Christmas Eve boxes - what’s in yours?

[Orangeorganic]

Exactly that - what do you put in your kids Christmas Eve boxes, if you do them?
DD8 has got a book, some Christmas bath bombs, Christmas themed chocs/sweets, little bits like scented pencils from smiggle and a nail art pen set. DS5 has got a book, a sticker book, colouring in book, bath bomb, Christmas themed chocs

I'm sorry a DOZEN each!? I'm not the sugar police by any means, I actually have a very sweet tooth but that sounds like a recipe for a huge crash.

Night before Xmas book (had for years)
Other Xmas book (from vinted)
Bubble bath liquid
Little craft,
Hot chocolate stirrers for all of us
A mug (she's now old enough for one)
All our stockings

I'd never heard of Xmas eve boxes til today. Is it a regional thing?

Love this 😆 We shake jingle bells outside the window which gets the kids to scarper up to bed pronto! Last year we got a neighbour to do it so the kids really didn't suspect it had anything to do with us. Quite magical! Age 5 and 2.

Sorry meant to say Elf on the Shelf not Rod!

I used to do Christmas Eve Hampers but now do Dec 1st Boxes .

My DS is 26yo . My DD is 23yo
I do not , never have been or ever will do , use Insta or any other social media ( only MN)

CEH:
annual
pyjamas (winter ones not Christmas)
bath bomb
sachet of hot chocolate
small pack of mini biscuits
selection box
Just to calm them down after doing things on Christmas Eve

Stockings were little toys and a few sweets to keep them busy at 5am

Mine do a Dec 1st box now to get a full month of use from
Toiletries , make up/nail polish (for DD)
Pyjamas
Loungwear for DS
Socks/underwear for DS ( his next years worth)
Things they need and use , not land fill tat .

I choose to do these , they add to the fun of Christmas , if other people don;t then pfft up to them. But I hate the sneery arched eyebrow replies Is this a THING ?

The OP clearly says IF YOU DO THEM.
These threads are always overrun with people falling over themselves to show that they couldn't do something so crass, chavy and commercialised as Christmas eve boxes or elf on the shelf 🤮
😂

It's a growing trend of the last 5yrs or so, give or take.

We don't do them but I did toss a mini activity book and novelty pencil at each child this morning, and gave them a hot chocolate mid-afternoon. Kinda similar I guess?!

Whisky and pork pies in mine.

Our elf leaves the Christmas Eve box when they return to the North Pole, this year we had:

Christmas Pyjamas
Soft toy
Book
Crayola colour in light up snowman
Lego Baubles
Magic key
Letter from Father Christmas encouraging him to go to bed early 😂

We have an only child and there are so few years that he’ll believe in the magic I want to make it as magical as I can for him while he believes!

They are all older (13, 15, 18). They won't eat them all in one go. Plus being vegan we don't have tubs of chocolate and dessert.

We don't do them but if we did it would be new sleepwear and one of those hot chocolate things specifically for wearing/drinking during the traditional Christmas Eve film.

Stuff like bath bombs and chocolate go in their stockings. I find stockings really hard to fill, stuff needs to be small enough to fit in without it all being tat or an absolute ton of chocolate. This year I've gone for temporary tattoos, a stretchy santa, bath bombs and some chocolate. A bit of tat, some useful things and the essential pre breakfast chocolate. I usually do fluffy socks but realised I've forgotten this year.

Rod on the shelf 😆
I think ours now has a new name.

The OP said IF you do them, can people not read or do they just want to spread their misery. Or is it virtue signalling? 🥱

This year

Pyjamas and fluffy socks
Popcorn
Chocolate
Sweets
Book
Board game
Warmie
Face mask
Scratch cards (older kids)

EotS was 2005 and the original idea was 1974 ( the author did for her own DC) so it's been around a while .

CEH were around when my DC were little ( 26&23 now)

New pyjamas and some cookies and a couple of nets of chocolate coins. I also have a Christmas tree Lego set I put in every year. Eldest DD builds it every year. I also put in their stockings and our Santa plate.

Christmas PJ’s (that they’ve been wearing all month). Their stockings, the board for FC’s treats, the Santa Key for the tree and two beautiful pop up versions of the night before Christmas.

Exactly…along with baby showers…overseas hen nights…engagement parties…work collections for a colleagues child’s 18th/21st/30th/ 40th/divorce etc etc etc!
And school proms….what the fuck are they all about?

I can't remember when they became a thing but it feels weird when they're getting presents tomorrow.

We did follow the Icelandic tradition (supposedly) of getting a new book and reading on Christmas Eve for a bit but we now have other commitments on Christmas Eve night so we haven't bothered.

I made one for my Mum which she's opened - it had a little bottle of prosecco, a mini Christmas cake, a small box of lindt chocolates, a Six the Musical pen, Christmas slippers, a short story by Freida McFadden, a hot chocolate stencil and a scratch card :)

For those who have asked if people do the boxes as well as the stockings I do both.
I don't buy any more than I usually would though, as I posted earlier I put pj's socks, hot choc and teddy in the box so they can use them Christmas eve and build up to Christmas day then in the stockings i just put a few of the smaller gifts instead of putting them in their sacks or on the pile.
The only extra cost was buying the boxes which I think were £3.99 from Aldi and are reused every year.

I was working today so put some bits in it to keep her amused, sticker book and activity pack. A lot of things we reuse every year, santa plate (had a cookie making set that we've just done ready to go on said plate), a puzzle, a buzzer game, a letter writing set so she does a thank you to Santa. Has her new pyjamas, a bath bomb and sponge ready for a calming bath and the night before christmas book that we read every year. She's been so good playing away while I worked.

Mine are late teens to young adults but I do a new pair of pj’s (not Xmas ones), socks or slippers, and a drink/snack. They are not that new a thing as I’ve been doing them at least 13 years, the same boxes are reused each year. Any girlfriend/boyfriend staying over gets the same squeezed in the box for them too.

However these days they don’t open them til they get in, and the stockings are already filled by this point too and I’m in bed. But they still love it and I will continue it as long as they want me to.

My eldest is an adult now and I used to do Christmas Eve box with PJs, hot chocolate stirrer and some nice biscuits with a dvd to watch and homemade bath bombs because I’d make them as gifts for colleagues. I don’t do them anymore because everything is so expensive but I do miss doing them.
One of my friends put a hamster in hers for her DD as a christmas present (obviously her DD had been asking for a hamster) and I always thought that was a lovely way for her to meet her hamster.

We do one for the whole family - it has a new game, the stockings to hang up, a set of temporary tattoo pens, hot chocolate supplies and we do secret Santa so the kids don’t have to buy for every one so those go in as well. 😊