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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask you to clear up Santa for me?

162 replies

Waltermittythesequel · 09/12/2015 20:48

What's the deal with Santa in the UK? Or anywhere for that matter.

In my family we it's:

Kids write to Santa.
Santa brings the presents they ask for, made by the elves, from Santa and only Santa.
Santa also fills stockings.
Grandparents, parents, aunts etc buy totally seperate presents for the children which are given by them to the dc when they see them.

Dh is English and says that santa only brought stocking fillers and delivered presents from relatives who he then had to thank?!

So, what's the general consensus of what Santa does?

PS Everyone I know and knew as a child did it the same way.

OP posts:

Original poster

Waltermittythesequel · 09/12/2015 20:48

Apologies for typos

OP posts:

dementedpixie · 09/12/2015 20:52

All presents from us to the children were from Santa including stocking presents. Presents from family were from those people and were given over by hand (not delivered by santa)

NickyEds · 09/12/2015 20:53

We did what you said; children write a (heavily supervised!!) list to Santa who delivers presents on the list on Christmas morning. Family buy other present separately and are given when they see them.

monkeysox · 09/12/2015 20:54

All families are different, it's a minefield.

Santa brought everything to our house (not many relatives bought Xmas presents for us and those who did we knew and thanked them.

My children have been told we have to send santa money due to a bloody radio appeal for "children who'll wake without a present "

My friend told her daughter santa brings only stocking present s.

squiggleirl1 · 09/12/2015 20:54

I'm Irish, but in our house things were the way it was for you. I don;t get the idea that Santa delivers other people's presents, or that he only gave stocking filler toys.

NickyEds · 09/12/2015 20:55

Oh and I do remember my mum saying that Santa did have a budget so there weren't enough pennies for absolutely everything in the Argos catalogue!

ghnocci · 09/12/2015 20:55

Father Christmas leaves a stocking (or pillow case!) at the end of DD's bed. Quite a few bits but all low value, stocking filler type things. She does write to him but knows not to ask for anything expensive as he doesn't bring expensive stuff. He uses horrible cheap xmas wrapping paper

Her main presents are separate and from us later in the morning. Relatives' presents are from them and when she sees them.

Champagneformyrealfriends · 09/12/2015 20:55

Presents from our mum and dad were from "Santa", all other gifts were from whoever bought them. My husbands DM insists on us telling his niece and nephews that Sabta delivered gifts for them to our house too. I don't get it tbh but it's their family tradition!

WipsGlitter · 09/12/2015 20:56

Stocking and presents from Santa - big and small stuff eg a bike.

Other presents are from whomever eg granny, auntie.

The Santa brings all the presents from other people thing only works if (a) you get lots from relatives and (b) you don't see them on Christmas Day.

AwfulBeryl · 09/12/2015 20:56

Everyone I know does it differently.
We do small but significant presents form Santa plus the stocking.
Bigger presents from us.
Growing up everything was from Santa apart from small stocking like presents that my Grandad got us for under the tree.
Dp used to have the stocking from Santa and everything else from family and friends, so what we do now is a compromise.
My dts are 5 and can never really remember who got what after a couple of weeks anyway.

MrsBungle · 09/12/2015 20:56

I'm Scottish and dh is English and both of us grew up doing it your way. That is also the way we are doing it with our dc's.

Ceic · 09/12/2015 20:57

I've some across both versions in the UK - it varies in different families. Personally, we go with your DH's one. Santa fills the stockings and delivers the presents from relatives.

AwfulBeryl · 09/12/2015 20:58

Sorry when I say everything was from Santa, I mean everything from my parents.
We had presents from family who gave them to us personally FC was not involved in anyway.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 09/12/2015 20:58

Santa delivers stockings only - all else from whoever they're from

itsmeohlord · 09/12/2015 20:59

Santa brought what we bought, family did the rest. But by 5 my son had worked out Santa was not real, and that he could not possibly get down our chimney it was blocked off.

Raxacoricofallapatorius · 09/12/2015 21:02

FC brings one modest gift and a stocking. Everything else is separate.

MsVestibule · 09/12/2015 21:02

All presents bought by us for our young children are brought by Father Christmas, opened first thing in the morning.

All presents from other friends/relatives are put under the tree whenever they arrive (sometimes well in advance of Christmas) with a 'to x, love from aunty/grandma x', tag, so they know who they're from. These presents are given out my my dad dressed in a Santa suit after Christmas dinner, but think that might be peculiar to our family .

WhereTheFuckIsWonderWoman · 09/12/2015 21:04

So to the children it looks like you've not given them anything???

DD's stocking is from FC, everything under the tree is from me/other family members and labelled as such. I'm not having him take the credit for everything I've got her

Memeto3boys · 09/12/2015 21:04

You know I wondered why I never questioned santa from a early age but we wrote to santa asked for presents then Christmas morning woke up to find lots of presents from under tree written from who they were of but none ever did say santa. I slightly recall my parents saying something along the lines of them helping santa by buying the presents and sending them to him for elves to wrap and him to deliver. My eldest is 11 and he's autistic never questioned about santa just told us last year he knew he wasn't real. Younger 2 are only 1 and 2 haven't a clue what I am going to tell them when they ask.

Original poster

Waltermittythesequel · 09/12/2015 21:05

A mixture then.

I thought his parents were just being mean

I should clarify that we get the dc presents too. So santa bring presents and we give presents from us as parents IYSWIM.

One year we went to MILs a few days after Christmas day and she told the dc santa had been to her house and brought presents but they were all wrapped with tags saying who they were from.

I had to explain to her how we do it. I'm not sure she even got what I was saying!

OP posts:

LaLyra · 09/12/2015 21:06

We do Santa brings stocking, one big present and maybe a couple of small presents. Parents do a small present or two as they have to give Santa money for presents and GPs/Aunts etc give presents. We tweaked slightly as DH's tradition was everything from Santa so we have some relatives that get Santa to deliver and some that don't (I didn't have a tradition as my parents didn't do Santa, but had got into the way of people giving their presents to my DDs when we met).

Santa never brings everything on the list as it would never be a surprise that way ;)

Original poster

Waltermittythesequel · 09/12/2015 21:07

I slightly recall my parents saying something along the lines of them helping santa by buying the presents and sending them to him for elves to wrap and him to deliver.

Like a courier?

OP posts:

Krampus · 09/12/2015 21:08

Similar to you really.
But Santa only brings things for the stocking.
Big main presents from us, if we bought them.
All other pressies are fom the person who bought them.

Nice and simple.

wigglesrock · 09/12/2015 21:10

We do it the same way as you, apart from the fact that we as parents don't buy the kids anything for Christmas - no presents from Mum and Dad. It's exactly how it was done when I was a kid. I'm in NI.

InternalMonologue · 09/12/2015 21:10

I think it's down to each family - there's loads of ways it can be done.

In my house (now and growing up) it's:
*Children write to Santa (on understanding it's a wish list, not prescriptive.)
*Santa comes on Christmas Eve night with a stocking (nothing more than £5, about £15 total), and presents.
*Everything Santa brings is from Santa.
*Other family members who give presents give them themselves, and are appropriately thanked.

I'm in Scotland if that helps your hypothesis

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