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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
NoWayNoHow · 05/12/2012 21:01

We do gifts from us and gifts from Santa, and family do the same.

I make a list of things that DS actively asks for, and then also take a note of things I think he might like/need/shows an interest in. The stuff he asks for goes on the letter to Santa, and then everyone gets him one thing from the Santa list (which will be what Santa brings, obvs) and one thing from the "other stuff" list which will be from them/us.

Works quite well.

squeakytoy · 05/12/2012 21:04

Santa delivered the presents, but parents and relatives bought them and his elves come around in December picking them up from the various houses and deliver them on the day.

My mum would wrap presents for grandparents while I was there, and leave them on top of the table as I went to bed. In the morning they had been collected..

apostrophethesnowman · 05/12/2012 21:10

Santa brings all the presents to the house the child actually lives in. The elves make them all. Parents have nothing to do with it. It's actually magic. Parents cannot possibly afford to buy that stuff after all!

Children are told that they can ask for whatever they want. However, Santa cannot possibly bring everything a child asks for, because he has to go around all the children in the world. If a gift isn't possible this year (think the toys that are just impossible to source) then Santa may bring it next year instead. He will substitute it with something he knows the child will like.

Aunties, uncles, grandparents give the presents themselves.

Once the children are old enough to realise just how much their parents actually helped Santa they are amazed and wethe parents get their thanks in one huge bundle!

I had no problem waiting for the children to realise. They all do eventually. It's well worth the wait.

I love the magic of Christmas. Xmas Grin

MadameCreeper · 05/12/2012 21:10

Santa leaves a stocking to be opened on Christmas morning. It's not huge and filed with silly things and a few toys to keep them occupied.

All other presents come from the person who gave them. The main presents from us go under the tree for later, relatives give their presents when they see them.

HollyBerryBush · 05/12/2012 21:24

Quite simple in our house.

Santa brings expensive and ridiculous presnts to children who have parents who have no quality time for them and it's a sort of compensation for not being part of a proper family who play together and want to spend time together. indulged and spoilt children, are lonely children who would like a mummy and daddy who bother to give them time.

Works for us.

Ambi · 05/12/2012 21:26

Santa delivers all presents and sends us the bill. Wink

ceres · 05/12/2012 21:30

"Santa brings expensive and ridiculous presnts to children who have parents who have no quality time for them and it's a sort of compensation for not being part of a proper family who play together and want to spend time together. indulged and spoilt children, are lonely children who would like a mummy and daddy who bother to give them time."

wow. that is pretty horrible.

MadameCreeper · 05/12/2012 21:31

Like Amazon Grin

IwishyouaMerryChristmas · 05/12/2012 21:34

Santa brings some gifts, Mum and Dad get some and other friends and relatives buy others.

It's only right that other people who have bought for them get thanked for their gifts. Not everything can be from Santa.

Our 2 know that Santa has a factory to run and elves to pay, so parents contribute to those costs so that Santa can bring them some presents if they've been good. This year, we'll be passing on the profits from ebaying some of their old toys onto Santa Xmas Wink

Softlysoftly · 05/12/2012 21:43

Basically what Apostrophe said.

I just don't understand how Mali g everything about money, credit to the parents or turning father Christmas into some glorified online delivery service stops them becoming mercenary.

The entire rest of the year DCs hear "nope we havent the pennies, mummy and daddy work hard for food don't waste it, let's save pennies in your bank", why can't they have one day that's magical and not about cash or credit?

Christmas should be about magic and the nativity, and patents "credit" should come from seeing their joyful faces whole it lasts, all too soon they will be jaded by this life and it's consumerism.

olddogs · 05/12/2012 21:47

santa brings the stockings and a medium pressie under the tree.

everyhting else is labled who it came off.

TBH i dont understand this 'Santas not taking the credit for my hard work' because soon enough they KNOW its you, and that you have been responsible for every single pressie they've had off Santa. so its delayed gratification.

But i'd rather have a 9 year old realise that the christmas magic comes from us, than dream up some conveluted story about how daddy sends the money to santa....

