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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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TheKeatingFive · 04/12/2023 16:41

No, but we know where we can find many who gift spiritual socks.

What would a spiritual sock be? Has Jesus on it?

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:41

AbondonedThemePark · 04/12/2023 16:36

Are you and @Bleakmidwinter1977 a tag team or the same person?

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I have many issues and a little time on my hands today, but no enough to create a separate account for my multiple personalities 🙃

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:42

Be careful, you might upset the vegans.

CatamaranViper · 04/12/2023 16:42

Ah we don't do Xmas Eve boxes because I don't like the added pressure they create. DS does get new xmas pjs ready for xmas morning, and we do make hot chocolates/gingerbread houses etc but I just don't necessarily do it all on xmas eve or put it in a box. I like doing little surprises whenever I can.

Togekiss · 04/12/2023 16:42

Luxell934 · 04/12/2023 16:23

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.

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Why gift anything on Christmas Day, then?

As you’ve said, your kids have lots of things year round. They clearly don’t need new toys etc?

And why bother with a Christmas dinner when you can just use what’s already in the cupboards and freezer?

Emeraldrings · 04/12/2023 16:43

My DC get new PJs Christmas Eve but nothing else. They're not Christmas (or matching) just new.
Refuse to do anything else, especially now December 1st boxes are also a thing....

ladycarlotta · 04/12/2023 16:46

For us it's just pyjamas and a book. They make Christmas Eve bedtime/wind down time more appealing, I find, and my kid's always in need of new cosy pjs this time of year.
It's not really anything she wouldn't get for Christmas anyway, just spread out a bit. But I am with you on the deeply performative nature of so much of this shite.

paradoxicalfrog · 04/12/2023 16:46

StephanieSuperpowers · 04/12/2023 16:37

Just for the sake of making something ordinary enough into something that feels a bit different. Sometimes people find that fun. Add a bit of occasion. Many people enjoy making small things into little occasions.

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The marketing folk have done a really good job on selling hot chocolate sachets:

Cadbury Hot Chocolate Cocoa Powder 500G
£0.76/100g

Options Instant Belgian Chocolate Sachet 11G
£3.18/100g

Needmorelego · 04/12/2023 16:47

@Bleakmidwinter1977 who said everything used before Christmas Day (whether in a Christmas Eve box or not) has to be a "gift"?
I didn't.

StephanieSuperpowers · 04/12/2023 16:49

paradoxicalfrog · 04/12/2023 16:46

The marketing folk have done a really good job on selling hot chocolate sachets:

Cadbury Hot Chocolate Cocoa Powder 500G
£0.76/100g

Options Instant Belgian Chocolate Sachet 11G
£3.18/100g

Show quote history

Some people even buy hot chocolate stirrers, I understand. I dread to think of the literal pennies they could save EVERY YEAR by being more frugal.

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:50

TheKeatingFive · 04/12/2023 16:39

No, they need those special, little individual sachets. It's a tradition they invented, you can't suggest it's nonsense as it will upset them.

No one tell her about mini bottles of spirits 😬

Mini bottles of spirits are great for middle class mums to tuck into their resuable Boden shopping bag.

ManateeFair · 04/12/2023 16:51

The idea of giving your kid something to keep them quiet on Christmas Eve isn't anything new, but the whole idea that this is some kind of traditional obligation and has to include a whole lot of stuff is pretty new and recent.

For example, I can remember being given a Christmassy picture book or an activity book or a Christmassy jigsaw puzzle on Christmas Eve when I was a kid in the 1980s. I have a really vivid memory of sitting at the table on Christmas Eve putting together an elaborate cardboard model of an Edwardian Christmassy looking house, from pieces you had to cut out of a book and glue together. And there are photos of my brother and sister when they were little (before I was born) sitting in bed on Christmas Eve and they're each holding an annual (think The Beano annual, or that year's Rupert The Bear annual or something) that they'd been given to read in bed. Basically, I don't think it was super unusual to give kids something small and inexpensive on Christmas Eve in the hope of distracting them from the general frenzy of excitement.

