Shall we talk about Christmas Eve hampers?

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Thought I'd write a list of ideas and then others can too so I can steal my favourite ones.

DVD (Xmas themed or a new one that's just out)
Book (Xmas themed again)
Santa colouring book
Felt tips/crayons for the colouring book

Popcorn
Sweets
Hot chocolate
Marshmallows (for the hot chocolate)
Pringles (my DC seem to think Pringles are a treat so always put some in now)

Santa mug
Santa plate

Board game to be played that day

Pyjamas
Slippers
Dressing gown
Santa socks

Toothbrush
Character bubble bath
Fun soap (I like the play-doh style soap from Lush)
Flannels

This year I was thinking of buying one of those big teddy bear throws from Dunelm and putting everything in it and trying it with ribbon like a big Santa sack. Might get 2 small throws and put them in it so they can cuddle up under one each when we watch the DVD.

Pretty please share what you do and how you 'package' it and deliver it. It's one of my favourite parts of Christmas.

Ours is pretty low key too. New pjs for kids, fancy Xmas bath bomb from lush, kids Xmas magazine and then just treats for us all (ours is family hamper). Treats inc fizz for kids and alcohol too. Apart from pjs and bath bomb, it's literally just stuff I buy in the Xmas shop.

We don't do a Christmas Hamper but DS's Elf friend leaves him a new set of pyjamas, a little Christmas book of some sort and a little note when he (the Elf, not DS) goes off to help Santa on Christmas Eve (cos the old boy needs all the help he can get!)

Then the Elf comes back on Christmas morning , hides along with DS's main present, and leaves a few clues to help DS track him down...

Ours is quite OTT but then the whole of our Christmas is :) dd1 is 4 and dd2 will be 8 months so blissfully unaware

We have:
December 1st hamper; new Pajamas, Christmas craft (make your own snow globe, decorations, finger puppets- whatever else baker Ross have on sale), 2 or 3 Christmas books, Christmas bedding, advent calendars, and sometimes Christmas crockery/cups etc.

Xmas eve hamper; literally stuff for that day, very focused on the 'wind down' - dd was awake from 3 last year starts with the North Pole breakfast! hot chocolate and marshmallows! Christmassy crisps and nuts for the day, reindeer food (bird food with edible glitter) some sort of activity or craft for that day, new DVD (possibly tinker bell pirate fairy this Xmas, or something more xmassy that will enthral her) and.... Think that's it!

I am debating putting the Christmas pudding sacks in with the Xmas eve kit.... But I don't know if they should 'turn up' filled with presents....? What do you think?

In my dds Christmas eve hamper I'm going to put pyjamas, dressing gown, Christmas book, a teddy, some bubble bath and a new toothbrush and tooth paste, I might put some hot chocolate in too and after reading this thread I think I might get the snow man and the snow dog dvd too. Her hamper will be for the evening after she gets home from her dad's

I can't decide if this is insane or utterly brilliant!!

I do like a new pair of PJs...

Think I might have to join the club and give this a go!!!!

Woohoooo!!

Although, I think DH might have a very big hissy fit if I spend anymore money.

What do other DHs think of this Christmas Eve hamper business?

We always had new pyjamas and bubble bath to unwrap on Christmas Eve in Belfast in the 1980s.

How much does it cost?

Advent:
Calendar - reusable one that we already have
Books- already have or borrow from the library
Elf - already have (initially cost £12, I think.
Letter- cost of ink and paper

Christmas Eve:
Pyjamas- reuse old ones if they still fit, otherwise they are something we would need to get anyway.
Bath bomb - around £3
Hot chocolate - from cupboard
Candy cane - in a big pack from Aldi or the pound shop, so pretty cheap.
Thank you cards - depends, but again, we would get them anyway.
Book- have anyway
Dvd- have anyway.

Cooki - I am not sure that DP is even aware that such a thing as a Christmas Eve hamper occurs in our house. He is almost always working on Christmas Eve whereas I am always off . He comes from a culture which doesn't celebrate Christmas so in most Christmassy related matters he just goes along with whatever I plan anyway so he would probably just think that this is what everyone does.

My DH loves it because he gets new pj's.

I did it for the first time last year.

This year new onsie.
Cup that has been hidden away from last year ( so will have forgot)
hot chocolate and marshmallows
craft activity
DVD.which will be Narnia based on fact I put it on top of the fridge and it fell out the bag and DS saw it so it now can't come from Santa.
Reindeer food.

I made mine out of a cardboard box some gift had been delivered in covered in wrapping paper.

DH moans I spend too much/get too much but I just read him some of these lists.

Christmas Eve we have pjs and last year we did duvet sets - not Christmas ones just new ones that I out on whilst they were in the bath. It is the one day of the year that they willingly get in and wash.

I like the advent idea so I think I am going to start that this year but it will have :

Advent calendar
Pack of Christmas cards to send out
Maybe pjs because frankly we always need pjs

QueenAnne I know what you mean - the tale of £1000 on presents on the 'how much do you spend' thread quietened down my lovely DH for a while!!

Cost in our house.
Dd pjs roughly €7 as usually Penneys (Primark). This year is Marks but seriously reduced so onsie and much needed new slippers were €14.
DH pjs roughly €40 as he needs cool cotton to sleep in, but only gets 1 new pair a year. This year, dd spotted nice ones in Gap sale in June (and had money on a gift card from her communion) so €30.
My pjs vary between €7 in Penneys, or treat myself to a lounging comfy pair in Marks for about €30ish. But I only get 2 pairs most years (I treat myself going on summer hols too).

