Christmas Eve sack (pudding bin bag) is overflowing because of this thread

[Chillywhippet]

Christmas Eve goodies are in a home bargains Christmas pudding bin bag

new pjs
Hot Chocolate stirrers from Lidl
Christmas pasta from Lakeland
Lindor milk, dark and orange
Paddington DVD and Tom and Jerry Nutcracker DVD
Family puzzle
Night before Christmas pop up book (Robert Sabuda)
Tolkein's Letters to Father Christmas
White Stuff Winter candle

Thanks everyone

Ooh DVD! You've reminded me!

My DC always have a delivery on Christmas Eve from the Elves. They've got new pjs, a mug which I have to fill with chocolate still, they've also got a tin of Elf sweets and a small doll each.

I find it's a great way to distract and calm them weirdly....having a taste of the joys to come is lovely.

Fuck me that's the Christmas Eve haul? That's a lot of stuff. Why 2 DVDs? Why chocolate as well as hot chocolate? Who is the candle for? That load must have cost you about £40!?

Ha ha the candle is for me/us. The chocs go in a dish on the mantelpiece for us all to share. We always have a puzzle to share.
The DvD are for us to watch together Christmas Eve.

I guess I could hold it back and put stuff in people's present piles but it saves on the wrapping and spreads the joy

Our Christmas Eve box has:

• Santa's key for the front door
• reindeer food (oats, glitter, those lurid multicolored cheerio things)
• toothbrushes
• chocolate lollies
• baileys for me and DH
• Lindt chocolate for me and DH
• their stockings
• night before Christmas book

They're still very young, last year they got PJ's which they still wear now so avoiding those again.

Ours is ready.

New PJs for the whole family (traditional in our house).
Our old copy of Twas the Night before Christmas.
DDs stocking (also old)
Lush bath bomb - Santa running
Bag of hot choc mix (larger group than normal so need enough for any/all who want some - it's normally 3 of the "lump of choc on a wooden spoon to melt into hot milk" variety)
Santa please stop here sign (also old, and needed the years we travel to DPs/DPILs)
Santa plate and glass for snack for Santa and the reindeer (also old - DD wasn't interested in using them earlier in December this year)

There will be a festive hot water bottle, but it's already in use (also a couple of years old) so that will be popped in on Christmas Eve morning when packing the car.

I MAY, IF I get the time, get a Christmas beer for DH to go in as well. Just haven't had the time this year. It happens sometimes, but is not obligatory.

I've overdone the Xmas Eve thing this year! My DCs will have a onesie (big hero 6 for DS, minions for DD), a jigsaw (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Jolly Postman book, the free Stick Man activity book which my mum picked up for us, and colouring pens as they needed replacing anyway. We usually put a DVD to watch, but as we are staying at mum's, I know dad will be hogging the telly, and we won't be able to watch it! It's an old cartoon my DH loved (Quest for Camelot) and we might keep it instead for Xmas Day, as we will have to come home fairly early due to DH working Boxing Day. So I'm hoping we can snuggle up and watch it when we get home after the DCs have opened the presents we are leaving here. Although they may be too excited by those to want to watch anything!

Also the DCs each get a tree decoration every year. I'd given up on finding any nice ones this year but saw some yesterday for 50p each in Asda! Just a simple wooden one but in their favourite colours. They hang them on the tree before bed. This year the DCs have an individual present from Santa which is wrapped (usually he only brings things to share), but I can't use the tags to label them as the DCs have seen them so it'd give the game away. I'm wondering about tying one end some curling ribbon to the decorations and taping the other end to their gift, so they can follow the ribbon to the correct present. (Basically because I can't be arsed to go and buy different name tags.)

Mine have got:

Arthur Christmas DVD
Popcorn
Hot chocolate sachets and marshmallows in their mugs
Night before Christmas book (every year)
New toothbrushes
Bottle of beer for us Father Christmas
Couple of mince pies that we've made

They also have new pyjamas as they need them, but I'll probably put them on their beds for them to find after their bath.

at the outrage why chocolate as well as hot chocolate? what happens if you ingest both at once? TOO MUCH FUN?!

It's Christmas, not a meeting of Puritans. Bring on the merry

Haven't even considered Christmas Eve as a thing. And we have DHs family as guests. Sigh. I've spent SO MUCH MONEY on Christmas this year and all we will have to show for it is a few gifts for everyone and a Christmas lunch. No idea what everyone will be eating boxing day either. Our food supplies to last us until January I expect, unfortunately, or a lot of pasta!

Oh it's not a thing to worry about doing, irritablebitchsyndrome, we do ours as a way of winding the children down before bed. Usually stuff we'd do anyway but stuck in basket. Happen to have bought a dvd this year but might've been something on the TV, hot chocolate from the cupboard in mugs they already have, and anything I would have got them anyway but saved and put together to make bath and bedtime more of a thing. We always make mince pies on Christmas Eve.

Few gifts and lunch is Christmas

Mine have got.

New pjs (Star Wars for ds, frozen for dd)
New Christmas DVD
A couple of new Christmas books
Pop corn
Hot chocolate and marshmallows
Chocolate coins

Nice and simple (cost about £25) and should help make the exciting night go easyier. Still got to dig out the Santa plate for carrot/cookie/milk which they made last year.