This was absolutely not about 'making memories' though and was entirely about giving a kid something nice to do that would keep them absorbed on an otherwise insanely excitable day. The whole of idea of new pyjamas, socks, mugs, hot chocolate, snacks, a Christmas movie DVD etc as a 'Christmas Eve Box' seems to be all about getting your kids even more hyped up and over-excited, to be honest.

Absolutely fine if people want to do it, but (as with that fucking Elf on a Shelf business) nobody should be acting as if this is a standard thing that you're expected to do at Christmas because it isn't.

gotomomo · 04/12/2023 16:51

Ok. But who gives hot chocolate before bed? Chocolate contains caffeine!

I also saw 1st December boxes for sale, yet more consumerism.

User136921 · 04/12/2023 16:52

I did wonder why shops sold family Christmas pyjamas, does everyone have a pair on Christmas Eve in a box, the great pyjama gifting time

sunglassesonthetable · 04/12/2023 16:53

Ok. But who gives hot chocolate before bed? Chocolate contains caffeine!

🤦‍♀️

ghostyslovesheets · 04/12/2023 16:54

hahaha this thread is brilliant - like a dog whistle for the sanctimummies

My eldest is 21 - we have always done it - so no not new and not filled with tat either

usually - Pj's - not Christmas themed , bath bomb, reindeer food (purchased from the school fayre and biodegradable) and a family game (used to be Hungry Hippos and such - now a new set of Cards Against Humanity), chocolate and marshmallows. Usually opened after church (polishes halo) and makes the evening drag less!

Nothing in there is wasteful or wasted

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 04/12/2023 16:54

I thought the point of them was to distract excites dc on Christmas Eve, but then I've never done them, Unless you count giving the dc new swimming goggles on Christmas Eve so we could go and "try them out" that afternoon!

User136921 · 04/12/2023 16:55

So own up, who on this thread has matching family Christmas pyjamas, someone must buy them as a complete set.

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:55

Its so upsetting when people dis the elf, it's a tradition we have been doing for 1 year and means so much to my little ones to wake up finding the elf has suffocated themselves on last years special, spiritual Christmas socks.

sunglassesonthetable · 04/12/2023 16:55

Absolutely fine if people want to do it, but (as with that fucking Elf on a Shelf business) nobody should be acting as if this is a standard thing that you're expected to do at Christmas because it isn't.

You're " expected" to do what YOU want.

ChristmasIsComing2023 · 04/12/2023 16:55

We do new pjs (not Christmas themed), something to eat, something to drink and something to do in our Christmas Eve boxes. We also put in a new bauble for the tree and a letter from Santa in ds’s :)
Stockings are just small, cheap gifts and treats :)

noooooooo · 04/12/2023 16:55

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?

Which socks are these, please? Feelin the need to raise my sock game…

moggerhanger · 04/12/2023 16:56

Verv · 04/12/2023 15:18

The name is new, but it's an Icelandic tradition. We used to do it when I was kid.
It's usually a Christmas Eve gift of some fresh pjs and a book to sit with while drinking a hot chocolate.

I dont really agree that it's a push to spend extra money, because mine was basically xmas gifts divided into two with pjs and a book gifted the night before.

It's sweet and I like it.

Books for the Jólabókaflóð and new pyjamas so the Yule Cat won't eat you. Makes sense if you're Icelandic. I might identify as such, just for Xmas Eve, as I love the idea of a Christmas book flood. If only I could source Brennevin in the UK...

Bleakmidwinter1977 · 04/12/2023 16:58

ghostyslovesheets · 04/12/2023 16:54

hahaha this thread is brilliant - like a dog whistle for the sanctimummies

My eldest is 21 - we have always done it - so no not new and not filled with tat either

usually - Pj's - not Christmas themed , bath bomb, reindeer food (purchased from the school fayre and biodegradable) and a family game (used to be Hungry Hippos and such - now a new set of Cards Against Humanity), chocolate and marshmallows. Usually opened after church (polishes halo) and makes the evening drag less!

Nothing in there is wasteful or wasted

"Nothing is wasteful".

Your children are so fortunate to have reindeer to feed.

Needmorelego · 04/12/2023 16:58

@noooooooo Pokémon socks.
I got her some from Asda instead (or Tesco - I forget which).