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?

@TheKeatingFive

Really?

Yes, extravagance is baked into the entire experience. Food, gifts, entertainment, socialising, cheer. If you want to play the religion card, Christmas religious services are also extravagant compared to day to day.

I'm pretty sure it's not actually Christ's birthday either, just a midwinter pagan festival that got hijacked to spread Christianity.

I love Christmas and a Christmas Eve box is way too late for me to get any fun out of it so i agree with

I dont see the point in getting Xmas pj's the day before when they could get more use out of them and most of the fun is the run up to Xmas so they get to wear them during December.

I like to spread things out, and since I'm in Germany where the Sundays in Advent are marked and important we tend to start on the first Sunday in Advent and do stuff like bake biscuits, make decorations/cards/presents and we start watching Christmas films at the beginning of December as there are just so many to get through.

Every family is different though -do your own thing and enjoy it.

I’ve never done them with my kids but they tend to watch a couple of films and eat chocolate just not get the chocolate or a DVD given to them in a box. We haven’t used DVDs for years anyway. When they were younger, I usually bought Christmas activity books and sticker books that they would spend a couple of hours doing on Christmas Eve. The box just makes it a bit more of an ‘official’ thing I suppose.
Each to their own, I think it’s nice if it adds to the excitement and time spent as a family.

YANBU, never had them and never heard of them growing up in the 90s/00s. I don't feel I've missed out. The way some mums here talk about them... it seems they think not giving their kids one is tantamount to child abuse.

I'm pretty sure it's not actually Christ's birthday either, just a midwinter pagan festival that got hijacked to spread Christianity

Exactly. Some much needed cheer amidst the darkness of winter.

I did it one year. It was crap and my dc were totally underwhelmed. Hot chocolate? I'll make one anytime they want one. Dvds? Who uses them anymore anyway? Totally pointless

@ceeveebee

I agree - we don’t do the elf on the shelf either though so I am quite grinchy!

That sinister little bstrd!

There should be a law against him.

How anyone likes hot chocolate, I don't know! Sickly sweet and yucky.

@MagicSummer

I notice that most people seem to put new pyjamas in these Christmas Eve boxes. Is it a thing that people wear pyjamas all day on Christmas Day now? What if you have visitors - do you get dressed then? Where I come from, you wear your best clothes on Christmas Day, the sparklier the better!

You’d probably be alarmed that we have Christmas Eve bedding

Buying new pajamas is just buying new pajamas. A new set on Christmas Eve is as good as time as any.

Agree. I think it’s something that younger parents who are caught up in social media have fallen for. Similar to elf-on the shelf.

Sometimes I do buy them new PJs and they get to open these on Christmas Eve but not every year, only when they need them.

Any high value tech items are saved for by my kids and paid for out of a combo of Christmas/birthday money received from grandparents and saved up pocket money (£5 per week). If it’s something necessary for school, like a laptop then I will contribute but we never replace computers, phones etc unnecessarily. I definitely can’t afford to at the moment but didn’t do this even when I could.

I’ve never really understood those who spend £100s on their kids at Christmas. They seem to exist in a different reality to me.

The new pyjamas is because for my family (and many others) young children are very, very excited about Christmas. The whole Christmas Eve box/ritual is pretty much a way of making going to bed seem more appealing. So most boxes have bedtime routine/wind-down activities to help calm kids down. A film with cuddles and a warm milky drink, a bath, new pyjamas and a bedtime story. It's about cunningly disguising going to bed as a super-special treat.

@MagicSummer

How anyone likes hot chocolate, I don't know! Sickly sweet and yucky.

Depends if you make your own from real chocolate tbh. You can make it as sweet as you like

We do it here. It always contains pyjamas and something for the bath. Sometimes I’ll add a book or a film (more likely to be a film voucher this year) and last year DS got a Christmas mug in it and a hot chocolate spoon.
I use it as something to give him his Christmas pjs but sometimes he gets a little more it really depends. It isn’t really another present as such but a way of getting him ready for going to bed.

We have a 1st December hamper which contains: kids advent calendars, craft items, ginger bread house kit, books, posh hot chocolate and tickets for things like visiting Santa or going to see a show etc. This year I've spent a bit more than usual on craft items and have bought a Christmas family jigsaw because a lot of the events we would normally go to in December are cancelled. I don't see how that's a bad thing really.

