovely bonding experience and a great memory

@Ylvamoon

I’m even worse than Christmas Eve box. I do a homemade advent calendar with something different every day

My DC are a bit older (don't believe in Santa anymore ).
I usually have a mix of riddles, word games and math equations that need to be worked out or put together in order to find treats every 3- 4 days.
It's a lot of work to pull it all together... but so worth it !

That sounds an amazing idea. Filing it away for future years :)

@BubblegumFactory

Obvious? Why? Why does one need special PJs at Christmas?!?!? Especially if they are Christmas themed PJs. Even worse if they are from Primark and be chucked away along with other mountains of clothes which is the norm these days. I’m at that stage in life where I’m thinking much more about what and how much we consume.

Fuck you'd hate me then my LO had a new pair of pjs every day in December for the first xmas. Just a nice little thing for the first year and all passed on to a wonderful charity who collect Xmas pjs for kids in deprived families where they have no choice but to not have the basics never mind the extras at xmas

@Carouselfish

Never heard of this! My Xmas eves are spent in a panic of wrapping til 2am!

not xmas box related but just curious because I have never understood this... why not do it before the 11th hour?

christmas is the same day every year, we have 364 days notice so Im just always baffled by people panicing and shopping and/or wrapping the night before/morning of the day especially if they know they will be stressed out by it

My mum did these for Xmas for the first time last year, at first I was bemused as I'd never heard of it, but then I just found it really sweet. It did mean there was less to open on Xmas day though - we didn't get extra presents, just split the same number of presents over 2 days.

And we don't do stockings, so I guess it was mostly a box of stocking fillers but on Xmas Eve.

When we were children we were allowed to open a single present on Xmas eve. The present was chosen by our parents so it was usually just one of the small presents. I enjoyed this, and I think I’ll do the same with my daughter. Xmas boxes are over the top imo. Never even heard of them before Mumsnet!

I like Xmas but these days there is a sort of chocolate box view of how it should be, fuelled by the perfect Xmases posted on Instagram. Cosy, cute, twee or stylish. Tartan pajamas, wreaths, dried fruit decorations. It’s a very stylised construction.

A part of me yearns for the haphazard 70s Xmases of my childhood. Cheap tinsel, pissed relatives on Sherry. No Instagram to record it just fuzzy snaps on Dad’s camera. The Xmas Radio Times to plan your viewing and a box of After Eights after lunch. 😀

I suppose every era has its own Xmas. Xmas boxes are now part of this one.

My kids had at least ine new pair pjs a year, and always at christmas.
They grew like mushrooms so I was forever taking their old pjs to charity shops.
I tended to avoid the overtly christmas pjs, so no santa ones, but those with a wintery feel, like polar bears or snowflake ones felt better to wear during winter months.

I actually don't think it's such a bad idea to have a christmas ever box.
( German and some other European give main gifts on christmas eve, so maybe that's the origin)

Struggling to get kids to bed on christmas eve can be a challenge, and frustrating if parents still have wrapping or moving presents around.
A christmas eve box can take the edge off the excitement for children, so not quite so hyped up about the big day. The gifts can be nicely centered around a bedtime routine, encouraging a child towards the idea of sleep- so bubble bath, hot chocoalte, cosy socks, a story book etc, all these things are directed to get chuildren into a sleepy mindset.

So in all can be a helpful thing for parents!!

I suppose every era has its own Xmas. Xmas boxes are now part of this one.

Except they’ve been around and a ‘part’ of Christmas for absolutely ages.