Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how you field questions about Santa's seeming inequity.

27 replies

ILovePud · 18/09/2014 12:11

More of a WWYD as another thread has got me thinking. Last year my kids (6 and 7) asked lots of questions about why Father Christmas seems to bring some kids more than others, I've also recently had a question about why the tooth fairy pays at different rates. Can I ask those of you who do the whole Father Christmas thing if you've come up with any good responses to these questions? My responses have been lame and not stood up to further scrutiny.

OP posts:
LilithTheKitty · 18/09/2014 12:14

Santa only brings one present per child. Some parents pretend that presents from them are from santa too.

I've got away with that so far.

BerniceBroadside · 18/09/2014 12:15

Santa does the stocking, Parents have to contribute to the cost of big presents.

Tooth fairy pays according to condition and cleanliness.

nancy75 · 18/09/2014 12:17

Parents tell Santa how much their child is allowed (in our house all presents from us come from Santa, DD thinks we just buy her a pair of Xmas jimjams!)

NewEraNewMindset · 18/09/2014 12:17

I am not looking forward to this Santa thing. I absolutely LOVED the magic of Christmas as a child and yet the thought of telling my child loads of lies fills me with dread.

Catsmamma · 18/09/2014 12:18

Santa brings stocking presents to everyone and if some parents want to tell lies about say it is Santa bringing then that's up to them.

jacks365 · 18/09/2014 12:18

Santa does stockings but some parents send the presents they get the child for santa to deliver but I prefer to give them myself.

I don't do tooth fairy.

DreamingDiva34 · 18/09/2014 12:19

In my house we buy the presents to send to santa to be delivered...And when asked if he's real my answer is 'like fairiea, as long as we believe he is real'.

Andrewofgg · 18/09/2014 12:19

BAH. HUMBUG!

Trollsworth · 18/09/2014 12:21

I told mine that parents pay Santa.

Mumto3dc · 18/09/2014 12:23

FC brings small stocking presents in our house.
I just kind of muddle through all the tricky questions!

I've found that the desire to believe in something that brings you lots of presents is stronger than a desire to be rational!

TranmereRover · 18/09/2014 12:24

If anyone can help out with good reasons why Santa doesn't deal in Apple products for under 10s, I'd be grateful (& then how to field the complaints when some other kid at school gets given an iPad aged 7 - ffs)

MuddlingMackem · 18/09/2014 12:28

We've always said that Santa gets and delivers the presents but then he sends the parents the bill to pay, just like we get a credit card bill.

Presents aren't wrapped in this house, so we've said that I'm too stingy to pay the extra for gift wrapping. Grin

NynaevesSister · 18/09/2014 12:29

Mummies and Daddies work with Santa. This is how he is able to get to all homes in one night. The Santa Stocking comes from Santa and keeps his Elves very busy. And this is what Santa takes to all the homes. Grown ups help with all the rest and that's why Santa is a different man to the one we went to see last year (the last was me thinking very quickly on my feet when my five year old pointed this out).

WooWooOwl · 18/09/2014 12:35

I told mine that parents have to pay FC. Then they asked how we pay FC, I had to tell them that he has a special website, and that is also why I had to see their lists before they stuff them in a sealed envelope to put in the postbox.

Then the year after I realised I was lying far more than I was comfortable with, so I let them work out the truth.

TunipTheUnconquerable · 18/09/2014 12:38

'I know, it's really unfair of him. Why would he do that?' Shock

ElephantsNeverForgive · 18/09/2014 12:52

I wasn't brought up to believe in FC and I remember, aged about 10 a younger family friends DD asking me exactly this question.

I think, I muttered something non committal. What I wanted to say was...

"Because you are the spoilt only child of a rich, business owning father and your far too old to believe in FC".

As for my own DCs, only one big present came off Santa and I used to say he sent the bill.

Also on one famous occasion he even delegated delivery to Argos. (Magic shrinking powder isn't powerful enough for cabin beds).

