Christmas Eve boxes

[Yoyo2021]

Son had just come home from school and told me that some of his class had Xmas breakfasts this morning as it’s the 1st December and asked why we did not have one… I just did not know this was a thing but it clearly is as today on my Facebook plenty of others doing it. It made me think about Xmas Eve boxes too I just never do those either…. The extra cost etc on top of everything has just always been too much!

Anyway, do any of you do Xmas Eve boxes and if so what do you put in them?

@Yoyo2021 - If you do want to get Christmas pyjamas for you and DC then you will be able to get some for under £5 if you look on vinted, a lot have only been worn once.

^ this I'm bucket loads. Hate how commercial Christmas has become. Detest elf on the shelf, Christmas Eve boxes and now the latest thing, 1st December breakfast. Just why?

My little girl will only be 11 months at Xmas and I'm doing a Xmas eve box for her. All that's in it is a babygrow that says my first xmas which was £5, a Teddy thats was £2, a Xmas sensory book that was £1 and the Xmas eve box itself was £2 in asda so not over the score

Don't do them and never will, why give presents the night before they get presents ?! Doesn't make sense. As for this ridiculous new craze of North Pole breakfast on 1st December I'm speechless !

I believe the best gift you can give your children is to spend time with them. Play games, make mince pies, read a Christmas story or poem together. In my work, which is relevant, I’ve never had a child complain they didn’t get “stuff” but plenty say their parents never play or do stuff with them. Even the ones who appear to have everything value time with parents above anything else.

What's a Christmas breakfast??

I mean I guess I could put a bit of Baileys on their coco pops... Tis the season

i used to buy the dc bits and pieces before I decided to put them in a box. It comes out of the Christmas budget so it’s technically just a gift they open a day early
I have to do dc slightly different as have very different interests

ds14
Christmas pjs
roblox voucher
lush bath bomb
hot choc bomb
lindor reindeer

dd10
christmas pjs
mini ty beanie
mini brands
lush bath bomb
chocolate coins
cheeky £1 festive scratch card. ( DS doesn’t care for them so we don’t get him one)

dd doesn’t like hot chocolate so she gets the scratch card instead 😌

On December 1st we just do advent calendars but don't do anything else "special".
Christmas Eve box is new pyjamas, a Christmas book, "reindeer food" and some chocolate. It's just what I would give them on Xmas day but hold some back and give it them a day early 🤣

After the Great Vomiting Disaster of Christmas Eve 2013 (we ran out of clean pyjamas & distraught child did NOT want to be “smelly and cold for Santa” - hence MIL quickly unwrapped new pyjamas intended for Christmas present) mine now get new pj’s on Christmas Eve. Just normal ones that they wear all year. It’s more for parental nostalgia than the DC’s benefit though...!
Also has a fabric advent calendar with wee pockets - typically a chocolate or a “treat” promised (eg pizza for dinner, watching a film, family games night, etc).

No elf, no xmas breakfast on the 1st, and no xmas eve box for my children. I'm horrible I know🤫😂

Christmas breakfast wtf?

Ah yes the social media competitive Christmassing has officially begun. Most people wouldn't bother doing half this shit if they didn't have a platform to show off to everyone how good they are at doing Christmas 🙄

This really struck me and I wanted to send you a thumbs up, don't worry about what may be the next up and coming fad, if you can't afford it (or just think it's stupid!) I didn't take part in several new waves as my kids were growing up, it was all ok, they may or may not have been bothered/whinged about it, I can't remember now and I'm sure they can't either, and I have a wonderful happy relationship with both my adult children 🙂

I don't do Christmas Eve boxes because they're getting stuff the next day anyway and they'd only get one day of use out of everything so I don't really see the point.

I do have a general box of Christmas shit (books, dvds, cookie cutters, Christmas photos etc) that I get out on the 1st December and call my December 1st box. Nothing in it is new, it's just stuff for the kids to enjoy over the month and make it a bit christmassy.

When your children die from lack of Christmas magic, you'll be the one they blame.

Exactly. Where does it end otherwise?

This is the first year I've done Xmas eve boxes, I've got them a fluffy Christmas onesie each for about a fiver each, they would have got these anyway as they'll wear throughout the year and need new ones.

