Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be mildly vexed that chocolate advent calendars are the norm these days?

212 replies

MoChan · 04/12/2009 13:34

I used to be so excited by my picture one and didn't need chocolate to make it interesting. My step daughter can barely believe they ever existed and clearly can't see the point if there's no chocolate.

OP posts:
santaschristmascakeywakey · 04/12/2009 14:07

PMSL Troutpout!

pagwatch · 04/12/2009 14:11

Its not the chocolate I object too - my DCs will regularly nick stuff that is around at christmas early morning. I have been known to have a small truffle before noon. But that is a whole other thread
It is the lack of anything attractive or christmas-like about them.
I quite like the pocket or drawer type ones where you can put a gift in.
I guess I just don't like spending money on shit.

BendyBob · 04/12/2009 14:13

My dc do have their advent choccy in the morning (after breakfast) But it's only v small. I can't get steamed up about that. It's not as though they're having a cream cake every day.

And they do know the meaning of advent and Christmas so I think we're covered from that angle too.

WorkInProgress · 04/12/2009 14:16

I don't like the chocolate ones either. I am by no means a strict mum, but I just don't like the idea of chocolate every morning, and I used to love the picture ones. What really annoys me is the fact that the picture advent calenders are way more expensive than the chocolate ones - even though they must be cheaper to produce.

Annner · 04/12/2009 14:20

I hate all of the Ben10, Disney, RandomNaffCartoon calendars around. Not even a snowflake in sight, and nothing inside the doors apart from cheap chocolate.

BUT

They reflect the true meaning of Christmas in its modern sense. A countdown to an orgy of materialistic consumerism, that is invariably anticlimactic, when the children will receive more plastic tat based around the characters whose doors they have spent all month opening. They faithfully reflect what Christmas is to many people - and it is not a religious festival.

[Smug icon]
We have a lovely Phooenix Cards Nativity scene that is built up over the 24 days (new character added each morning) and a reusable quilted calendar made by my mother that has chocolate in it. (Opened after school) Two DCs take it in turns to open each one.
Scratches the chocolate itch but the early morning excitement is over whether it will be cow or a sheep going into the stable.

Hulababy · 04/12/2009 14:21

I am sure there were chocolate ones when I was little, and I am 36y now.

If you don't like chocolate ones - don't buy them.

But come on - a tiny bite's worth of chocolate once a day - it really isn't going to be an issue. Children are nt going t be harmed, allergies allowing, be a tiny bit of milk chocolate!

DD actually doesn't have a chocolate one. She has a Playmobil one, so looks forward to a toy every day - ntot much better in that sense is it?

But then, DD get's a bit of chocolate most days anyway.

Undercovamutha · 04/12/2009 14:21

YANBU - I used to love the picture ones. DD has a pocket one that my mum made for her. It is beautiful but it IS filled with chocolate. However, DD has to wait til after lunch to find/have it.
So from about 1pm each day, until about 12.55pm the following day, I get:

  • Mummy is it 4 tomorrow?
  • Mummy shall I just go and find 4?
  • Mummy is it nearly time for 4 now?
  • Mummy shall we do 4 now?
  • Mummy I think we should do 4 now?
  • Mummy, I've got a question Is it 4 time now?

etc etc etc etc etc

LetThereBeRock · 04/12/2009 14:26

YABU.What's wrong with a little bit of chocolate?

OtterInaSkoda · 04/12/2009 14:35

Indeed, Rock. A tiny chocolate of a December morning is a harmless treat. I loved it because it was so out of the ordinary. Chocolate calendars seemed quite exotic in the 70s (I think mine came from family posted in Germany).
Having said that, the crappy branded ones you get in supermarkets are utterly devoid of Christmas spirit. Horrid pictures, crappy chocolate. I'd rather have one with pictures (I used to get excited about them too - they were pretty!).

OtterInaSkoda · 04/12/2009 14:38

Hula did you realise that you had to assemble the Playmobil one? Coz I didn't. And it took me 40 minutes!
Thing is though, despite my being the one who put the thing together, I'm still excited when ds opens the window because I've totally forgotten what's where (and it's only day 4). I am the doziest of dozey arses.

