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

[MoChan]

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.

wonderstuff, any of the card shops/stationary shops.
We got a nice one from Sussex Stationers - but I doubt that's a national chain.
I saw nice ones in hallmark too.

fuzzy Does DD feel she misses out not having an advent calendar of some sort at all? (Presumably her friends have one whether it be paper, felt, wooden, chocolate etc)

edam how old is your DS? Does he have a non-choc advent calendar or none at all? Do you have a real or artificial tree? We get a real one but would worry if we waited until Christmas Eve to get one they would all be sold out.

arghhhelp Are you very religious? Just wondered cos if a priest isn't bothered that the days on an advent calendar don't correspond to the "real" days of advent then you can probably get away with having one

These days?

Everyone I went to school with had a chocolate advent calender from Woolworths, including me. There was only one poor kid whose parents wouldn't let her be normal, and she had to try to get excited about a picture instead. We all felt very sorry for her.

YANBU

I was one in a family of 4 kids.

We reused the SAME pictures only advent calendar shared between the 4 of us for my entire childhood and we LOVED it

I swear this is true

"be normal" ?

The pictures are exciting, and the pictures in the chocolate ones are crap. Ds is 18 months and has been really interested in the picture.

Chocolate ones are banned from my house, I don't care if anyone feels sorry for him, there's no need, quite the opposite.

YANBU

WHSmith do chocolate-free ones

Jasper - there were only 2 of us but we always had a competition to see who could remember what was behind each window!! I loved that Advent calendar and do not feel deprived or not 'normal'!!

Mine have chocolate ones and they have them first thing in the morning. I figure give them the sugar and then they can work it off at school/nursery! They don't get home till almost bedtime and I don't want them having chocolate just before bed when it could send them hyper.

So given that this thread seems to have gone down the choc-fest v tasteful wooden one with little drawers - I am going to be pilloried by both sides! I could not find (only looked briefly if I'm honest - already sick to back teeth of xmas shopping) a choc free one so DS and I made one. Has no windows just boxes for each day and stickers to put on to indicate how many sleeps until father Christmas. He's only 3 so has no concept that I am depriving him of chocolate and it did give us an excuse to shake copious amounts of glitter everywhere again.

It's not posh though. Do I fail totally or is mine the Third Way?

OFGS who cares - the chocolate is about the size of a fingernail and is in festive shapes and it brightens up their mornings.

The DSs have Ben 10 chocolate ones and DD (age 12) loves her Tinkerbell choc one.

I find it a very good bribe for dark winter mornings when they don't want to get out of bed - 'no chocolate until you're dressed, washed and breakfasted'. Have noticed a definite increase of speed in the mornings and they can walk it off in about 30 seconds from the size of the chocolate on the walk to school .

Nappyaddict - it isn't exactly that we are very religious - although we do go to church. But my husband a) likes arguing and b) rather dislikes the commercialisation of advent and c) has an intellectual objection to "Advent"calendars which actually do not correspond to Advent. It is more an intellectual snob thing than a fervently Christian thing .

I will wait till DS is big enough to care and then indulge him from time to time with sentimental crap (this is the tradition from my side of the family )