Hot choc - was €7.50 for the 3 this year. I do spend on these for Christmas but use Cadbury powder or Butlers lumps the rest of the year.

Lush bath bombs for dd and I- I think they were about €6 for the 2, but I bought a load the other day and never noticed the price of Christmas ones.

Book, I bought in reduced section of local bookstore when dd was 6 months old (height of summer) and we've read it every Christmas Eve since she was born!

Oh I did get idea marshmallow snowmen las t week, that might make it in. They were 60c!

Where can I get a Christmas cup and plate for my 2 year old? I have had a look online but nothing is jumping out.

We started this last year for dd, although we were at inlaws last year so couldn't do it on Xmas eve itself. We have it as being filled by our elf "jingles".
As a container, I got a lidded box that looks like a treasure chest off ebay. It's extra handy because it's big enough to hold most of the declarations for the rest of the year.
We have Pjs's
A dvd,
Hot choc and marshmallows
Popcorn
Comfy socks
And night before Xmas book to read before bed.
I think we'll be adding reindeer food a toothbrush and bath stuff this year too! :)

Decorations, not declarations!

stargirl Matalan have melamine cups & plates.

I love the Christmas Eve Hampers, actually I just love Christmas Eve - I prefer it to the big day itself. My dc's will be 6, 2 and 4 months and I have been doing it for a few years now. I will put everything into an elf gift bag which will be on doorstep/in porch after we come back from our walk.

My dc's hampers are
New pjs - not Christmas ones
New toothbrushes - found some reduced battery ones in Tesco
Bubble bath - ds getting Buzz Lightyear stuff which comes with a bubble gun and dd is getting Frozen stuff
Expanding face cloths
Finger lights
Chocolate coins/Santa/hot chocolate
Christmas book - I'm going to use one that dc got for Christmas last year

I buy stuff throughout the year in offers so it doesn't really cost much, and it's stuff I would be getting anyway.

cooki3 my dh used to moan about it all the money and that I was going over the top. But he secretly enjoys it all and was pleasantly surprised when he got one last year! Even more surprisingly this year he has been buying stuff for it so he has been converted!

Oo that is a lovely way to include your ds in Christmas celebrations x

This is such a lovely idea - but lots of people seem to be putting more in the hamper than all the presents my DC get (from me and FC) for Christmas Day itself!

I think I prefer the idea of putting the same book/DVD/mugs in every year, and just adding new PJs and some hot chocolate powder.

I think the things would still be special because they only came out once a year, even if they weren't brand new.

I'm with the bah humbuggers here. It's ridiculous the vast amount of stuff, most destined for landfill. Almost vulgar.

Advent hamper, Christmas Eve hamper. Can people not wait until the actual day, Christmas Day that is

We do pyjamas and hot chocolate, and advent calenders, by the way. Alas it's not delivered by an elf or packaged in a hamper

Oh no, Tilly, people do Christmas differently to you. It ought not to be allowed! Down with this sort of thing. The vulgaaaaaaarity.

Just teasing you.

The hampers are heavy on treats to eat with a side order of a DVD, book and pyjamas - not seeing how that's all destined for the landfill?

I used to feel bah-humbug about it all, used to get quite grumpy about Christmas preparations, OTT-ness, landfill burden, Christmas shopping in September, it felt as though I was putting on a facade of Christmas cheer for the DCs when I really wan't bothered about it at all. Then about three years ago I had a bit of a moment when I was all grumpy on Christmas Eve, that it shouldn't be like that, the children weren't going to be young forever and that I ought to embrace the magic. So now I do, I'm planning and preparing from the time they go back to school in September, we have a few extra things that I would previously have poo-poohed (bedding and mugs for example), we have our Advent hamper instead of just a calendar and December is a much more jolly time for me as a result. I don't think it has made a significant addition to what we put in landfill either, it's just an attitude change for me.

We did this, I only buy pyjamas for this if they need them anyway so didn't last year, and toothbrushes and bath stuff usually go in the stocking so ours was:

Christmas mug (same every year) with hot chocolate powder, marshmallows, sprinkles in a jar for ds to make up.

Christmas biscuits (homemade shortbread)

Christmas film for us all to watch

Christmas book (Night Before Christmas usually, as read lots of other Christmas books in the run up)

Reindeer food (oats and glitter)

A new Christmas decoration each for the tree

CBeebies Christmas mag

Slipper socks

And their empty stockings!

I like some of the ideas on here about including Christmas crafts etc. I may well do an advent hamper too this year, because mumsnet made me as usually I'm really disorganised about doing craft stuff and never end up doing as much as I'd like, it sounds like a good way to get all the bits you need together and getting it all sorted in time.

I think it's lovely that people put so much thought into making it so special for their children, I don't see any vulgarity. From reading these lists, it is all stuff which people would have over the Christmas period anyway, just shoved all together in a box with pretty paper.

It is spreading out the enjoyment of things, rather than stuff for the sake of stuff. For instance, my ds loves the Christmas magazine, doing all the stickers and activities, but he wouldn't have time to do it if he got it on Christmas Day, there'd be too much else going on. Reading other people's, most things are things you might put in a stocking, but they get taken more notice of when brought out the night before, when kids just want to get excited about something, even a new flannel will do the trick.

Christmas Eve here used to be a mad rush getting everything baked/wrapped/delivered, but now this gives us a little hook to hang the day up on and makes sure we're all settled down together enjoying it and helps the children wind down before bed.

Christmas is when it is to be a midwinter festival, something to brighten up the darkest months of the year, so drawing out the celebrations past the one day makes sense to me.

whoknowswherethetimegoes your story couldn't be more heartwarming if it had included visits from three ghosts