Worried about dc growing up to fit in all the Christmas experiences

[Purplegreenredblue]

Worried about dc growing up to fit in all the Christmas experiences. There’s only a certain amount of time you have, to take them to places like Lapland, Disneyland, Christmas lodges and holidays, days out. Does anyone else feel like this?

Do what you think you want as a family but don't think this is in any way mandatory.

We did local NT santas (they are great) and one garden center, we started when DD was 5 and stopped at 9.
We do the light walks since she is a teen as a nice day out, we often go with a group of friends. Similar with ice skating.

Disneyland, Lapland and all kind of lodge holiday - whatever rocks your boat and is in your budget. Most children survive growing up without them. I know 1 family who did Lapland and one who did Disney in December. Lapland looked amazing but I am not prepared to spend my annual holiday budget on a 3 day trip.

We did several trips to Germany but that's because I am homesick in December and we visit family most of the times.

What we do normally:
tree buying trip
baking
movie nights
making arts and craft when DD was younger
watching her at school or drama club Christmas show
going to a carol concert

These are the things which will stick in your child's memory, not Center Parc.

DD doesn't believe since she is 9. She is 17 now. She still loves all the things I mentions bar the carol concert.

She still puts a plate with drink and snack out on Christmas Eve, she still is excited about a choclate advent calendar, no way we can decorate without her.

I think she would now enjoy Lapland a lot more than when she was small.

Well you’d better get cracking OP and get those things on the list ticked off.

We didn’t do any of those things on your list and I didn’t feel any pressure because I was happy I was giving my dc a nice Christmas.

I do pity people who can’t separate real life from social media.

Christmas isn’t about Experiences and mAkINg MeMorIEs.

We used to do one Santa visit with our dc. That was it. We never went to Lapland (although it looks lovely and we quite fancy it now!), Disney, Breakfast with Santa or anything else.

Dc are teenagers now.

So?

You don't have to do any of it.

We did a Father Christmas at Hamleys experience which was not cheap. Mine barely remember it - they remember FC arriving in our village on his horse every year though and that was free!

If you want an experience (for you rather than the kids) maybe pick one and do it next year as a special occasion but as others say Christmas for children is about the simple home traditions - for us it was tracking Santa, advent calendars, gingerbread houses, food out for the reindeers etc etc

Agree.

I have a friend who is verging on manic about these things.

Halloween was a month long extravaganza, then on 1st November she launched straight into Christmas, with a brief segue into Guy Fawkes Night.

By the first weekend in November her tree was up, weekend breakfasts are a big feast of pancakes and strawberries and hot chocolates and Santa shaped cookies, chocolate fountains and marshmallows. All while wearing their matching Christmas pjs.

She's taken them ice skating, toasting marshmallows, Polar Express, anything that's available, her kids have done it, and it's not even December yet. She has a full month of Santa visits and experiences etc still to come.

She puts all of this on Facebook and I am exhausted just looking at it. I can't even begin to imagine how drained her kids must feel.

It's all just too much.

Not at all necessary. A trip to panto or a Christmas film, a Nativity, go to buy a tree or some decorations. Normal things. You don't need to spend all that time and money!

I know it’s pretty depressing to see how easily mesmerised many are by consumerism , but most of the responses from parents show not everyone is sucked into this thankfully.

I know you edited your post @Purplegreenredblue but no, I have the time
And the money and I don't want to do this.

I got sucked into it a little bit during the Covid years. Panic booking anything I could so they didn't "miss out".

But it's really not worth it.

The hype and excitement of it all is too much for little kids. They just get stressed and overwhelmed. Also, they invariably are very anticlimactic. They are never as good as the kids are hoping.

Genuinely, what the other posters are saying is true. Family games night, winter walks spotting Christmas trees, putting up our own tree.....that's what they enjoy.

Most kids never do Disneyland, Lapland etc and that's absolutely fine. If they have a kind, safe, secure upbringing, are encouraged at school and able to develop some hobbies then that is all they need. It's just not necessary to chuck money at these various "experiences".

So if parents had the money and time, would they think differently then?

We didn't have either the money or the time, but if we had, then we still wouldn't have done all that malarkey and certainly wouldn't have gone to Lapland.

Kids find Christmas magical enough without having to be flown up to the Arctic circle. Santa's grotto in a village hall or garden centre is just as magical to them, and a lot less hassle for you.

We could afford these things but haven’t. They’ve been to Disneyland Paris, but not at Christmas. All the other things; no.

Tbh the only people I see flaunting these kinds of things on social media (🙄) are the ones who are probably struggling to afford it, but need to show that they’ve been.

No because I don’t live my life for Instagram moments which all of these seem to be

Nope. I always make sure to book a Santa experience such as breakfast with Santa. Anything beyond that is extra. I would love to do Lapland at some point but when they are a bit older and can really enjoy it.

Nope, because it's completely overwhelming for the kids, and we don't need to spend all our time proving to everyone else on social media that we are #makingmemories #livingourbestlife #soblessed

Nah. We certainly have the money and time but don't buy into every hype and trend. I went to Lapland aged 17 for a Christmas holiday and it was amazing. I rode a snowmobile, did cross country skiing, and got to experience the Lappish culture. It was wonderful and I could imagine doing that with my DC when they're older, like I was. But not for the silly Santa/Christmas village stuff. That's not what Christmas is about for us.

Where has all this madness come from? When I was a child we went to a grotto, drove around to look at the Christmas lights… and that was it. We still loved Christmas and felt excited in the build up, but we didn’t need all these ‘experiences’ to feel that way.
Kids are overloaded nowadays, it’s no wonder they get bored so easily and need occupying constantly. We used to make Christmas cards and do crafts and draw Christmas scenes - all stuff we could do at home with a film on.
You don’t need to follow this ridiculous showy type of parenting that people plaster over SM.

No, we just did what we could afford in the time we had. The build up to Xmas is busy for many with present buying, planning, food prep. DD never expected any more.

I mean you've got 18 years - how are you not going to fit it in?

And if they've grown out of wanting to do it before you get round to it then they won't feel like they missed out anyway - because they're grown out of it.

This sort of thing is generally more about the parents than the kids.

But there are probably more families not doing them so not maxing out their credit cards in what can be the most expensive time of the year. And guess what, their kids aren’t crying into their pillows every night and going to therapy because they have missed out.

Only do those activities if you think lining the pockets of the organisers is more important than spending time with your kids doing things your family enjoy that don’t involve scullions of quid.

My son doesn’t remember one Christmas experience. No Father Christmas visits, no Xmas wonderland, snow globe, Christmas markets,

When you say Lapland, do you mean the one in Finland?

I think a lot of people feel pressured into doing these things for fear of looking like they can't afford it. The only people I know who think these things are necessities are not well off at all.

We could have afforded some of these things but the kids were much happier going on the local Santa train, having hot chocolate while out seeing the lights, playing board games for days on end etc.

Queuing for hours in the drizzle at Disneyland or hanging around in airports to do a mass-produced trip to Lapland really doesn't appeal. And don't get me started on Center Parcs ...