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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What on earth is a Christmas Eve box??

642 replies

Xmasevewhat · 04/12/2023 14:58

I've suddenly seen 'Christmas Eve boxes' popping up everywhere. In shops, on Etsy, social feeds. Never even heard of the concept and now all of a sudden it's everywhere.

Can someone explain the point? Seems like they are filled with same kind of things you'd put in a stocking. Be honest, is it just another Instagram fad/ excuse to spend money?

OP posts:
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IpsyUpsyDaisyDoos · 04/12/2023 16:10

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/12/2023 16:06

Ahh , okay . I'll bite .

Christmas Eve Hampers : (CEH)
Pyjamas (winter , not Christmas . Flannel and probably tartan)
A bath bomb
A sachet of hot chocolate
Small pack of biscuits
Annual
Advent calendar
To settle them , do a bath/pyjamas/drink/read routine then bedtime

Mine are 24 and 21
I do the Dec 1st Hamper
They get pyjamas /loungewear
Underwear /socks
Toiletries/make-up

They don't need settled on Christmas Eve night . They do like to use their new things all through December .

Its not tat . They aren't spoiled .

Do them or don't do them.
No-one is holding a gun to your head are they .?

I could just do without the faux horror Is this A THING ? that gets rolled out on MN , I imagine the arched eyebrows and the mouth stretched out in an elomgated O .

Edited

Genuine question.

Advent calendar in a Christmas EVE hamper?

Queucumber · 04/12/2023 16:10

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:06

Socks as a gift for your own children is quite sad. It's like asking them to thank you for the pain you suffered during child birth.

Never meet my mother. We got new multipacks of pants from M&S in our stockings every year! Also socks. It hasn’t left me emotionally scarred. We also had a Terry’s chocolate orange, satsumas, little toys, books etc.

NoCloudsAllowed · 04/12/2023 16:11

I can't get worked up about people having a book, got chocolate and pyjamas. I don't know why some women want an additional thing to organize and pay for, but that's up to them I guess

Prinnny · 04/12/2023 16:11

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:04

Why do parents feel they have to "gift" pj's and a book to their children. Might start doing this all year round, gifting Easter underpants and Halloween socks. Might even start putting breakfast in a box on a daily basis as a celebration for the coming of summer. Weekend homework will come in a gift bag with ribbon.

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I think you’re a bit behind the times, Easter and Halloween clothing has been around for years. As for the breakfast in a box or gift wrapped homework I can’t see the excitement in that but you do you hun…

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/12/2023 16:11

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:08

Tartan is fine if you identify as Scottish, otherwise, it's just an appropriation of another culture.

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DH is from Glasgow and I can wear several including Black Watch .

Not that I'm thinking this when i buy them. I just prefer the word "tartan" to "plaid"

Is this ok by you ? Hmm

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:12

He was being polite.

Tarantella6 · 04/12/2023 16:12

When the kids were smaller I used to do one as a way to get them in matching pjs for some cute photos on Xmas morning!

We also once put a game in that we then played on Xmas eve.

It's not really extra money, more that it's stocking kind of stuff but it is actually more use before Xmas. Like a 1st December box - I did one this year with Advent calendars and Christmas hair clips in. No-one wants Christmas hair clips on 25 Dec, they want to wear them in the lead up to Xmas!

IpsyUpsyDaisyDoos · 04/12/2023 16:12

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:06

Socks as a gift for your own children is quite sad. It's like asking them to thank you for the pain you suffered during child birth.

Speak to my mother. I got novelty socks every year once my feet stopped growing. I got to a point where I could wear Christmas socks every other day in December.

Also, slipper socks. Wonderful things and I LOVE getting those.

AbondonedThemePark · 04/12/2023 16:12

User136921 · 04/12/2023 16:02

I didn't realise that hot chocolate was a special Christmas thing, don't people have it most of the year.

Have you ever heard of selection boxes?

They contain a small selection (hence the name) of popular bars of chocolate that are otherwise available to purchase year round.

Needmorelego · 04/12/2023 16:13

@Bleakmidwinter1977 my daughter wants some particular socks you can only buy from Japan. We won't be getting them (to expensive) but if we were they would most definitely be a gift not an everyday thing.
Do you only wear plain grey clothes - or do you have special items that have sometimes been given as a - shock horror - a gift?

