1st December AND Chrisfmas Eve Box?

[Lidlisthebusiness]

So, I've always done a Christmas Eve hamper for my children. It has PJ'S, mugs, hot chocolate and snack, a book, a letter from the Father Christmas' elves and a film to watch that evening.

We've had an awful year as I lost my Mum in April, and she was pretty much their most favourite person. I was looking at doing something different this year to distract from how upsetting it will be without her and considered adding a 1st December box with crafts, treats, maybe a North Pole breakfast?

I don't know, it just feels like I should do something. To be fair, it's as much for me as them, I'm trying to organise this happy season when I just want to hide from it really.

Does anyone have any other ideas? We already go to see FC, don't do panto or light trails etc.

Sorry about your mum.
What age are your kids?
I can't see any problem with doing both, if you didn't do a 1st December box, you could get nice fancy advent calendars, or get an empty one and fill it with special treats every day.

I was looking at doing something different this year to distract from how upsetting it will be without her and considered adding a 1st December box with crafts, treats, maybe a North Pole breakfast?

I think you should do whatever it takes to bring yourself and your DC some happiness. There’s a poster on here who did a early December breakfast for her DC (it only sticks in my mind because she got a pile on about plastic crap (not sure how much plastic is in a pile of pancakes and some strawberries but that’s by the by) and she said her DC loved it. You could put advent calendars out and look up dates for Christmas markets, carol services at your local church, an evening where you watch a particular Christmas film of their choosing and mark it on the calendar.

If it’s not too upsetting, you could also get some blank baubles that split right apart, get a couple of photos of your mum with each child, cut them into circles so they fit inside (they’ll need glueing as they’re a bit of a bugger) and then help them decorate the back of the bauble, ready to go on the tree? There are loads of gems and feathers and other adornments in Hobbycraft they could use. It might be too soon for that though.

Ooh, and do you drive? I know you don’t do light trails, but you could bundle them up in blankets with a water bottle of hot chocolate so it doesn’t spill, and drive them round to look at the lights on people’s houses. You could make it into a game; first one to see a Santa going down a chimney, or climbing a ladder gets to choose the first Christmas movie. First one to spot a snowflake gets the first sweet out of the tub when they’re opened. First one to spot a dinosaur gets to put the first bauble on the tree. Just silly stuff so it doesn’t get too competitive, but enough to keep them engaged.

On the first Saturday in December we have a "test run" of Christmas morning breakfast - which is pancakes, muffins and crumpets from an amazing local baker. We have various toppings and the kids when younger felt they were choosing what we'd order when in reality they have to be ordered way earlier!

We hang adventurous calendars, put up some specific decorations and go to the local church for their early carol service.

I think Christmas PJs at the beginning of December makes more sense than on Christmas Eve because they get the whole month to wear them. And the same with a Christmassy book, particularly if it's a chapter book- you can read it together each evening leading up to Christmas. We read the Christmas pig that way, somehow managed to time it perfectly finishing on Christmas Eve.

I’m doing Brrr baskets this year as I want mine to have cozy pjs to wear as much as possible (their not Christmas themed just winter ones), and I’m popping in other bits that they’ll get use from all
month, new fluffy blanket, lip balms, hot chocolate sachets, book and their advents ooh and slippers!
They’re 12 and 14 so it’s all stuff I would have bought them anyway and I’ll see if they like it! I’m doing one for DH as well as he won’t want to miss out, but I’ve got him some loungewear (tracksuit!) instead of PJs as I think he’ll wear that more round the house.

Thank you. Mum loved Christmas and gave us such great memories at that time of year.
I have 6 children from 8m to 16yrs. Obviously the baby won't know her, or Christmas this year but I need to involve him for the other children too.

I've seen people do activity advent calendars, which could be a fun addition?

Our adult kids still remember the years that we did this. It's a lovely tradition and requires almost no preparation. OP you should do whatever makes you happy.

I love the bauble idea! That's so special, and I think they'll all love doing that. Do you know where I can find these empty baubles?
We've not done a carol service since my eldest was small, so I think that would be lovely.

I do drive and you gave me a great idea. We live in a very beach heavy county, so we could drive out to Mum's favourite beach with blankets, hot chocolates and snacks, see sunset and then do the lights on the way home. I think she'd have liked that.

I don't bother with boxes as think it's pointless but my mum did what would now be called a north pole breakfast for me on xmas eve and I do it for my dc. They love it.

They'd love a waffle bar! We don't have a local bakery, but I could put something together, and a hot chocolate station too.
So glad I asked the question, just the few replies have given me something to focus on.

I've bought the second Winston book for this year, so we'll start that on the 1st. I'll get a new cosy blanket and we always out the decorations up on the first so it'll be a nice atmosphere.

What is a North Pole breakfast, please?

This is a great option for my 16yr old. She still loves to be involved in all the Christmassy things for her younger siblings, but this a good nod to her growing up. Thank you!

