MNHQ HERE: What do you pack into a ‘Christmas Eve Box’?

[LilyMumsnet]

Hi all,

MNHQ here with another seasonal request! Don't get too sick of us - still got the Christmas name change competition, yet.

Our wonderful video team are at it again and this time, they're making a very merry video on what to put into a Christmas Eve box.

We have a vague idea of what goes into these festive boxes but we'd really like to hear YOUR thoughts! These are children's boxes, so let's keep it child-friendly...

Anyway, you snow the drill. Drop your favourite items down below and watch this space - a video will soon follow.

P.S If you don't know what we're going on about, a Christmas Eve Box is a box given to children on Christmas Eve. It's usually filled with all the ingredients to make a perfectly jolly evening. So get posting!

PJ's and a new tub of hot chocolate powder.
Our copy of Twas the night before Christmas
Some bubbles for the bath.

It gets opened after the crib service at church so is just a bedtime prompt really.

Never knew it was a thing.

Ex tends to get him new pjs each year though.

I've never had a Christmas Eve box, I've never done a Christmas Eve box. Stop making it sound as though this is a long-standing tradition, it's not.

I did put forward an idea on an almost identical (but not MNHQ originated) thread that a Christmas Eve Box should be a collection of unused items and old toys, to be donated to charity after Christmas, thereby making room in our homes for the new gifts. Less consumerism, more charity.

I think I'll give a bottle of water and call it snowman soup that would be more accurate 🤣seriously though I wish mn w ouldnt normalise these recent commercial in emotions as some kind of tradition

Much the same as PPs have posted, but it's now delivered by the elf on Dec 1 so includes the advent calendars and other Christmas themed stuff so the kids can make use of them in the whole lead up to it, so socks, colouring books, tickets to Xmas party/panto, chocolate coins, mini marshmallows, hot chocolate, etc.

If you're reading this and haven't tried the Christmas Eve box, or elf: DOOON'T do it! Definitely not that bloody little blighter elf. Bane of my life every night of December trying to think of somewhere new to put him. Novelty has worn off (for me)! But I've set the precedents now and they are traditions.
Thinking back to my childhood, there were no bells and whistles, just giddy, blissful excitement all focussed on the day itself with nothing to detract from it. I wish I'd kept it that way for my own children now. But it's tooooo late I'm stuck in a pit of expectation of my own making (I enjoy it really...it's just a bit 'much').

I’ve never even heard of a Christmas Eve box! I can’t afford to do one either.

Do We don't do boxes, but for those of you who do : do you wash the pyjamas first or do you wear them straight out of the packet?

And are they pyjamas with Christmas motifs? Do you wear them all year round, or only at Christmas?

Drizzle this is my issue- I don't like 'Christmas themed' pj's for after Christmas, it doesn't seem right.

DD is nearly 2 and we were bought a Christmas Eve box as a gift to use every year... I plan to use it mainly so dd isn't missing out in comparison to friends (when she's older).

I'd much prefer a 1st Dec box as already suggested with things like pj's Christmas clothes / colour books for the whole of December. However box says 'Christmas Eve box' 🤣

When she's older I'll probably get pj's winter themed rather than Christmas themed.
I have brought from asda a pack of 2 pj's for £6 though so I can't moan. One pair will be used in December and a set saved for Christmas Eve.
Then all the Christmas/ Halloween/ pudsey clothes nursery encourage can go in the bin.. to a clothes bank actually.

Nothing. Because you get presents on Christmas Day, not Christmas Eve.

Thinking back to my childhood, there were no bells and whistles, just giddy, blissful excitement all focussed on the day itself with nothing to detract from it

Oh I fondly remember the giddy blissful excitement of my childhood Christmasses

Absolutely nothing. And I think this is yet more commercial pressure on hard pressed parents to waste even more money, and extend the already excessive Christmas presents to a further day, winding up over excited and spoiled children and obscuring the whole meaning of Christmas.
For my own family, Christmas Eve is the day we spend preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ. We listen to Carols from Kings, make our chestnut Yule log, and go to the Watchnight Service at church, celebrating with our village neighbours as midnight strikes.
The children were allowed to open one of their stocking presents before going to bed, but otherwise all presents were for Christmas morning, keeping it special.
They're grown up now, but we keep our Christmas Eve tradition just the same.

