WHERE DO WE STAND ON CHRISTMAS EVE BOXES?

In case Christmas wasn’t commercial enough, 2017 has seen the beginning of an all-new shopping tradition: the Christmas Eve box.

The wooden boxes, costing between £15£25, are filled with night-before treats. Think: pyjamas, games, DVDS.

Of course, this isn’t new. In Europe and at the Sandringham royal Christmas, it has long been the norm to swap gifts on December 24.

John Lewis, which stocked hundreds of boxes for the first time this year, sold out its stock in November. Buyer Lisa Rutherford, who brought them to the department store, has given her two children a box each for the past two years.

“We put in some little chocolates, a hot chocolate sachet with mini-marshmallows, a book and reindeer dust. I can see it becoming a bigger thing even in our family,” she says.

But for many, the boxes are just another costly tradition – and it seems parents have reason to worry. Amy Sanders, of Not On The High Street, says the idea is to make Christmas about the whole occasion and not just one day. “If you start giving a box to kids at a really young age now, then you can tweak it as they get older and it becomes something you all do together on Christmas Eve and keep it as a tradition.”

Something tells us that unless there’s a national boycott, by 2020 kids could soon expect toys in their Advent calendars, presents on Christmas Eve and, who knows, a house on Christmas Day.

Strong sherry, anyone? Cara Mcgoogan