We never had one as kids and don’t have any family traditions at all really. But I made one last year for our daughters first Christmas and will carry on as our family tradition.

I put our stockings in it so we could hang them up together before bed, the Santa plate, a Christmas story, Christmas pjs and as she gets older got chocolate and Christmas film will be added.

It doesn’t have to be full of gifts but for me it was a fun activity before bed which will be appreciated more as she gets older!

@MagicSummer

How anyone likes hot chocolate, I don't know! Sickly sweet and yucky.

I don’t like it either, but by the age of 35 I’ve lived long enough to realise everyone has different tastes. And that kids tend to like sweet stuff.

@BumbleFlump plenty of the children with high value Christmas presents won't be getting enough Christmas/birthday money from grandparents or pocket money to buy big ticket tech items.

@MJMG2015

If it annoyed you on Facebook, why didn't you moan about it on Facebook? There's a reason many of us don't use Facebook!

I love the build up to Christmas, so I put the tree up on/by the 1st of Dec & out with that come the 'bits' that most people put in their CE Box. PJ's/books/DVD's/games/craft - (some old, some new) & whatever else

Because I like to get maximum pleasure out of them during Dec and after Christmas there are Christmas presents that are then more exciting. But if others want to do CE Boxes or nothing that's up to them.

Very few people seem to put actual presents in them.

When I was small Santa would bring a stocking (nuts/orange/chocolate coins/maybe a couple of very cheap things like hair clips/flavoured lip gloss etc) and 1 present which we were allowed to open & play with st whatever his awful time we woke up. I was much older befire I realised it wasn't super generous, just a way for my parents to buy a bit extra sleep 🤣and a present i'd have got Christmas Day anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've never done the elf because he's a creepy wee shite & I can't be bothered with it- doesn't mean I give a flying fuck what others do.

Everything I do is fir our pleasure -I don't use Facebook/Instagram or any other SM. Life is much nicer without!!

I couldn't moan about it on FB as it was an ad and anything negative on an ad doesn't get posted! No idea people on MN don't use FB?!

I’ve never heard of a Christmas Eve box but they sound lovely, I’ve really enjoyed reading about everyone’s thoughtful traditions and they don’t sound consumerist to me at all. I’m going to pinch some of the ideas (same plate for reindeers, same glass for Santa’s whisky, etc) and start doing this as DC are still young,

I know this was a snarky thread, but I’ve actually found it really cheering! So nice to be reminded of some of the happier things in life in the midst of all this doom and gloom.

Yes, generational thing. I'm glad my dcs are a bit older and I don't have to get sucked into this extra pressure to come up with thrilling presents. Having teenagers is difficult enough with trying to think of quirky stocking fillers, but Christmas Eve box too? What's in a teenager's box? Six pack of cider?

We have a family Christmas Eve box that has our pjs in and I will add some hot chocolate / Santa plate / sweets for Christmas Eve when we watch a movie.

Nothing different to when I was a kid apart from it’s in a box

I give mine their Christmas PJs and/or Christmas socks on Dec 1st with their advent calendars. This way they get more wear out of them.

I always think an advent box would be better as its further from the main day and pyjamas etc can be used throughout December then. We don't have a box, but we get the event bits down first and Christmas teddies etc come out then too.

Why are they "absolutely ridiculous"?
I started doing this for my kids about 15 years ago, so before it was a "thing" or widespread due to social media. We always bought them new Christmas jammies anyway but decided to make it more exciting by wrapping them up in a box, along with a Christmas DVD, and some sweets. I never called it a Christmas Eve Box, it's always been known as their hamper, but it's the same idea. They always loved it and were so excited when we gave it to them mid afternoon , they couldn't wait to put their new pyjamas on. Now my kids are teens to early 20s but they still love getting their hamper!!!
I don't see why anyone gets upset about this idea. The vast majority of people who do them don't fill them with loads of extra presents. It's usually just stuff that the kids would get anyway, but just presented differently!

@Badgerbadger88

I’ve never done one before but 2020 has been SO shit and Christmas will be so shit so I’m doing one for DS. Anything to override the shitty memories of Winter 2020. He’ll be getting less gifts as a few family members have died this year.

He’s 7

I won’t be doing one next year though

Thanks @dressinggownwearer for starting this thread as it reminded me that these silly things exist. (still doing a one off though!)

That sounds totally reasonable!!