Christmas eve hampers

[hippyhippo88]

I have only heard of CEH recently by reading threads on here. How many of you do these? I know some People see it as 'spoiling' Children but others don't. I am thinking of doing one this year for my Sons (5 & a half / youngest will be nearly 3 at xmas) Please share your ideas as i am unsure what to put in them. Do you think it would be best to do them one each or one to share?
Thanks in advance

We went for a walk in the afternoon & I popped back to check backdoor locked . When we got home there was one big cardboard box which had been covered in xmas paper. In it was our "Santa.stop here sign", Arthur.Christmas DVD, snowman soup, pop corn,.crisps, new pyjamas for them both, a snowman.shaped soap I found on the market, a bottle.of matey bubble bath, reindeer food. I think that was it. They'd have got most of that on Christmas day anyway so it's just staggering it. Oh & some sweets.

My CEH comes from our elves. (Elf on the shelf idea but my own toy elves) Because it's the elves last day with us, they bring a gift, usually some PJs to wear on Christmas eve so they look reasonable in the photos on Christmas morning and a dvd or something to do on Christmas eve, and some "magic" reindeer food. (porridge oats with a bit of glitter in it) There's a poem somewhere about sprinkling it on the ground and it magically lights up so Santa knows where to come.

Were doing it this year, some people do say its spoiling but I only put things in that id buy him anyway, im putting in my ds (3)

Christmas pj's
Christmas slipper socks
Dressing gown
Bubble bath
Christmas story book
Christmas dvd
Hot choc sachet & Christmas mug
Cookies
Santa's key
Reindeer food
Goodbye letter from our elf.

Im planning to have it left in his room when we ho uo for his bedtime bath, im adding battery powered fairy lights so it will be twinkling in his dark bedroom im also going to sprinkle elf dust (glitter) around it.

Some people might think it's mad... but who cares, its a biy of festive fun x

It's not spoiling them, it's a way of easing them gently into Christmas proper,/ For mine it says "OK start winding down for bed"
Ours will be 14 and 11.6 at Christmas and I do CEH, stockings and presents.

Teen/PreTeens presents are tiny and ££. So the pile looks scant when you compare it to the huge boxed presents they had as 4 yo DC.

CEH - they need new PJs so why not then
Hot chocolate, a jar of sweets, a bath bomb.

Stockings are little useful things to open at 6am.

What a great idea! Never heard of this before but guess too late for mine at 17 and 14 - although my very young 14 year old DD still "believes" (well, she doesn't want me to confirm to the contrary ... ) so may appreciate a CEH

I do one hamper between the two DCs (though with doubles of everything apart from the DVD). It has a Christmas film (for a few quid on ebay), Xmas chocs, something like Xmas socks or a Xmas mug and then a couple of craft things from Poundland or similar. The window gel stickers were the best ones - all from Poundland or one of those pop-up Xmas shops... the whole hamper costs only about a tenner and it keeps them quiet aaaaaaaall day :o

How I stage ours is that we go out for a walk or to the church crib service, I nip back to check the door (as previous poster said!) and sprinkle reindeer food or fake snow, put out the hamper (one between two DCs) and hide the elf. I also give a set of bells (like sleigh bells) a big shake so the DCs hear it and get excited.

The elf leaves a note to say he or she (I forget which) has gone off with Father Christmas but left the hamper for them for being good.

Hamper itself is a wrapped box (reusable ) containing:

Christmas PJs, slippers, dressing gown
Christmas DVD
"Night Before Christmas" book
Reindeer food
Christmas chocolate

I have done these for my DS since they were 6 and 12, I didn't do one this year for my eldest who is now 21, and he was so upset, he said that I'd ruined his Christmas, as it was his favorite part!!

I will make sure to do one this year

I still do this for DS now when he comes for Chtistmas.
He's 35 married and has an 18 year old if his own :)

This year I have already bought matching onsies for DDil and him :)

Usually now it's a bag if flumps, for him some nice Chicago for her.

Some beer for him and a bottle if wine for her

And I've bought a Mr & Mes type game to go in

Sure there will be a few things added before the day too

Chicago! That was suppose to be wine!

I don't think it's spoiling either. It's only what DS would get to open the next day anyway.

This way, he's already dressed in new pyjamas and dressing gown for the morning and any photo's we take.

That's about it really. New Pyjamas, slippers, dressing gown if necessary (usually every other year if I buy a big one), new soft toy, new book for story time, possibly a film.

We were always allowed to open our Christmas presents from our Nana on Christmas Eve because it was her birthday so we always went for tea. She would open her birthday presents, we would have tea, then she would give us her presents for us and we'd give her ours for her and she'd open them. It was always really nice and so it's nice to carry that tradition on a little bit.

I think it spreads the presents out a bit, it's not extra, it's what he'd get anyway and it's nice to spread them out a bit so he has time to open things and appreciate them bit by bit. It adds a bit to his excitement and means it's not all packed into one day.

My DD is 3 so i am including a couple of those ickle baby bot bath fizzies from lush. they are filled with lavender and chamomile to help her sleep.

I'm also adding a santa key,
a xmas dvd,
reindeer food,
a box of roses for us all to get stuck into during the movie,
my peppermint double hot chocolate in a decorated jar,
pj's,
slippers,
Lush ickle baby bot
night before xmas book
letter from elf