What do you put out for this? I've seen some fantastic ones that go all out! My husband might think I've gone mad with all the extravagance, but this year I just don't care!

@PistachioTiramisu

I do porridge decorated with reindeer faces. Christmas tree/Star shaped crumpets, hot chocolate, fruit, christmas themed sweets. Served on christmas crockery and with some decor (I use a load of paper trees, fake now etc)

@Lidlisthebusiness I don't go mad because I don't like waste and I am short on time, particularly as I do it on xmas eve. I attached some images to help, a lot of the heavy lifting is done by the fact I have tree shaped dishes, santa plates & M&S does a lot of christmas themed bits.

Around us there is a Christmas tractor run and a Christmas truck run, is there anything like that nearby? It’s a free activity, we just chuck some coins in the charity bucket.

I use a green tablecloth and pop a load of these trees thing (some are from my childhood) so it looks like a forest.

Sorry for your loss,OP.

I tried to sort of reinvent Christmas after divorce so that it felt different and special but without associations with XH (for me, mainly, but also to try and distract a bit from the fact we were having separate Christmasses for the first time).

We put the tree up on the first day of December that DC are at mine. If anyone needs a new Christmas jumper (outgrown) then they get a replacement in time for tree decorating. I usually get us each a new tree decoration (my eventual aim is to phase out the ones from pre-divorce) and some years I get a Christmas themed game (second hand) so we have some Christmassy things to play in the run up to Christmas.

We have an advent calendar where you can fit stuff in each day and I put Heroes or Quality Street or something in each day. And then I also check the calendar for dates DC are with me in December and I put mini envelopes with activities in for those days.

Activities include:
Bake something Christmassy
Make paper snowflakes
Write Christmas cards (if any)
Play reindeer hoopla
Play Santa Banter
Play Christmas charades (we just act out random silly stuff like a Christmas pudding or reindeer)

DC were in primary when this started and are now mid-teens. They still love it all.

We always wake up on 1st December and have a "treat" breakfast. Croissants, pancakes and get given advent calendars in previous year's the elf has brought them and the tree gets put up. Last year they got some christmas pyjamas to get their wear out of them & an xmas novelty cup like for water then xmas eve they get a bath bomb, a book, £5 for amazon to rent a movie and a mug for hot chocolate before bed.

You just do whatever you want to do though. Sorry about your mum. Try and find joy wherever you can, I find it in spoiling my kids and being extra.

Nothing wrong with doing both if that's what you want to do. My youngest ds is 15 and I've done a hamper basket for is both for the 1st dec which has xmas pyjamas, bath stuff, cosy throws, hot water bottle and other winter themed things. This will be put out alongside our advent calanders.

I love the bauble idea! That's so special, and I think they'll all love doing that. Do you know where I can find these empty baubles?

Everywhere! Hobbycraft, the Works, garden centres with craft sections, Amazon etc. You want the ones that split in half. https://www.theworks.co.uk/p/home-decorations/fill-your-own-baubles-pack-of-4/5052089278905.html Not expensive either. You will need glue to keep them sealed together though.

If you’re not on a very tight budget, I’d go for these https://www.bakerross.co.uk/craft-ideas/kids/personalised-photo-baubles/ The reason being is that they come with a piece of card in them that fits the bauble perfectly, so you can use that as a template to draw around your photo (just print it onto normal paper and it will work fine) and your photo will then fit perfectly. The cheaper ones don’t come with the card, so you need to use the bauble to draw around it, which makes it a mm or so too big. That doesn’t sound much, but cutting a mm off a perfect circle, and keeping it a perfect circle, by eye, is not the easiest thing to do! Then it doesn’t sit right and a bit is poking out and the other one has gone skew whiff and they just end up looking rubbish. Which is ok if it’s not something important but I suspect they’ll be on your tree for years to come. I did some for my friend and his sisters and they wanted a feather inside and some very specific decorations on the back. There’s no end of things you can do.

If you want to use the leftover baubles, you can use pictures from films. Like It’s a Wonderful Life, or the scene from Die Hard where he’s crawling through the vents. There’s loads of inspiration on Etsy if you want ideas. And obviously the ribbon is changeable if red doesn’t suit.

I have done an advent activity calendar but I found I had to keep looking ahead and swapping things around because the weather wasn’t good enough for “going on a winter walk” or whatever it was supposed to be. I found a checklist on Etsy instead and we do it every year now! We don’t have to do set things on set days and then if some don’t get done it doesn’t matter! It’s flexible.

It’s lovely you have such a big family around you still, and that you can all be together ❤️

So I do little gifts throughout December that the elves bring. The elves arrive on the first normally with some , advent calanders, Xmas themed pjs and slippers. Then every few days they will bring things like crafts, xmas jumper, sweets etc. On Xmas eve morning they bring a Christmas eve goody bag which normally contains Xmas day outfit, book, movie suggestions, snacks, goodies to leave out for santa and the reindeers