MsVestibule · 05/12/2012 21:53

We send Father Christmas the money and he buys the presents and delivers them on Christmas Eve. This explains nicely why my best friend's DD(6) gets a DS and 50 million other presents, whereas my DD just gets what I consider to be a normal amount of presents for a 5 year old no judgement on my best friend and her reckless spending habits, of course.

After Christmas dinner, my DH or DDad dresses up as FC and gives out the presents from grandparents, aunties and friends. The DCs know who they're from so they can thank them for them.

This spreads out the Christmas present giving and means it's not all over by 7.30am.

Wallison · 05/12/2012 21:56

Hollybush do you not give your kids presents then? And tell them that children who get presents only get them because their parents don't love them? Okaaaaaay...

I don't give any presents from me; they're all from Santa. He's never questioned why he doesn't get anything from me. Presents from other people are clearly that though, and he has to write little thank-you notes for them.

EnjoyResponsibly · 05/12/2012 21:56

We also say that we work so that we can send money to Santa for gifts. Santa decides if the gift will come or not.

Currently Santa has communicated that he is struggling to deliver Playdoh digging rigs

We also say that Santa shuts down Toys R Us in November. Toys R Us is the collection point for Santa as he delivers to DC round the world as the sleigh isn't big enough.

The sleigh travels aspt warp sieved, evidenced by NORAD tracking.

EnjoyResponsibly · 05/12/2012 21:57

Oh yes, Santa presents are wrapped in special paper, unique for DS's presents. Any leftover gets shredded.

Goofymum · 05/12/2012 23:32

Santa brings expensive and ridiculous presnts to children who have parents who have no quality time for them and it's a sort of compensation for not being part of a proper family who play together and want to spend time together. indulged and spoilt children, are lonely children who would like a mummy and daddy who bother to give them time. WTF??!! I've never heard such bollocks.

In our house santa delivers a stocking of presents to our 2 DDs. We leave out a mince pie and drink for santa and a carrot for Rudolf. There is no question as to how or where he gets the presents. It's magic isn't it, there doesn't have to be any logic to it. It's the best thing seeing the girls faces when they realise Santa has been. They will soon grow out of it but for now we all love it. How does that equate to me not wanting to give them my time? HollyBerryBush, what are you talking about?

Pilgit · 05/12/2012 23:42

We weren't going to do father christmas - the magic should (IMO) come from giving to each other and so have never discussed it with our DD (3) - either way - i.e. we have never said he does or doesn't exist or said FC brings the pressies. We have left it as a subject to see what she will pick up (she goes to nursery so every chance that she'll pick it up) and then we decided we'd play it by ear (but probably, if she believed, stockings from FC). However she seems to have decided for herself that FC isn't real......

timeforachangebaby · 05/12/2012 23:43

badly, as DC announced when I was trying to explain cost - that Santa doesnt need money!

OryxCrake · 05/12/2012 23:52

In our house, Father Christmas brings the stocking presents (small bits and pieces), which are left on the end of the bed. All other presents are under the tree and labelled from the givers, including us. Makes it much easier when relatives and friends have gifts for the kids at their houses and has meant that they've enjoyed choosing Christmas gifts for each other and other people from an early age.

This is how my parents did it when I was growing up so it didn't occur to me to do it any other way. I was really surprised when I discovered that in some families all the presents come from FC...

McChristmasPants2012 · 05/12/2012 23:55

Santa delivers the main present ( the one they want the most) then everything else is from ( insert person here)

cbeebiesatemybrain · 06/12/2012 00:05

We do stocking presents from Santa and everything else from the giver. We usually stay with family on Xmas eve so we go to see Santa and tell him where to deliver the presents Grin

GoodKingWenSOLOslas · 06/12/2012 00:09

I always told Ds that I had to send a cheque to Santa to pay for his gifts and with Dd, I tell her that if I go out and buy them, I have to send them to Santa who then decides whether or not she's been good enough and will wrap and deliver them to her if she has. If he sends any through that I haven't bought, then I have to pay him for them.

ivykaty44 · 06/12/2012 00:11

I made it up as I went along and one lie lead to another Grin

GoodKingWenSOLOslas · 06/12/2012 00:12

I mean if she knows I have bought them as opposed to not knowing. I confuse myself sometimes!!

Wallison · 06/12/2012 00:13

Gosh, some of these methods sound mighty complicated!