Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

Are we the only parents who don't do Christmas Eve boxes?

241 replies

User6447482684755 · 21/09/2022 13:50

we have just never bothered, something else for me to think about too!

They've never questioned why they don't get one. They weren't even a thing a few years ago right?

I was Christmas shopping today (I know, early but I don't often get much chance to shop mid week when kids are at school). The cashier picked up on me buying for Christmas and was chatting nicely, she says oh well you give your kids a Christmas Eve box yeah? Just her assuming that all kdis have one. She meant well but I am questioning myself now.

I was like no we don't!

we tend to visit family on Christmas Eve and gifts are exchanged and sometimes opened early (from family). We always have take away on Christmas Eve!

that is our tradition.

we have an elf on the shelf but we do it our own way. Sometimes I wish I never started though.

we also don't bother with the whole matching PJ thing.

we tend to just do things our way without following any fads! That's okay, right?

OP posts:
oxydant · 21/09/2022 13:53

Yep. In the whole world you're the only cool ones who are above Christmas Eve Boxes

Sisisimone · 21/09/2022 13:55

Yes of course its OK. I love that each family has their own traditions and that everyone does things differently, there's no right or wrong

SNWannabe · 21/09/2022 13:55

Haven’t ever done xmas eve boxes in 25 years of parenting. But I do kind of do advent boxes- always have done things over but it’s more shaped now I guess. I don’t see the point of xmas pjs for one night so have always given pjs at the start of december to be worn over the month…and get the xmas books out for the wee ones, now read a chapter book over advent with the older ones…
There is enough excitement for us on xmas eve without needing a box and I feel it’s a waste for one night.

GoingOnce · 21/09/2022 13:56

Oh I’m a cool one too! No box, no creepy elf, no new pyjamas for the sake of it.

steppemum · 21/09/2022 13:56

nope. I've never done them.

we have other traditions round Christmas, some unique to us. I am not bothered by picking up extra ones, especially ones which basically involve more gifts which I don't need. (eg my kids always had tons of pjs, most decent hand me downs, but I really really didn't need to spend more on Christmas pjs which at least one of them wouldn't wear once Christmas had passed)

I also don't do elf on a shelf

Do your own special family stuff!

Pumpkinsnearlyready · 21/09/2022 13:57

I have 8 dc to buy for. Not getting bitten to spend even more on the eve before I will have spent enough!

Vinylloving · 21/09/2022 13:58

Also cool here, definitely no elf, no box and no new PJs either

Trytoavoidthebastardbus · 21/09/2022 13:58

No elf no Xmas Eve box here.

Devo1818 · 21/09/2022 13:58

We don't either, but I do do a December 1st Advent box. Contains Christmas books, puzzle, clothes and PJs, advent calenders, a new bauble each. All things to enjoy throughout December!

dingbat56 · 21/09/2022 13:59

No box no elf no Xmas PJs .. children now too old to care and wouldn’t have remembered if they had had all that

GiantTortoise · 21/09/2022 13:59

No Xmas Eve box here, or elf, or matching PJs. It's fine OP.

shoofly · 21/09/2022 14:00

No Christmas eve boxes, or elf on shelf or matching pj's. Ds1 is 16, I wasn't aware of any of these things when he was small and saw no reason to start.
His birthday is 27th December, and we used to visit one granny on Christmas eve and the other on boxing day...combined with his birthday he thought presents were an everyday thing for about 5 days anyway for a long time.

Margo34 · 21/09/2022 14:01

GiantTortoise · 21/09/2022 13:59

No Xmas Eve box here, or elf, or matching PJs. It's fine OP.

Same.

Original poster
User6447482684755 · 21/09/2022 14:01

Thanks all!

we do have an elf but I wish I never did. He's not as fancy or daring as some other elves I see 😅 he literally just sits on the shelf which I thought the true intention of it was. I'm too tired to move him every night 😅

the kids do get a Christmas book each (cheap from the works) on the 1st of December with their advent calendar!

OP posts:
NCFT0922 · 21/09/2022 14:01

It’s fine not to do it and to do your own thing.

FWIW though, they aren’t new. I’m 31 and my mum used to do one for all of us in the 90s.

PuttingDownRoots · 21/09/2022 14:02

In its basic form, the "box" was just stuff a family did on Christmas eve put in a box. I known people do new PJs on Christmas eve for years for example. Or hot chocolate and film. Or putting a special plate out for Santa/Father Christmas. Stockings. Gingerbread House to build

Its only the last couple of years you could buy the special box or family pj's or personalised mugs.

Do it. Don't do it. But there's no need to sneer.

(And the Elf... I know a lit of people who started that in 2020 when frankly, we all needed a bit of fun we could do at home)

DreamloverTealover · 21/09/2022 14:03

No we don't do a Christmas eve or 1st December box. I do get Christmassy themed things in the lead up though like crafts, sticker books etc but it's not a tradition or set thing. I just love Christmas themed things!

fallinover · 21/09/2022 14:03

Of course it is fine to celebrate in the way that makes sense for you.
It is absolutely okay to have boxes and not to have them.
You aren't a better person for having them or for not having them.
The same goes for every other possible Christmas ritual.

Shodan · 21/09/2022 14:04

My children have always got what I got as a child- Advent calendar, stocking on Christmas Eve, and presents on Christmas Day. Nothing else. Elf on a Shelf wasn't around when ds1 was small. Christmas Eve boxes were equally unheard of. Not a chance would I pander to that.

They are seriously deprived though- they don't get a Boxing Day Game like I and my siblings got (sometimes a puzzle, sometimes a board game. Once it was table football. It was always something the family could do together)

BruceWaynettaSlob · 21/09/2022 14:04

That's okay, right?

🙄

mumonthehill · 21/09/2022 14:05

Never have here either! Used to do a new book under their pillow on Christmas Eve to read. We do advent calendar but only a chocolate one.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 21/09/2022 14:06

No we don't do the boxes or the elf.

I do tend to buy Christmas themed things ahead of Christmas anyways so DS always gets new Christmas PJs around the 1st Dec so he can wear them throughout. He always gets his advent calendars (a chocolate one from us and a toy one from Grandparents).

DS's birthday is also in December so he gets enough stuff without throwing in Christmas eve boxes or advent boxes.

ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk · 21/09/2022 14:06

I got one over 4 decades ago. I'll tell my mum how cool you are though

Rutland2022 · 21/09/2022 14:09

We try to recreate our Christmases with DD, so no elf, no box, no pyjamas.

DD does actually have some Christmas pj’s this year, they were in a bag of secondhand clothes. But I’m not buying in to the intsta bollocks.

medianewbie · 21/09/2022 14:11

Mine have a modest chocolate advent calendar, a stocking on Christmas eve & a few gifts (depends how broke I am) on Christmas Day. Thats all I can manage & its enough for us. A Boxing Day board game is a nice idea though.