RedToothBrush · 18/09/2014 13:21

Santa magic only works for certain things and as a law abiding chap, he's still bound by patents and trademarks, so he can no longer make all toys in his elf work shop with his magic. Due to the changing demands of modern children and modern living he has been forced to adapt unfortunately. Its not just the lack of chimneys on new build houses that Santa has had to adjust to.

Being an enterprising fella, he reorganised his workshop to be more like a wholesale and distribution operation.

But this raised a new problem for him too. He now has to pay for goods from suppliers. So he has set up an order system where parents can either go with the basic Santa package of a couple of presents or pay to top it up, and Santa delivers by sleigh rather than Yodel as he's more reliable.

This way he can pay for all the free presents, that he gives out on the basic package, from the profits of the top ups, so all children get at least something. He also increases his bulk buying ability so gets better deals.

Occasionally, if there isn't enough room on the sleigh service or he is facing stock issues, Santa will outsource his orders through competitors like Amazon. But as a rule he doesn't like to do this.

Its not quite as magical as the old days or like in the movies, but Santa realises that the magic of Christmas is sometimes taken away by knowing exactly how things are done. He was asked by the BBC a couple of years ago, to do a documentary about how things in Lapland have changed over the years, but he resisted doing that. He's pragmatic you see, and tries to maintain as much of that old fashioned magic as he can, just through mystery.

AnathemaIsANiceNameForAGirl · 18/09/2014 13:37

Tooth Fairy is a franchise (thanks Terry Pratchett) and the amount you get just depends on which TF is in the area and what change she has on her Smile

ArabellaTarantella · 18/09/2014 13:40

Santa only does the stocking. Surely that is obvious? Well, it was in our house.

As for the Tooth Fairy, it really depends on how well you have brushed and looked after your teeth. Quality counts when making fairy bedheads.

LittleprincessinGOLDrocks · 18/09/2014 13:52

In our house we send the money to Santa, and he does his best to buy what he can with what we can afford to send him.
It lowers their expectations to be more realistic, but they are never disappointed with whatever they get. DD asked for one thing last year, a skipping rope, and DS asked for a hotwheels car. They got those things and more, but the items they most treasured cost just £1 each.

With the toof fairy it comes down to the street value of the tooth dunnit like? Purist gets most dough innit? (realises she sounds about as gangster as a wet fish but sticks with it...)

SquirrelWearingATrilby · 18/09/2014 13:56

Tooth fairy we spoke to other mums and agreed a going rate so all dc's friends got the same amount. Santa only brings stocking gifts. I didn't want Santa getting the kudos for me sourcing a much wanted toy with a lot of time and trouble!

HelpMeGetOutOfHere · 18/09/2014 14:01

we may get another year, but I fully expect this year to be the year that fc no longer exists (dd was 8 in march and the youngest), in our house its always been fc brings the stockings so small presents and a few sweets usually no more than £5 per gift, and we buy the other presents, but fc delivers them and tells us if they are on the naughty or nice list!

ILovePud · 18/09/2014 21:12

Thanks to everyone who responded - I'll be pinching some of your ideas, there are some well thought out cover stories there. Smile

OP posts:
Pilgit · 18/09/2014 21:19

Simple - don't have the myth in your house. Sell Christmas as a time when we give to each other as a sign of our love and affection for each other. Encourage them to understand that it is the love and care that goes with the presents that is important. Then encourage them to help buy a pressential for a local toy appeal so that they can spread that feeling. This is Christmas magic that doesn't fade with age or wither when the myth is exposed.

(Right I will take my sanctimonious smug self off somewhere....)

Pico2 · 18/09/2014 21:22

When I was a child my DM told me that Santa was very busy, so asked her to pick up our presents for him. That way she was able to take us shopping and pick our presents. Being the younger sibling, I am not sure I still believed that late anyway.

Swipe left for the next trending thread