To feel totally overwhelmed by all the ‘occasions’

[Liverpoolgirl50]

Christmas Eve boxes, Easter bunny presents, ‘boo baskets’, pumpkin picking, Halloween light trails, cake smashes, birthday parties. Jesus it’s like I can’t breathe sometimes.

I swear it’s getting worse too. Every time I go on social media there’s something new. Christmas toy workshops, Halloween kiddy afternoon tea, meet Santa at breakfast, teddy bear picnics at the garden centre, the polar express! I feel totally utterly overwhelmed by it all sometimes.

We are lucky that we can afford to treat our DD but where is the cut off and how much of this stuff is normal and expected now? I’m thankful we only have 1! FWIW, she’s only 2 so we can get away with doing minimal stuff at the moment but are kids going to grow up expecting it?

As a kid we got one Easter egg and were happy 😂

Same here. I have 3 under 5 and most of these activities sound ridiculous

I’m with you OP. I’m grateful my kids are adults and none of this nonsense existed when they were small.
I do enjoy Halloween though and that’s about it!
I remember reading about a ‘North Pole breakfast’ on here. WTF?
Far too many of these North American imports for my liking, Along with your OP, see also baby showers, wedding showers, proms, gender reveal 🤮 etc etc

Get off social media. Think about what’s important to you and make your own traditions. Some small, some a little bigger. Social media is not your friend

I hadn’t heard of boo boxes till this year- madness. Have they always been a thing in America or are they quite new there too?

I have 2 kids 9 and 12. We do Xmas eve boxes, well they share the one box, because I always had pjs on Xmas eve as a child. So they get PJs in theirs but not matching ones- ones that I know my DS will actually wear and ones my DD likes. They also get slippers or socks and a chocolate and we watch a film together eating the chocolate in PJs

ive never done elf on the shelf. It has been getting trickier. With DS, less than half the class did it. With DD, they all seem to have a bloody elf and she’s been gutted she didn’t. She has a toy elf so I moved that about twice just so she could join in with the chats about the elf. It’s annoyed me that it’s such an expected thing now. I don’t even get it- the elf is supposed to make sure the kids aren’t being naughty while being naughty. Also it’s creepy that it watches kids and reports back to Santa. I think it’s a weird concept. and it has a freaky face

I’ve done a couple of breakfasts with Santa but every Santa always looks different so the kids get a bit confused. And both times they’ve not been worth the money.

Easter we do Easter egg hunt from Easter bunny.

Halloween we go pumpkin picking to Tesco and pay £2 instead of £10 and we carve it into the traditional triangles to make a face 😂 I have tried but can’t for the life of me carve anything impressive into a pumpkin

I think a pp has nailed it that if you get them treats all the time they’re not really treats anymore

I know of people who do back to school breakfasts each September too complete with balloons and gifts. And gifts and a decorated table and balloons again for valentines. It’s never ending for some people

Literally none of these things exist in the vast majority of houses. Our DS does a trip to see Father Christmas at the local grotto, then it’s birthday and Christmas presents, tooth fairy visiting his pillow and some Easter eggs.

Forget the elf, Christmas Eve boxes, pumpkin picking and all that American nonsense. And stop judging your worth by social media.

Oh yes, we do birthday parties and cakes, but the rest is not standard! Ignore Facebook and Instagram.

Can't you just ignore it and let others do what they like? Some people love it, others don't.

We did some of those things and not others, you can pick and choose.

As for elf on the shelf, it doesn't have to take loads of time. A friend did it for her kids and she just put it in different places like the Xmas tree, head first into the biscuit tin, amongst the dogs toys etc, took 20 seconds.

Do you get overwhelmed easily by things?

We just do whatever we decide to do just because it is out thetr doesn't mean we have to do it

The problem is you see maybe a dozen friends do one or two of these things with their DC and imagine that everybody is doing everything. Calm down, do what you want and no more. Look at the long game as well (eg if you go overboard with the Tooth Fairy remember your DC has 20 baby teeth).

Gender reveals and baby showers as well OP!

A lot of this stuff is so expensive and my kids haven't appreciated it as much as I thought they would have.

So now our Christmas traditions are
Gingerbread house kit
Going out for a hot chocolate and to buy a new bauble for the tree

Halloween we sometimes have a party with neighbours or a few friends, which is quite fun and quite cheap

I've never done meeting santa, I think my kids would see right through it

You just have to decide what works for your family and what's going to still work when they go to school, otherwise it can get overwhelming, I try and do a mix of free/ cheap plus the odd expensive day out.
Examples,
At Halloween/ bonfire, we see a free local display, do an actual farm pumpkin picking (cheap as it's not a play farm) and trick or treat.
Christmas we choose one light trail, a larger family train trip (my dad's choice) then free activities like visiting the local garden centres, Christmas light switch ones etc, we do the elf but ours is fairly lazy and a nice elf 😂

Your list we do:
Christmas Eve boxes - nope, don't do that.
Easter bunny presents - nope. We give an Easter egg and might go on a local trail
boo baskets’ - never heard of that
pumpkin picking - yes, somewhere local
Halloween light trails - not heard of that, wouldn't go
cake smashes - waste of cake. Bit vulgar imo
birthday parties - dd goes to most she's invited to but not all

I'll add
Naughty elf thing - avoided for years until my gmil bought one for dd. I was lissed off! Did it for one Xmas then lost it. Dd not that bothered though luckily.
Xmas light trails - we go every other year ish as expensive.