MammaTo · 04/12/2023 16:13

Heronwatcher · 04/12/2023 15:21

They are a brilliant excuse for people on mumsnet to pearl clutch and complain about how ghastly, common, frivolous, wasteful and generally terrible they are, and to stealth boat about how wholesome their own traditional Christmases with home made family decorations, a tree from the garden and nothing more than a sniff of a satsuma and an educational wooden abacus are. See also putting decorations up too early, baby showers, hot tubs, ready meals, fancy cars, Halloween, tumble dryers…

The best posts are done in faux ignorance because people on mumsnet also don’t use social media either of course.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

pbdr · 04/12/2023 16:13

I'm not someone who's ever done Christmas Eve boxes, either as a child myself or with my own (admittedly toddler aged) child, but I've always been baffled by the absolute blue fury that the concept of giving your children some hot chocolate and new pyjamas on Christmas Eve seems to inspire in some people on Mumsnet 😂 let people enjoy themselves

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/12/2023 16:13

IpsyUpsyDaisyDoos · 04/12/2023 16:10

Genuine question.

Advent calendar in a Christmas EVE hamper?

Show quote history

Ah , no
That's not in the CEH , but I haven't done one for many years
We're Dec 1st as mine are older .

ManchesterLu · 04/12/2023 16:14

I think they're nice to be honest, but as with everything else, people take them too far, get competitive, and it blows out of proportion.

IMO: New PJs, a Christmas book, some hot chocolate and some sweets is perfect. The kinds of things you would probably get for your child anyway, but given to them as a gift they can unwrap. It's nice.

EveryKneeShallBow · 04/12/2023 16:14

letspopthekettleon · 04/12/2023 15:25

Exactly! And all the wanky parents on this thread with their ideas. Please!! Stop buying tat!!

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God there’s a lot of judgypants, po-faced people on this thread. I don’t have instagram or facebook, but I hand decorated wooden boxes for my grandchildren and I give them pjs, a book, craft activity and bath bubbles. I’m hoping the boxes will become a treasured item that will remind them of me when I’m no longer around. I’m sorry (not sorry) that this private family thing so offends some people who can frankly FOTTFSOF.

Heronwatcher · 04/12/2023 16:15

🙄 see!

Mumsnet in children wear pyjamas, read book and are occasionally allowed hot chocolate shocker!

And of course all of the horrified clutchers don’t buy a single thing over Christmas, or is it more the case that if you buy your tat from the White Company, Sostrene Green, Waitrose or Etsy it doesn’t count I wonder?

AbondonedThemePark · 04/12/2023 16:16

NoCloudsAllowed · 04/12/2023 16:09

Oh, I see what you're up to @Bleakmidwinter1977

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Me too now. Sad! They just went Too Far.

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:17

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/12/2023 16:09

Ha! My 24yo likes socks , he's a student so wouldn't think to spend his own money on this .
And if I gave him cash he'd pocket it and run about in socks he wore at 16 Xmas Wink

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Practical gift for a adult.
Not many children getting excited at the prospects of opening socks at Christmas.

Terfosaurus · 04/12/2023 16:18

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:06

Socks as a gift for your own children is quite sad. It's like asking them to thank you for the pain you suffered during child birth.

Mine have had pants and socks in their stockings since they were small. Its become a silly tradition.

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:18

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/12/2023 16:11

DH is from Glasgow and I can wear several including Black Watch .

Not that I'm thinking this when i buy them. I just prefer the word "tartan" to "plaid"

Is this ok by you ? Hmm

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That sounds fine, thanks for checking with me.

Nochocolateuntilchristmas · 04/12/2023 16:19

Yes it's just another chance to put photos on Instagram and for companies to make more money. They've been around a few years now and usually full of tat, but this year I've noticed December the 1st boxes appearing on social media too....groan... (I love Christmas by the way, just not these fads!)

StaunchMomma · 04/12/2023 16:20

ROLL UP, ROLL UP!

OPPORTUNITY TO JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE FOR HOW THEY CHOOSE TO SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY ON THEIR OWN CHILDREN!

Not if you've taken them to Lapland/New York/a European market or jizzed a few hundred on a Christmas themed steam train afternoon tea, obviously. That's MIDDLE CLASS money wasting so it's fiiiine!!

Needmorelego · 04/12/2023 16:21

@StaunchMomma 😂😂😂

ChristmasSugarplumFairy · 04/12/2023 16:22

Obviously many children don't get to enjoy Christmas crafts/colouring/storybooks/new PJ's as they grow as so many uptight types are huffing about "tat" 🙄
Where do you find the energy?

MrsMarzetti · 04/12/2023 16:22

I am pretty sure that i read on here last year that a mum not only does 1st of December boxes but leaves a little present out for her children every day through out December.