Chocolate advent calendars - am I being scrooge?

[Hadeda]

DDs love those chocolate advent calendars. I'm not so keen...

1. Not keen on them having a chocolate a day for 24 days, and overloaded with sweet stuff at that time of year anyway.

1. Advent calendars are meant to be a count down to the "big day" - i.e. day Jesus was born. So the message is not really "chocolate sweets chocolate" (we are a religious family, this fits in with family views anyway so doesn't surprise the DC).

I prefer to get advent calendars with a picture behind each door, and you can find really lovely ones.

BUT.... am I being scrooge? Should I just get the chocolate one since they really do love that, and see if I can find one with a vaguely relevant picture (i.e. not Frozen!). Or stick to my guns and hope they grow up with lovely memories of pretty calendars rather than vowing their own children will get the chocolate calendar cos their mum was mean and never bought it...!!

vvviola both Tesco and Sainsburys have dairy free ones out already, sainsburys have their own brand and "moo free" brand. They also have dairy free selection boxes.

We don't have them either, I don't give them chocolate anywhere near daily so wouldn't change that for December.
We have a Christmas tree felt advent calendar that you hang an ornament on each day, and a playmobil one which we reuse each year. Oh yes, house of the cheapskates right here!

The chocolates are tiny! You can get them in the poundshop. Light sn advent candle too, all avenues covered.

I say the above but this year we have bought beauty ones for dds and playmobil for ds.

we have the wooden box sort that we fill every year.

lego men fit nicely, as do little poems that I write such as:

'10 days to Christmas, lets get it right
make Christmassy the place to spend the night
todays the day to strip your bed
and a Christmas duvet on it I will spread.

I'm available all year :-)

Ah books thats cute!

We have always had picture calendars, but last year they were given chocolate ones from our village church. They had a small chocolate behind each door and a few words from the Christmas story.
The younger dcs had 'The real advent calendar' printed on them and were fair trade. Dd1 and Ds1 were from 'Divine' which I think are also are also fair trade.
We still got them picture ones as well as I love the old fashioned ones.

The paper ones are twice the price (at least) of the standard chocolate ones!

As nice as it to try and focus on the true meaning of Christmas with pictures only - I was only allowed the paper ones as a child and I still turned out as an atheist chocoholic, so make of that what you will!

I second pp buy a Real Advent Calendar.

We did the picture ones when they were little, for the reasons you've said, they often do nice ones in Oxfam.

I relented on the chocolate last year, and let DD2 (11) have the Divine fair trade chocolate one. I think DD1 chose a picture one anyway.

I have already bought a chocolate one ....... For ME' they didn't do them when I was a kid and I had to share one paper one with my two sisters (and we had to lick the road clean!)

I know it seems really stupid but we didn't have chocolate advent calendars when I was a child and I really felt I was missing out. I'm not sure why it seemed like such a big thing, but it did.

I remember just having picture calendars as a small child, I still found it exciting opening the doors but once we started having chocolate ones it was much more exciting. My kids are not too bothered, they eat chocolate everyday ( biscuit or cake in their lunch boxes ), some days they forget to even open their calendars. This year we have bought a garland with little stockings to put our own things in, I am going to put chocolates in some and things like rubbers, pencils etc... In the others.

If your Dd loves them, then she must have had them before so it's a bit mean to suddenly change your mind! Honestly, it's a teeny bit of chocolate and you can still do the religious aspect in other ways.

I think have the choccie calendar - if you can find a more tasteful/religious one then great, but it's really only a small part of Christmas and an even smaller quantity of chocolate.

FWIW I asked for one of those miniature chocolate dispensing money boxes every year for Christmas when I was kid and my mum always refused to get me one on the grounds they were 'tat'. I still haven forgotten that and I'm now 40 goes off to add said contraption to Amazon wishlist

I get us a chocolate one each, for me, ds1 and DH. Ds2 is too small this year (7mo) but will have one next year. I have never understood the MN objection to chocolate advent calendars, it's a countdown with chocolate, what's not to like?!
I also get a tea one, which I like. One year I did small presents, but that just felt like too much present overload. And one year I did an activity one, with fun things to do every day. I hated it, it felt really forced and half the time nobody felt like "have a Hot chocolate with marshmallows / play a Christmas game/ " etc etc.
I'll stick with chocolate !

Tea one? Do tell

I hate them. But part of that is because DD2 is allergic to dairy and it seems impossible to get a dairy free one when I realise it's two days to Advent and I haven't bought them

There's load of dairy-free advent calendars around now.

www.hollandandbarrett.ie/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=6240&prodid=7154

www.moofreechocolates.com/dairy-free-chocolate/products/christmas-chocolates/dairy-free-advent-calendar.php

www.moofreechocolates.com/dairy-free-chocolate/products/christmas-chocolates/dairy-free-advent-calendar.php

www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Choices-Celtic-Dairy-Free-Advent-Calendar/201267011

We dont have chocolate calendars here, I just love traditional advents and it really doesnt matter. Regardless of how much chocolate they have, i dont think thats the point, but its very nice to have a traditional calendar. I have one that sticks on the window and the pictures inside are on acetate so its like a stained glass! Thats my favourite

We don't have them as the kids don't like the chocolate in them. However, we have our own reusable one that I put chocolate into for them. As a 'religious' family I am aware that advent, like lent, is meant to be a time for fasting and preparation. So we actually do that through November - save up all the money we would have spent on puddings, sweets, eating out, etc and the kids save 1/3 of the pocket money. We then go in December and use the money we saved to buy a toy for the local Christmas appeals for children who won't get a present this year. Then we participate in Advent like everybody else.

I just wanted to add after reading some of the comments that missing out on a tiny piece of chocolate won't cause long resentment! Also it's not only once a year it's 25 days! It doesn't matter really if you do or don't but really kids won't be that upset!

We've been in NZ for the past 3 years squiggle, where only one shop near us sold them and if I didn't get there before the middle of November, I had no hope. I'm hoping this year will be a lot easier now we're back over this side of the world. Holland & Barrett already saved Easter

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1563055473/ref=mpssa112?qid=1447275357&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=advent+calendar+book+set&dpPl=1&dpID=6144G3529HL&ref=plSrch

This is a set of books that tell the Christmas story. I got it when it was about £4. I use an advent calendar with pockets and put a book in each day with an activity, little toy or sweet.

Wow! Lots of ideas here, thank you!

I take the point on the chocolates only being small. I guess it feels like wall to wall sweets and choc from October to early Jan with Halloween, school fair (inevitable bottle tombola full of sweets), end of year parties/take home bags from each activity etc etc. I'm sounding like Scrooge again aren't I...?!

They did have one last year, but not from me. Our lovely nanny bought them each a Frozen (!!!!!) advent calendar. She has moved on now, so it is up to me to decide...

I think I'll show the girls the Real Advent calendar and the picture calendars online and let them choose. And I will not moan if they go for the chocolate one! But we can add in some things to do with Advent - I like the idea of an Advent candle and we could decorate a stand for that with pine cones/leaves collected from a walk together to burn off all the chocolate

We're having one of each-the dc have agreed to take turns having chocolate one day and picture the next.
I predict I will have bought another chocolate one by the 4th!