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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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takealettermsjones · 04/12/2023 16:22

This thread is golden 😂

All the outrage just because something is a new thing... So what if it is?? Montessori wasn't a thing in the 80s either but you're all on board with that one aintcha 😂

SallyWD · 04/12/2023 16:22

There's lots of new things that have sprung up in the last few years: Christmas eve boxes, December 1st boxes, elf on the shelf, polar breakfasts. People think all this is normal and they're terrible failures if they don't do these things.
I'm old school. We just have presents (including a stocking) on Christmas morning. That's enough.

KatBurglar · 04/12/2023 16:22

I think it's just giving a formal name to something that's been happening for decades. My mum was born in 1946 and she always got new nightclothes to wear on Christmas Eve.

I grew up with the "you can choose one gift under the tree to unwrap... no, not that one, this one..." followed by the performative surprise of "oh wow, pyjamas, just what I hoped for," and my now-adult children do the same. We also read the same books to them on Christmas Eve every year when they were small.

It seems people with younger children now put theirs in a box rather than wrapped under the tree, but it's not a big deal or commercialism run riot.

(Matching sleepwear is a bit Littlewoods Catalogue for me, though)

tennesseewhiskey1 · 04/12/2023 16:22

I don’t have a special Christmas eve box - but I give them the new bauble they choose every year to hang on their tree on Christmas Eve .

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:23

AbondonedThemePark · 04/12/2023 16:16

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

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😉

Luxell934 · 04/12/2023 16:23

Prinnny · 04/12/2023 15:52

Yeah so much junk. Why do kids need pyjamas and books anyway? Let them sleep in old rags and read the milk bottle before bed 🙄

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Fair enough if your children sleep in rags and read the milk bottle before bed 11 months out of the year, mine have pyjamas and books year round so on December 1st they aren't in dire need.

KatBurglar · 04/12/2023 16:23

@takealettermsjones - that's where you're wrong! I went to a Montessori primary school in 1973

AlviarinAesSedai · 04/12/2023 16:24

It’s been a trend for at least 10 years. I always bought/buy my children new PJ’s but they are expected to wear them as if they are just normal PJ!
During COVID I bought matching for whole family. No photo on SM. And we never seemed to wear at the same time.

Needmorelego · 04/12/2023 16:25

@SallyWD genuine question - no decorations? No Christmas themed books? (which could come from the library). No food prep in advance like making the Christmas Pudding? No Christingle or Carol service?
Literally nothing until December 25th?

Rewis · 04/12/2023 16:25

What is a polar breakfast? I'm envisioning sitting in the polar night, watching polar bears while eating Polar cheese.

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:26

Needmorelego · 04/12/2023 16:25

@SallyWD genuine question - no decorations? No Christmas themed books? (which could come from the library). No food prep in advance like making the Christmas Pudding? No Christingle or Carol service?
Literally nothing until December 25th?

You can't "gift" a child a book from a library.

TotalAbsenceOfImperialRaiment · 04/12/2023 16:26

It's a canny invention by some bright marketing person for parting fools and their money.

Verv · 04/12/2023 16:27

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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Please let this be satire.

KissTheRains · 04/12/2023 16:27

When I were kid we had a Christmas Eve Box...

We'd ask to open a present on Christmas and we'd get our ears boxed.

That's the tradition and I'm sticking to it.

DyslexicPoster · 04/12/2023 16:27

Choosychoice · 04/12/2023 15:00

Endless tat which is a grade A waste of the worlds resources. People actually buy pjs to put in them for the use of the Christmas period, then buy a new set of pjs next year.

Imagine the horror when your child wore the new ojs all year but the child GREW snd they no longer fitted. What a con. Personally my so is wearing his newborn baby grows at 21 because we are utterly perfect in everyday. We also don't eat and have zero carbon footprint which how the babygrows still fit

StephanieSuperpowers · 04/12/2023 16:28

I do a Christmas Eve box. It's just a wooden box I got in lidl some years ago, into which I put new pyjamas, some chocolate and a book. Nothing very exciting. I don't think of it as presents, it's just a little box of treats for Christmas Eve night. We make cookies for Santa, put some cookies and a carrot out, have a bath, put on the Christmas Eve pyjamas, watch a movie with a little treat, go to bed and read the new book. One of my kid's favourite December things is to take down all the books from the Christmas Eves of the past and read them all, because they have nice memories attached to them.

I think it's just a nice way to spend the evening. The box itself is of no particular consequence, my mother did the same Christmas Eve without a box when I was growing up.

TheKeatingFive · 04/12/2023 16:28

It's a canny invention by some bright marketing person for parting fools and their money.

As are all Christmas traditions, in fairness. It's not like no one's making money out of trees, turkeys and puddings.

OneCup · 04/12/2023 16:28

I wonder if it depends on where you are in the UK? I asked my primary school aged daughter who said she had never heard of them so perhaps it doesn't get done round here so much.

Sequinne · 04/12/2023 16:29

Jeeezzzz, some of these comments 🤣

It’s just a cute thing to do for your kids on Christmas Eve. It’s harmless and a bit of fun. Most parents who do it are hardly putting Tiffany bracelets in there.

We put in a Christmas sticker book, some chocolate, a dvd to watch that eve and a pair of fluffy socks. Guess what? We don’t post pictures on insta & even if we did, who cares?

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:29

Pretty sure Jesus was gifted 3 gifts of spiritual significance.

Looking forward to having my eyes opened with tales of the socks, hot chocolate and fluffy slippers he was also gifted, as I must have overlooked this in the Bible.

BIossomtoes · 04/12/2023 16:29

TheKeatingFive · 04/12/2023 16:28

It's a canny invention by some bright marketing person for parting fools and their money.

As are all Christmas traditions, in fairness. It's not like no one's making money out of trees, turkeys and puddings.

Was marketing a thing in the nineteenth century?

MrsMarzetti · 04/12/2023 16:29

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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😂As a Scot i don't give two hoots if English. Irish, Welsh, Dutch or Nepalese have tartan pyjamas, table runners or napkins. Why the hell do you think it is cultural appropriation ?

Heronwatcher · 04/12/2023 16:30

Rewis · 04/12/2023 16:25

What is a polar breakfast? I'm envisioning sitting in the polar night, watching polar bears while eating Polar cheese.

Please for the love of all that is holy do not alert the people of mumsnet to the concept of a polar breakfast. This will bring The Mumsnet Food Police onto this thread too. The internet won’t cope.

TheKeatingFive · 04/12/2023 16:31

Was marketing a thing in the nineteenth century?

Is that supposed to be a joke? Of course it was

KissTheRains · 04/12/2023 16:31

BIossomtoes · 04/12/2023 16:29

Was marketing a thing in the nineteenth century?

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The royals used to lead the fashions.

They had a tree... Everyone started having trees.

They sent cards... Everyone started sending cards...

I think people of old were far more bored than today. Shame candy crush wasn't a thing back then. 🤪