What pre-Christmas traditions do you and your family have to get yourselves in the mood for Christmas? Tell Cadbury and you could win a £200 Love2Shop voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

In honour of Cadbury launching their biggest ever advent calendar, Cadbury would like to know what gets you and your family into the Christmas spirit in the countdown to Christmas.

Here's what they say "This year we’re launching Cadbury’s biggest ever advent calendar and setting out to bring even more joy to the countdown this Christmas. 24 trucks, 24 doors, opening daily in 24 different locations, we’reringing joyful festive surprises to the nation on the countdown to Christmas. While we’re counting down, we’re also keen to hear from Mumsnetters about what you and your families do in the countdown before Christmas"

Find out about the Cadbury advent calendar by watching the video below:

So, what traditions do you and your family have to get that Christmas feeling? Do you spend an evening putting up a Christmas tree? Maybe decorating Christmas cookies is your favourite family activity? Or perhaps you all gather around the TV to watch a particular Christmas movie?

Whatever your pre-Christmas traditions are, Cadbury would love to know.

Everyone who posts a comment will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £200 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Our most important tradition starts this Saturday when we go and chose which tree we will have from a farm. It then continues to grow for a couple of weeks before we go and collect it. A great deal of time is spent chosing the right smell, colour and size that will completely not fit in our room when we get it home. We spend Christmas sitting on the branches eating the tree chocolates.

This marks the start of Christmas for us.

Definitely wrapping up warm and going on a pine cone hunt. Then we can use them in lots of christmas crafts. This year we are going to make a giant christmas cupcake with cadburys chocolate fingers all round it (stealing idea from the Apprentice), but it is probably going to be eaten way before the big day.

Ours are changing somewhat, as we are currently in a place where Christmas is not appreciated.
So far I've made a fabric tree, and were likely to have chicken for lunch. So I'd say tree and roast bird for lunch.

The Christmas panto the day before Xmas eve always gets us in the spirit!

what amazing plans cadbury have this year! We get a cadbury advent calendar each from grandad on 1st. Then we get the kids involved in a bit of christmas shopping and wrapping for each other. Lots of mulled wine comes into play for the adults in december! Kids get treated to lots of mince pies and pannetonne. We often bake our own pannetone too. Sometimes they have shows / plays at school and drama club. This year 2 of them are involved in church nativity so that is going to be nice to go and watch.

For Me 'Pre-Christmas' Is An Event That Happens Daily From December 1st Up Until The Big Day! Dec 1st Usually Involves Tree & House Decorating Kids Get Involved, Nothing Brings A Family Together Like Decorating The Tree In A Warm Cosy House (Even If You Do Rearrange The Decorations The Kids Have Put On, When They Have Gone To Bed!) Days Leading Up To Xmas Involve, Letters To Santa, Christmas Kids Activities, A Trip To Santas Grotto, Christmas Cooking (Check Out Our Yummy Xmas Macaroons Below!)

Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays Everyone
[santa] [santa] [santa]

We go to panto every year - I take the whole family as a Christmas present.

We have Christingle, church carol services a plenty (between my own children and the school's where I work) and lovely family time. :)

Going out to choose our Christmas tree and watching it be put through a chute and into bag. Then spending rest of day putting decs on tree and around house. Kids favourite is to help put up snowflake window stickers I rearrange when in bed

This year, there will be one less tradition I will not miss ... Glitter in nappies

Wow move over coke lorry the "Holiday's may be coming" but the advent lorries had me at "Hello". Choctastic....

Spending a full day decorating house with cheesy classic Christmas music, santa hat does it for me, this gets hubby in the mood and on goes Elf!! Then it's Christmas in our house. My eldest has discovered Christmas this year, excited to see it again through hus eyes. Santa Claus the Movie, the gingerbread houses etc. Can't wait xxxx

We all get together and put up the Christmas decoration while listening to Christmas songs. We then gather around the tv and watch Elf whilst eating Christmas cookies i baked earlier that day.

