Christmas things not worth doing

[charlieinthehaystack]

you know the things you think you have to do then after you think why on earth did i bother?
many a time i have spent hours carefully putting the stickers on toys bikes etc to complete it then two minutes after kids open it all the stickers are ripped off!
you risk life and limb not to mention driving miles to get that toy that your youngster has begged for along with most of the kids in the UK but on Christmas day its played with for 2 minutes then discarded never to be seen again
similar to above you have that one guest you want to impress/who is awkward so you spend ages finding food you know they like at great expense then find out when they visit they no longer like it!

One4all voucher then

I'm not going to lie, we do a lot and we get a lot out of all of it. Elf on the Shelf is a big hit in my house, my 10 year was getting excited about him coming the other day (would have thought he's grown out of it by now, but apparently not).

The one thing that feels a bit of a waste of money are those Christmas light shows as they're always a underwhelming, but on the other hand, it's a good activity to meet up with friends, so I'll definitely do it if others want to.

🤣🤣🤣

I think it’s a bit sad that so many people don’t send cards anymore. I love getting them.

My mum used to spend the days before Christmas in my child hood icing things and baking things and becoming increasingly exhausted and stressed. We weren't allowed to eat any of these things but then on Christmas day we were too full of lunch to eat mince pies etc and she would get really cross.Evety bloody year.
When my father was very frail from Parkinsons she texted everyone to say that she was very sorry but she wouldn't be making Christmas cake that year. Hurray and praise the baby Jesus. I love icing and marzipan but Christmas cake is too rich and claggy and absolutely vile. She was really surprised that no one was remotely bothered thst there was no cake.

Light trails! If I m paying over £100 for a family activity I expect it to last all day, not 30 minutes.

😂

Seeing my relatives who I never see at any other time of the year and who I don't really get on with. In fact, my cousin's husband and my husband nearly had a fight the year before last and that was after we'd driven for 2 hours to get there. Never again. I just want to close the door and stay the fuck inside, let the kids relax by the fire, play with their toys and for us as a family to have a peaceful, relaxing time. I do NOT want to trek around the country in the pissing, freezing rain seeing people who aren't really very nice to me, at the one time of the year I need to have a break. It's not fun, it's not relaxing, it's not in the Christmas spirit, everyone is tired and grumpy and wishes they were also at home.

And not ...
be a mud bath
Have a load of noisy ,drunk parents in the overpriced ' Santa's special hostelry'.
Have enough space that you can actually enjoy it.
Have a staff cabin so you don't run into 'elves' having a fag round the back of Santa's grotto.

I'd say Christmas eve boxes are pretty unnecessary. I still do one every year, but I know it's not as big of a deal to the kids as it is to me. But it's tradition now, plus my sons birthday is Christmas eve so it's a the perfect way to transition from birthday fun to Christmas fun in the evening. If we didn't have his birthday we wouldn't bother.

City centre Christmad markets are grim for sure.

Every year we woukd take the school children to a panto in the last week of term. It was the most perfect way possible to ensure that,if you hadn't already got flu or noro virus , you certainly would have by the end of the day. So many Christmasses ruined by the germ soup of school trips

All of it except for the food. I love the food 😆

Christmas Eve boxes, bloody elf and the Coca Cola truck.

Anyone doing these things for social media purposes. Matching PJs for the family, buying new decs each year (mine are 16 years old, which I bought when I bought the tree for my home), putting the decs earlier each year, XE Boxes, posh advent calendars etc. Please, stop and think, you are just pleasing SM people.

• Crappy UK Christmas city centre markets (bit keener on some of the german/nordic ones)
• Cooking EVERYTHING from scratch. One year I made everything from scratch down to proper puff pastry for my mince pies, melting gelatine leaves for jelly, two types of stuffing etc. Nearly had a nervous breakdown and no one appreciated it any more than if I'd got everything oven ready from the supermarket
• too many decorations all over the plasce which I was putting up out of habit and are a pain to take down. This year I am just doing a tree, wooden advent calendars on fireplace, and one big green thing on the bannister. Once you have tree lights and a couple of candles it looks cosy enough anyway

Christmas themed clothing, it’s a total waste of money.
Winter wonderlands and Christmas markets. They are overcrowded and overpriced.
Christmas dinner

I love a panto. We started going when our eldest was 1, and this year she's 19. It's evolved from keeping the dcs entertained with snacks and the spinning lights they sell to having pre drinks in the bar.

We stopped buying for adults in the family, which has taken a massive load off. I've also gone from buying a sea of presents for DC to a handful of nicer gifts.

There's a lot I refuse to do - Elf on the shelf is never setting foot in our house for instance. We don't do Xmas Eve boxes don't know when that suddenly became a thing.
I don't do chocolate advent calanders starting the day on chocolate seems bonkers to me.

Christmas dinner, never really been a fan of the roast and we’ve always had too much wine/chocolate before it’s served to really appreciate it.

elf on the shelf. I did do it but refused to do the crazy things, instead just moved it about so they had to find him. Even that was annoying.

Christmas pjs though - I do those because my grim children will appear in something disgusting like underwear and an oodie that’s seen better days so it’s nice to have them opening presents in something that makes me feel they are vaguely presentable 😂

Agreed.

Cost of postage the killer. RM could do a special stamp just for Xmas cards for 50p - instead of 85p for second class. I bet there would be more than 1.7 times more cards sent through the post.

One friend is driving the 120 mile trip to hand deliver the cards to about 10 relatives and family friends. The cost of the petrol is cheaper than 10 or so stamps. A bit of strategic planning of which order to deliver. Knows the first and last ones are.

I’m always a bit sad when we hardly get any, then I remind myself that I have never bothered sending them since primary school so I shouldn’t be surprised really!

Gingerbread houses. Yes they look cute, but where do they go? What kid likes that amount of gingerbread? they only like picking the sweets off. It goes soggy. And it's a sticky pain to make.

Whenever I sell a book of stamps and have to tell the purchaser the cost, I always add that it would be cheaper to go round and shout the news through their letterbox.

Christmas markets
Matching pyjamas - seem so wasteful especially if they’re only worn Christmas Eve and so cheesy there’s endless photos over my social media of these families in them and it just seems a bit forced
Christmas Eve boxes and 1st December boxes
tbh most stuff that feeds into consumerism