We were always allowed to open one present growing up on Christmas eve and they were always pyjamas. I do the same for my children but stick them in a box with some hot chocolate sachets, some marshmallows and some bubble bath (a rubber duck for my toddler who has extremely sensitive skin). It's not anything I wouldn't usually get in for Xmas anyway and it is a nice tradition to do with my kids so I can't get worked up about it.

New:
PJs for everyone
Hot chocolate (the lump of chocolate on a wooden spoon type usually) - a different one for everyone
Lush festive bath bombs each for DD and I (and a nice shower gel for DH if we find one)
Christmas beer for DH (he likes a good craft beer)

Old favorites used every year:
DD’s stocking
Plastic plate and glass with Santa on them (toddler ones, for his snack)
Snowman covered hot water bottle
‘‘Twas the night before Christmas

The ONLY things that are only for Christmas Eve are the stocking and DDs bath bomb and hot choc - the rest are used multiple times over the season (old favs) or as and when we get a chance on the consumables (I might get my bath the night before back to school/work!).

Ours only comes out after dinner and is part of winding down for bed and a good sleep. So no craft or dvds in it - lots of others have theirs during the day to keep DCs occupied while they crack on with prep but we drag dd into that in our house! (Slavedrivers us! 🤣🤣)

And it’s rare that the pjs are Christmas themed, but even if they are, they get well worn all winter.

Nothing. Presents are for Christmas Day here and in this household it's staying that way.

Nothing. The very idea gives me the rage. Christmas Eve is about anticipation not gratification!!! Every year since the DCs were tiny we have had the same routine. An easy dinner, put out stockings, make something for Santa and the reindeers to eat, watch Santa approaching via Norad, and each kid has a 'special' book of their choice that only gets read on Christmas Eve. Mine are now in their late teens and they STILL want that same routine - even down to my big, tough, eighteen year old son having his annual read of Santasaurus. You don't need to buy more shite to make Christmas special.

The night before Christmas book, a bath bomb, door hangers (Santa stop here for x type). Santa’s mince pie plate. Pjs, and the Santa key declarations for the tree.

Nothing, it's a torrent of consumerism as is, and we are trying to enjoy it as family time rather than in terms of stuff.

I also put in a baking kit or some Christmassy cookie cutters so we can bake together on Christmas Eve.

We don't have separate boxes as we are a large family we have a big bag. But in that goes Christmas pyjamas, a book, a DVD, some treats and maybe a family game. Last year I bought Christmas monopoly for the older children and husband to play while I watched a Christmas DVD with the youngest.

A new Christmas tree ornament

Oh MN don't ever change.

The rampant consumerism/diluting the magic/it's a new fad/not in THIS house stuff is obligatory on these threads so I will add my stock response too.

My Granny who was Victorian did it too so it is a tradition in this house.

It doesn't cost me a thing as here it's about leaving baked goods, a letter and the stockings/Christmas Eve books on the hearth. I have added in a few other things like a homemade hot chocolate sachet and reindeer food (oats and seeds). Neither cost me anything though.

It isn't diluting the magic unless the sole focus of YOUR Christmas is gift giving and you're particularly short sighted and reductive and in that case, then have your judgement and pity back in spades. I jest (mostly) as I don't feel the need to judge other people for being different. However, I don't celebrate a Christmas that is solely wonderful due to vast present giving on the 25th. We buy very little and the day itself is not focused on this. Likewise, it is not just a day for us, it is a season of goodwill so I am afraid we have traditions which take place on various days throughout the period. This dilutes nothing and contributes to the overall feeling of the festive season.

And finally, I don't give a shiny shite if on Christmas Eve people spend their entire annual income on a jewel encrusted chest stuffed full of cash which is imported from Dubai and dragged in by the cast of Les Miserables, while Elton John plays the fucking flute. Their money, their choice.

Never heard of it till I read about it on here, but won’t be setting a precedent for buying more stuff.