It's important to be alright with saying no to things. Just say yes to the things you'll enjoy and have the time and money for.

I will add don't bother with any expensive trips when they're tiny. I remember taking 3 year old dd to the zoo with my sister and her kids. We travelled 2 hrs, paid a fortune and she cried most of the way round and we ended up leaving early. Next day she had a wonderful day on a local field just running about.

I once got caught up in the hype and copied my friends and travelled to peppa pig/ paultons park as all kids love it apparently. My dd just wanted to go in the playground bits really. Paid far too much for Cardboard tasting food when there too.

You do you.

You participate in whatever you want and ignore the rest. I enjoy and do bday parties so I go all out. For Easter we may go to an egg hunt but that’s more like every other year; no Easter basket bs here either (Easter is too close to the bday so no need for more crap). We do Xmas gifts and that’s about it.

I get it. I don’t want to buy in to the majority of this shite but it’s hard when their pals are all talking about it.

For me it undermines and spoils special occasions to have 'special' things all the time. I decided we are minimalist/ conscious consumers. And mostly even older kids are pretty accepting of 'we don't do that'.

We do: Bdays at home with home-made cake and 4 gifts (want/ need/ wear/ read). Easter is one large Easter egg (and mountains from the grandparents we hide!). Christmas is advent calendar, 1 Christmas Eve activity like decorating cookies, and on the day 1 big present and 10 small presents from Santa. Halloween is whatever their daycare organises and a couple of decorations and currently giving out lollies at home. We'll do ad-hoc other things but I won't commit to traditions.

Halloween costumes and a party which involves eating trick or treat stuff and doing a few games. 1 visit to Santa. A trip to the city on the bus to post Santas letter in the big box. An egg left outside the bedroom door at Easter and sometimes a hunt around the garden. That's about it really! None of them are commercial except Santa as we sometimes book an 'experience'. In truth we have plenty time and money so could go for all the fads but we choose not to.

I completely agree

Friggin Halloween next, Christmas, Nye ☠️ Valentine's, birthdays, Easter, mother's day, fathers day

It goes on and on and on

I totally agree op. All this shite has come about with the advent of social media I'm so glad my dc are getting older as I hate all the pressure and expectation to do all this. Tbh I've never done elf on the shelf or Xmas eve boxes.
A friend of mine was very happy with herself that she'd bought her young dc a large easter egg which was lovely only to then see on fb all the ott easter balloon arches and dress ups that other parents had done. it really upset her and made her feel rubbish, comparison is the thief of joy and all that. she had to come off social media.
I myself am not on social media for this very reason.
it seems more and more things are coming about each year, the halloween lights trails seem to be a thing now too, its just becoming endless. I really miss the simpler times of years ago which were much more relaxed and enjoyable.

My friend practically lives on Facebook and buys into all this crap. I keep on telling her to wean herself off of it as she makes herself ill by constantly comparing herself and her life to what she sees online.

Your child is two, so pick and choose what YOUR family traditions will be. A couple of examples:
We have a school nearby that goes all out for firework night. There is a disco (very loud) food court (very crowded) and a wonderful firework display. Years ago I realised that if we drove to a field nearby we could enjoy the fireworks but would not have to contend with all the noise and crowds. We sit in the back of our truck, take a picnic along, and enjoy. My kids love it more than anything else.
My son is allergic to dairy and we live in a country where dairy free advent calendars are hard to come by, so I came up with an alternative-we have 24 little stockings filled with R.a.c.k. cards (random acts of Christmas kindness) and a sweet for each of the kids. When they were small they loved reading what the mission of the day was, and they really enjoyed completing it. (They are now 18 and 20 and don't get out of bed till noon so aren't really that bothered about advent calendars of any kind lol)
We also do Xmas eve, mince pies and sausages rolls which are only ever eaten hot, straight out of the oven. If there are leftovers, noone seems to eat them, and they end up being eaten by the dog or the chickens.

WTF is a “boo basket” ?🥴🤯

Of she's only 2 ignore it all,but yes I found this time of year felt busy once at school and in activities. Back to school,Bonfire night ,Halloween, then Christmas. Save your energy until they ask to join in.

Life is a series of occasions, then one day it'll be over, why not enjoy the ride