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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to ask how you explain santa and presents to dc's

61 replies

doorbellringer · 05/12/2012 19:56

Do you tell them you bought the presents and Santa collected them and delivered them back so they appreciate you are paying for them? or Santa's elves made them hence no cost to you.
How do you explain presents at gp's house etc?

Would really appreciate your take on it as it seems a bit confusing balancing cost/gratitude/xmas magic.

OP posts:

natation · 05/12/2012 19:59

Tell them you sent the money to Santa who decides whether your children have been deserving and then arranges the purchase and delivery. Or tell them Santa has a budget for every child and it's £XX.

mamij · 05/12/2012 19:59

DH doesn't like telling DD Santa is real, but i want to keep things magical for her (I loved the idea of Santa when i was young!). So we compromise and we tell DD that daddy gave money to Santa to buy her present. She did ask me why Santa doesn't have his own money

lookingfoxy · 05/12/2012 20:00

All presents come from Santa here.
Except the ones from other people so ds can say thank you to them.

mrskeithrichards · 05/12/2012 20:00

Santa brings them, he's never really asked much more.

Tilly28 · 05/12/2012 20:02

My mum always used to put some of the tags from Santa and some from her and my dad. That way I appreciated that they had bought some and it explained why some presents were around the tree and at grandparents and just a selection arrived from Santa! :-)

Original poster

doorbellringer · 05/12/2012 20:03

Ah yes that would make sense to explain gifts from us but do you say gp's do the same? Why are the gifts delivered to their house?

OP posts:

bradyismyfavouritewiseman · 05/12/2012 20:03

DD is quite gullible so.

We buy presents and santa/ elves pick them up. Or we arrange delivery straight to santa. She is shocked amazon delivers to the north pole for free.

Santa drops the presents that other people have bought at their house, so they can be there when she opens them.

Then we don't have a chimney so we have a big decorate key that we hang out on christmas eve so her can get in.

TBH its getting a bit ridiculous, last year dh borrowed my dad size 11 boots, covered the sole in flower and walked round the living room to leave foot prints and then added glitter. took weeks to come up.

I don't know what he will come up with this year.

In all honestly DD is 8 and I am sure she knows he isn't real, she keeps up the pretense for dh.

PinkFairyDust · 05/12/2012 20:04

We got a stocking from Santa when little - all big gifts came from my parents x

mrsEbruce · 05/12/2012 20:04

We told them ( stopped believing last year) that we paid santa and he gave us the presents too keep in house and delivers there big presents on christmas eve ( the ones wee set out and dont wrap) this way we could explain the locked cupboard lol

Pandemoniaa · 05/12/2012 20:04

In our house Santa delivered the stocking presents (having been tipped off by us as to what to bring) and all the other presents came from whoever had given them to the dcs.

SantaJaxx · 05/12/2012 20:04

DD1 decided a few years ago that mummy and daddy sent the money to Santa with a list and then Santa delivered the presents. Don't know where she got the idea from I overheard her telling dd2, it was quite sweet.

Ragwort · 05/12/2012 20:05

We only have 'stocking' presents from Father Christmas and everything else is from named family or friends. Not so relevant now anyway as DS is 11.

How else to children learn to write thank you letters ?

My DS did twig quite early on when we were doing shoeboxes (taboo subject on Mumsnet) and he asked 'why doesn't Father Christmas deliver presents to these children' ?

freddiefrog · 05/12/2012 20:07

OhTheConfusion · 05/12/2012 20:08

Our DC's think we send santa the money and he decides if they have been good enough... if they have they get gifts, if not santa uses the money for poorer children

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 05/12/2012 20:09

Stockings are filled from Santa. All other presents are from the giver.

freddiefrog · 05/12/2012 20:10

Bloody phone!

Santa brings stocking filler/useful stuff here, pants, socks, fart putty, sweets, hair clips, etc

Everything else goes under the tree and is labelled from the person who bought it

roseum · 05/12/2012 20:13

Stocking presents are from Santa - and are always fun/ cheap/ entertaining/ noisy (plus a satsuma) basically things to keep small children quiet for a couple of hours - so things like a little toy car, a bottle of bubble solution etc. Big presents come from the giver.

rotavirusrita · 05/12/2012 20:20

Father Christmas has a factory at the north pole. he also buys stuff. he can manipulate space and time so can obviously make lots of money.

He sorts out stockings and presnets from him which he delivers.

They also get presents from us and family etc- these are separate from father christmas presents.

DS1 is 8. we were talking about FC this morning and he says he still believes but lots of people at school dont. I asked him why and he said because " you and dad would never have bought me a lego star wars X-wing because you said they were too expensive" :)

rotavirusrita · 05/12/2012 20:22

I was the oldest child and my mum and I managed to spin things out for my younger brother until he was 12!!!!

SuchFunSuchFun · 05/12/2012 20:30

Santa will bring the "little" pressies and stockings pressies, and the others are from the giver, including some from us, otherwise I thought she'd wonder why she gets nothing from Mummy and Daddy

babybythesea · 05/12/2012 20:39

Santa does the stocking fillers - sticker books, toy cars, a bag of chocolate coins etc.

Big presents come from people, including the big present from us.

It helps that our day is divided up. Wake up, open stockings - presents from FC.
Breakfast, dog walked, any other jobs that need doing (or play with stokcing toys depending on your age!), get dressed up and drive to house of relative (usually my aunt as she has most room) where we have a big Christmas lunch as a family - there are around 16 of us. (On arrival, we put the presents for those attending round the bottom of the tree). At about 4.00, after lunch things are cleared away, and the Christmas tree becomes the focus. The presents from underneath it are then handed out, labelled, and there is a huge emphasis on saying thank you and seeing people open what you got them.

So presents from FC and presents from family happen at two different ends of the day and are kept totally separate - FC has nothing to do with family presents.

wonderingsoul · 05/12/2012 20:39

as a child, only the presents in the stockings where from santa.

the kids have a tree in their room and the presents under that are from santa.. ( i prefer it this way as you cant allways get things into stockings... other then smaller things.. ( they have dvds. sweets. teddys etc small toys which wont go in a stocking)

then what is under the living room tree is from me and friends. ( gp give when we go there)

i never understood why every thign has to be from santa? and dont they question why you dont get them anything? do they not buy presents for their friends.. then wonder why they only get presents from santa?

Pandemoniaa · 05/12/2012 20:43

I was far too Bah Humbug to give Santa all the credit. He wasn't the one braving the craziness of Christmas shopping or paying for it. Also, it seemed very unfair and discourteous if grandparents and other relatives couldn't get properly thanked for their presents.

Fairyegg · 05/12/2012 20:48

You just give them a stocking with little bits in like sweets, books, yo-yo, etc in, nothing expensive. Then you buy them a main present from you which is put under the tree, along with presents from anyone else. Santa is only responsible for the stocking presents, all other presents, including any they get at grandparents houses are from those who brought them so they can be thanked.

CombineBananaFister · 05/12/2012 20:55

My Ds is only 3 and point blank refuses to believe! am gutted! he does believe in FC and thinks him and the elves make all the toys in time for xmas and he thinks we buy them from FC to be delivered for xmas day which he does if you are good. I too have brought my Dc up to be grateful and say thankyou and he also knows pennies buy stuff so you can't just have everything but i just wish he believed in the magica of xmas more

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