We are also in the "wind down to get DD to bed" camp. And it's nice for us all to have new PJs together - we need them anyway most years (I sometimes get festive ones, DH once got a reindeer pair but prefers plainer ones) and they don't have to be worn by adults that night but can be kept for later. DD ALWAYS wants to rush into hers!!

The only new things in it are the PJs, hot choc and bath bomb. The rest are re-used from previous years (mostly from her 1st Christmas, some are a bit newer).

But, after we light the Christmas candle, it's a great way to signal to DD that she needs to head upstairs before Santa can come, and also to get her some bit calm enough to actually sleep.

Slippers
Dressing gowns ( last years are getting worn out now)
Teddy bear
Mugs
Bubble bath

Same here with the winding down thing. Especially as we are at my mum's this year, they get a bit out of sorts when away from home so I figured we'd do the puzzle, then read them the book and they can have quiet time doing colouring etc

I think everyone is more organised than I am, because I don't think I could manage to fit in a Christmas Eve sack on Christmas Eve.

We are going to a crib service in the mid-afternoon, then when we get back I am cooking Christmas Eve dinner, then we will just have time to tidy the bedrooms and lay out the stockings before it will be bath and bed-time anyway.

How does everyone else make time for snuggling up together watching DVD's? I suppose I could stick the children in front of a DVD while I cook dinner, but that isn't really the cosy, family time that everyone seems to be having. And if they sit there eating popcorn and chocolate they won't eat any dinner, and if we have it after dinner it will be far too late. Am I really disorganised, or do other children stay up later? (Mine probably will be in bed at about 8pm, without throwing films into the mix, they are 4 and 8).

Having said that, I have got the DC pyjamas wrapped under the tree, and am planning on saying that after their bath they can unwrap one present early. And then I will give them the pyjamas.

Just wanted to pop in and say that if you have any believers then give the Tolkien book a miss. DN found a copy at PIL and whilst it's a lovely book it completely gave the game away and he was quite upset.

Mincepies- what we do is in Christmas Eve is bigger later cooked lunch. Go to the nativity service in the afternoon and get home at 5.40 to find Christmas Eve box. Have either a very simple quick tea - toasted sandwiches, beans on toast etc or a chilli/spag bog that was put in the slow cooker earlier and ready to serve. Quick bath time and in to PJs then snuggle, film and popcorn. It's usually around 8 -8.30 by the time we've done that so not a late bedtime (whether they go to sleep at that time is another story!)

Christmas Eve morning I stick a casserole in the slow cooker, we are going to a puppet theatre thing in the morning, then home for lunch. Smallest is nearly 2 so will sleep while we tidy/play with ds. Then make mince pies with one or both.

We might go to the local crib service at 4 (30 mins) dinner at 5ish, then film and food and up for bath at 7, new toothbrushes and pjs, downstairs to arrange carrots etc, then back up for story and bed by 8. If we were too rushed around and don't attend the service, we'd have film earlier and dinner later, depending on the children, but we are not religious so we only go for community and cultural reasons for the children, therefore it is not set in stone. Last year for e.g eldest watched Mickey's christmas while baby slept in the afternoon, we made mince pies in the morning, so it's a moveable feast, as everything is when you have young children

I start it an before dh is due home from work, so one DVD with popcorn on by 4pm, dh home by 5:30pm at which point I order Pizza Hut and put the second DVD in so we eat and watch that one, book 1 with hot chocolate, do the Santa plate then bath and pj's followed by 2nd book. All in all bed around 8:30pm ish.

We don't go to any services or anything Xmas eve so I can start the box as early as I want.

Atticus thanks for heads up on Tolkien book. DC 4 doing pretend believing I"m fairly certain but just in case will make sure he reads The night before Christmas with me.

2 of the teens are massively into Lord of the Rings and drawing so will enjoy the Tolkien.

Perhaps I should have made it clear that we are a mostly teens and adults at Christmas house so the sack should include something to go in the hot choc, Baileys perhaps?

I love Christmas Eve and make a bigger thing of it now they are older as we don't have the Santa thing anymore and it's lovely to be together for a celebration.

I think maybe I need to get myself a slow cooker... Looks like everyone just is more organised than me!

Having the main meal at lunch time could work, I suppose. But I hate dealing with raw meat when I've just had breakfast.

You might be ok with it depending on the version you've bought. PIL's version is fairly old but has a bit on the back saying that Tolkien wrote the letters to his children pretending to be FC. It has letters you pull out of the envelopes. Newer versions might not have the same blurb on the back.

Always get Baileys. It's a must in our Christmas Eve box!

We have:

New pj's, slippers and onesies
A chocolate stirrer to go in hot chocolate
Squirty cream
Christmas book each (illustrated Harry Potter, Goth Girl, animal boom and 5 children and it)
Fleece blanket each

We go to church at 4. Having homemade tom soup and bread at lunch so going to do picky tea when back from church. Bath after dinner then into new pj's ready for a Christmas film before bed. We too find it reduces the bedlam and makes for some nice family time as generally everything is ready by then so we can just relax together.