Dorothyredboots · 04/12/2009 14:39

Hasn't this got something to do with the fact that Christmas is a religious festival - the calendars I had as a child had the largest picture for Christmas Day and it was the Nativity. Do you get a bigger chocolate on 25th these days? Seems just a way to make more money to me. I remember my father made me an advent calendar which was a Father Christmas body with a sort of fringe below his ample tummy. The fringe was actually 25 legs and each day I cut one off - he was known as Father Christmas Many-Legs (original huh?)and by Christmas day he was truly legless. This is the only advent calendar I can remember which just goes to show that it is the love and care that really matter. We also had a home made Xmas tree (yes, really it was wires covered with green crepe paper). I am 53 (not a Victorian) in case you are wondering :-)

justaboutisfatandtired · 04/12/2009 14:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

AitchTwoToTangOh · 04/12/2009 14:40

totally agree with your mild irkiness, mo, it's grim. and it's MY MOTHER who buys it! i would have sworn that she'd not succumb, but she has.

in her defence she does get a religious one, but it looks so revolting with the windows open and the contents torn out.

we have another trad one (also bought by my mother, weirdly) and it's gorgeous and twinkly with its funny little pictures poking out.

pagwatch · 04/12/2009 14:42

at justabout.

If i knew they were traditional I would have started one.

PS change your name girl !

PPS It isn't about the chocolate - it is about them being tacky and shit! Buy a nice pretty advent and give them a bar of Lindt over the month

thrifty · 04/12/2009 14:43

lol at troutpout.

hmmm... I'm really split on this one.

every year mil buys ds a choc one, this year he has 2 (in the past she has also bought him a wooden one that you put things in) he has a M&s one and a Ben 10 one (from M&S). The M&S one with santa on,doesnt have any pictures on the inside, at least the ben10 one has a different alien on the inside as well as the shaped choc.

the reason I'm split is because I always wanted a choc one as a kid but never got one (they were around, my friends had them,and I'm 40 now), but we just has the ones with the pictures on. I hadn't seen any picture only ones til we went to the church shop, they seem hard to come by these days.

I'm also split because its great for getting ds to go to sleep with the 'sooner you go to sleep the sooner you open your calendar' line. but then so is the 'father christmas is watching you' line

santaschristmascakeywakey · 04/12/2009 14:52

Father Christmas is watching us all thrifty. So there

justaboutisfatandtired · 04/12/2009 14:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

LilyBolero · 04/12/2009 14:58

I HATE the chocolate ones.

On a point of order, an advent calendar should have 24 doors, NOT 25 - there are 24 days in Advent (which means waiting).

My children know me well enough not to grumble about the lack of chocolate...we have 2 calendars - one bought at our local Spar shop which has a picture of the 3 kings, and a star, and each door has a religious picture and a bible verse. They are VERY excited about the picture each day.

The second is one I made out of material, with pockets, and in each pocket is a tiny tree decoration, with the last 12 being nativity characters - they put one a day on a little artificial tree with lights that we keep in the kitchen, and it really does 'count down to christmas'.

borderslass · 04/12/2009 15:02

We had the picture ones and it was the same ones for years, I was a teenager when we first got chocolate ones and loved it because we hardly got sweets. Even at christmas the selection boxes where kept under strict control by my dad he knew exactly what was there.

SkipToMyLou · 04/12/2009 15:07

Well DS is extremely allergic to milk - problem solved! My DC have always had picture ones, haven't heard a complaint yet.

pagwatch · 04/12/2009 15:19

well justabout can you at least change it too
justaboutisfatandtiredbutstilllovelyandactuallyblooming.

justaboutisfatandtired · 04/12/2009 15:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

MsSparkle · 04/12/2009 15:27

YANBU. I bought a wooden one for my dd and filled it with my own little bits.

I was a bit though that my friend has one for her 8 month old dd. 8 months is a bit young imo for a baby to have chocolate everyday, even if it is only a small amount.

Hulababy · 04/12/2009 15:27

lol Otter - yes, I discovered that the first time we got Playmobil one. Bought this current one second hand and it was all preassembled :D

pagwatch · 04/12/2009 15:30

But all that generalised venom makes me like you all the more Just...

Swipe left for the next trending thread