My children get sent a new Christmas book by the Elves each year after sending their letter to Father Christmas. Each morning my son opens his advent calendar drawer to find a chocolate and a little gift or treat activity.

A visit to see Father Christmas is the first big event and our tree usually goes up around the same time. I always like to wrap presents whilst watching Elf - preferably sipping a glass of mulled wine or mulled cider!

We have a couple of traditions. Each year each of the 4DC choose a decoration to buy. DH puts the tree up, I hang the lights and tinsel and the DC then decorate the tree with baubles and decorations, including their own personal ones. They have each had a new decoration every year so that when they leave home, they can each take their own box of decorations to start them off.

The other tradition is how we spend Christmas. On Christmas Eve DH and I usually work in the morning but we usually get home in time to take the DC to the Christingle Service at our church. We then come home, have an easy tea and then watch a Christmas film together. The DC used to sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve but my DS, now 18, no longer sleeps in the same room as my DD. On Christmas morning, they all come into us and sit on the bed opening their stockings.

Get my advent calender out of the loft that I made when I had my 1st son and put all my twinkly lights up round my ceiling. I'm hoping this year to start a new tradition of making snowflakes with my 3yo and lots of other fun creative stuff. Cards are next on the agenda. Handprint reindeer and footprint sleigh. Super excited this year

We have Christmas songs in the car from the 1st December and everyone has to sing along to them. We decorate the tree together on the 2nd Sunday of Advent and reminisce over all the decorations and where they came from. My children spend Christmas Eve at their grandparents and they always o to the Christingle service in the evening.

We have a craft filled pre Christmas. Lots of making cards, tree decorations, chains and presents for family from the kids. We love baking cakes and bread. We visit as many family members as we can and cram in a few Xmas movies.

Decorations and the tree obviously. I like to go to a big department store Christmas shop and let the DC pick one new tree decoration each.

We have a normal route round the West End lights ending up with hot chocolate and cake in Piccadilly.

And last of all, on Christmas Eve I read How The Grinch Stole Christmas to the DC.

New Jumpers, New Pyjamas and in the month of December, we run a small trick at home to see who goes to bed first and really sleeping, will get a sticker. It is very funny to see the kids playing up pretending to sleep. The one with more stickers on Christmas morning gets to open the present first. There is a different one for being good though! The one with more stickers for being good gets to eat an Ice cream and unlimited chocolates on Christmas day :) (It's more fun to watch them trying to use the chance to the fullest but the maximum eaten was 15 until today)

We always start a large Christmas puzzle which carries on throughout the whole holiday and we make a gingerbread and sweet house.

christmas starts with the Santa run in early December, then the village carol service on the green and the school nativity. We get a tree around the 20th and have a pre-Christmas party with lots of friends and children running around the house. The thing that really gets us all feeling properly Christmassy is the christingle on Christmas Eve (then taking the children to the pub afterwards).

We make mince pies for relatives. Always make a new decoration to add to our tree every year.
The "Christmas fairies" (me and daddy) always visit our house to decorate our tree.
We head to our local town for the Christmas lights switch on, and celebrations. And drive around searching for houses lit up with lights, that we can admire.
We all take/make a little wreath/gift for our loved ones we've lost.

My daughter is still quite young but this year I'm planning to bake mince pies and gingerbread men with her. Read her the night before Christmas poem. Do an advent calendar. I'm looking forward to doing elf on the shelf once she knows what's going on!

Making some decorations.
Going to panto.
Buying ingredients for christmas lunch.
Wrapping presents.
Watching christmas films.
And of course eating chocolate.

We love a Christmas market to get us in the mood.

This year we're heading to Nice.

The tree will go up after this, and we put all our decorations on the tree that we've collected over the years.

On Xmas eve we head to my mums house for a traditional European feast, and then on Xmas day we have my mum and family over.