The eldest has a Christmas activity pack thing (£1.50), youngest has a Christmas water painting book (£2), they've each got a Christmas book (I think about £5 each) and I'm going to make hot chocolate cones. A couple of days ago I found 2 Christmas chocolate lollies and 2 bags of chocolate coins that I'd forgotten I'd bought and now had doubles of (for the stockings), so they're going in aswell.

I may do popcorn cones too and we'll watch a Christmas film in the evening

We have always done Christmas Eve boxes, definitely not a new thing. Even as children we all got new pj's on Christmas Eve.

Big family here and Christmas is my absolute favourite time of the year to make memories and spend time together - we have new pj's, a new Christmas book and Christmas decoration for them each to keep and build their own collections. They love it, its definitely not about commercialism at all. It doesn't have to cost a fortune either. I needed new pj's for my growing little ones this month anyway, and found lovely Christmas pj's in Primark for £5. You can get simple books in the Works etc for no more than a couple of pound, if you wanted to. I also don't go overboard on Christmas day though either.

You do you. Don't feel pressured to if you don't want to, but for us personally it's a favourite Christmas tradition.

We do one but it's mostly the same stuff every year and 1st December so we enjoy for longer. Home-made fabric advent calendar; Christmas pj's and last minute Christmas jumper (thanks to DS's school for last minute messages saying they need both from of those next week); some Christmas books, mostly gifts or charity shop finds which I also use for work as I'm a teacher; hot chocolate and popcorn which we would use anyway; cookie cutters and some lolly sticks painted with different activities which I put in the advent calendar for the day before to make it exciting (mostly free stuff like going for a walk to see lights, christingle service etc). It's like seeing old friends when they come out each year. I take pictures because I make a photo book for each year of DS's life but not to share on social media and I only do this to avoid the boxes and boxes of snappy snaps envelopes my parents have in the attic!

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old so I’ve only just started some stuff like Xmas Eve boxes this year however I am keeping it very simple and not spending extra money every year on it when they already get tons of presents the next day!

But honestly when I was a kid there were no Xmas Eve boxes, no elf on the shelf, no North Pole breakfasts………. And I loved Christmas!! It was and always will be my favourite time of year!!!

The reason kids love Christmas is the time spent with family and friends and the ‘magic’ which doesn’t come from spending money and doing tons of unnecessary stuff. It comes from things like cuddled up under a blanket with a hot chocolate watching a Christmas film, or hearing stories about Santa and his elves, or making gingerbread cookies, or dancing to Christmas music, or putting out milk for Santa then it disappears on Christmas morning.

I’m quite sure you are a wonderful mum and the fact you are even thinking about how to make your sons Christmas special shows that. Time with you, to do anything ‘Christmassy’ at all will be magical for him. Don’t wind yourself up thinking that what you are doing isn’t enough.

this I'm bucket loads. Hate how commercial Christmas has become. Detest elf on the shelf

I don't know why people have decided this. Our elf cost €5, five years ago and I haven't spent a penny on it since. It's among the least commercial things about Christmas in our house.

Christmas eve boxes invite similar, hmm, strong opinions. We had them when we were kids in the 80s, so they aren't new. I don't do anything formally, but will do the hot chocolate, film, book on the day.

December 1st special breakfast
December 1st boxes
Elf on the shelf
Christmas Eve boxes

Is there any other unnecessary modern day shite I've forgotten?
Thank goodness my kids are past the stage when parents are guilt tripped into doing all this stuff.

You're not a rubbish mum!
Just because other people do it doesn't mean you need to.
I always explained to the kids that everyone celebrates Christmas differently (and birthdays, etc). The way we do it is this... the way that family does it is this...
Personally I think Christmas breakfasts and Christmas Eve boxes are gimmicky and unnecessary. We had advent calendars and I kept all of the fun stuff for Christmas Day and Boxing Day so that those days were extra special.
I think, and I've seen a lot of others on here saying the same, that the more you do, the less special it all becomes.

People always watched a movie and had some choc on Christmas Eve.
Until the monetisers monetised and commercialised it, like they do with every single nice idea. Every nice idea has to be put in a plastic box and promoted and sold.

Last night I went to a dinner where the hostess had the most lovely Christmas decorations. Candles, tealights in tumblers with some stones or moss, oranges and pomegranates lying about, random sprigs of ivy, holly and even Leylandii from gardens or the roadside, cheap silver baubles in bowls with pine cones….cost her almost nothing and was nicer than any designer tat I’ve seen.

Resist the monetisers and keep things simple!