Explaining poverty & xmas to children

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We are really lucky I feel. We are not rich but comfortable and are able to give our children lots of toys for Christmas.

My 5 yr was given a lot of very very generous toys for her birthday from her class friends. There are about 3 lovely dolls she's been given that I know she won't play with as she's moved in to Barbies and Lego and in reality she doesn't need more toys. They are still untouched a month after the birthday.

So we were chatting about giving them to children who don't get toys for Christmas, we normally donate toys to barnardos , but she said don't worry Father Christmas will bring them toys he doesn't forget anyone.

I was lost for words as I don't want to burst her bubble but I want her to appreciate we see lucky and she has lots but others have nothing ?

Any tips ?

You can say that lots of children don’t get birthday presents and she had lots she doesn’t want or need. Or that many children don’t get presents at Christmas from their parents because they can’t afford it.

Tell her Father Christmas can’t make toys to everyone because of population growth. So to make sure no one misses out he has sent you a letter (which you will show her) asking for donations otherwise some children will miss out.

I think it depends if Father Christmas brings a small present or stocking in your house or the big presents. It’s easier to explain if it’s small presents from FC as you can say that the dolls will be extra presents on top of the present or stocking from FC.

My DC know/think that parents have to pay Santa for the toys so that’s why some may get more or less.

When DD was about 5 I bought some things for a toy appeal for our local WA. Well she wanted one of the items and tried to take it. I put my foot down and made her put it back, explaining it might be the only present a little boy or girl might get. In my crossness I didn't think about Santa until she said "but what about what Santa brings?". I told her that mummies & daddies still have to pay for the toys that Santa brings and that some people can't afford that so we were helping Santa out by providing these presents. Some of my friends thought I'd taken some of the magic away but tbh she took it really well

I told mine that some children are so poor they ask Father Christmas for money for food and heating instead of toys as their mums and dads can’t afford them otherwise when I needed to explain toy appeals

DS gets one toy from father christmas and the rest from family. If he ever asks I'll say father christmas brings everyone one thing but he's lucky that his mummy/daddy can get him extra things so its kind to share because not all mummys and daddies have spare money for toys.

We told the DC from the beginning that we buy the gifts and we send them to Santa who keeps them safe until Christmas, if you've tried your best to be a good person then he brings them back while you're sleeping on Christmas Eve. When they started asking questions similar to "why doesnt everyone get presents?" we could answer them by explaining that some people can't afford to send any gifts to Santa and others can afford to send lots of gifts, similarly other people don't celebrate Christmas so don't send any gifts by choice.

Doing Santa this was also helped make it easier when eldest DC stopped believing as he already knew we bought the gifts so we only had to explain that we don't actually send them to Santa, we just hide them under the stairs until it's time to get them back out again

The things I’ve heard that make the most sense for explaining how some kids get better things than others, especially when the other kid isn’t “nice”, is that parents pay Santa for the presents so he can only give what they can afford.

And the other one that’d work if you said they’re for homeless families or families in shelters is that Santa only delivers to houses that have Christmas trees, that’s how he knows where there’s a kid and those families don’t all have trees so giving them things you don’t use/need means that they can have a nice Christmas too.
The tree thing is how we plan on getting round dm/dgm’s etc not having trees up and how Santa knows where you live.. like a window side bat signal 😂

In our house there are the little FC presents and then the main present from us. We always say that we buy presents for parents to give their children as sometimes money is tight and we all like to give something. We also give them money to choose something for the food bank.