Help! I have been asked to prove FC exists by...

[samqueens]

My DD has thrown me a Christmas curve ball (as if we don’t all have enough of those to deal with right now🙄) Her belief in Father Christmas hangs in the balance.... (apparently Sainsburys have been advertising that they sell stocking fillers and they would have no need to do if FC filled the stockings - thanks Sainsburys) She has therefore added an “impossible” ask to her list as a test of Father Christmas’s existence - and there’s no way he can deliver without some help!!

I’ve scoured ebay but no luck, and I get that everyone is at capacity right now, and also that maybe whether she believes or not is unimportant, but I’d like to provide a glimmer of magic if I can.

So am very hopefully asking if there are any London mumsnetters who might have an unloved, unused blue John Lewis hairband from last Christmas season lying around which I could buy from them? I can collect in socially distanced way from most areas of London. I’m attaching pictures - it was navy with a kind of knot at the centre and had swans and flowers embroidered down one side. Came from JL kids dept last Christmas (she lost it on an outing earlier this year).

I know it’s probably ridiculous to ask but... here’s hoping!

Super pretty head band, OP. Fingers crossed for you. Had a good poke through ebay but to no avail.

@Chrispackhamspoodle

My daughter tests santa.It's how I found out you can buy really tiny hammers from Etsy.She also asked him for a perfectly ripe mango last year which was much harder to find than a hammer from the elf's workshop.

Your DD sounds amazing! I would find this stressful but fun to sort each year.

www.powder-uk.com/browse/c-Headbands-110

This is the brand that supply them, they have lots of designs. Maybe get in touch and ask who they supplied the swan one to, then ring around?
Good luck! Let us know if you get one!!

It's very straight forward, he only comes if you believe. DS2 "believed" until he was 13!

If she's younger, the Noraid santa tracker is quite convincing.

I love threads like this, they make me feel really Christmassy.

Only wish I could help!

@CrotchBurn

For fucks sake could you all stop giving the OP sickly twee excuses to come up with, I'm sure she can figure that out like an adult.

She's asking if anyone has this headband and wants to sell it.

I bet you're fun at parties

@EmmaGrundyForPM
The last time that line was even vaguely witty was circa 2012

@CrotchBurn

For fucks sake could you all stop giving the OP sickly twee excuses to come up with, I'm sure she can figure that out like an adult.

She's asking if anyone has this headband and wants to sell it.

This sort of thread is an MN Xmas tradition.

I wish I could help but I'm just piggy backing on to say I really hope you find the right headband. The headband which i absolutely love, I can imagine if I'd had one when I was 8 it would have been my absolute prized possession.

Thank you so much to everyone saying Powder - I didn’t realise they were the maker but have messaged them just in case (and the toucan and fox both great calls as possible back stops

Just marking my spot
I have to know if you get one OP
Hope you do

I know this isn’t what you want to hear right now, but in case it doesn’t work out, it’s ok that she’s questioning. It’s part of our job, when they’re ready, to help our dc to transition from believing in the magic man in the red suit to becoming part of the magic of Christmas themselves.

I’m sorry I can’t be more help finding the hair and though.

Just spoke to Powder - it wasn’t actually made by them, they only do women’s sizes not kids in their designs... the search continues!

Have you contacted John Lewis and asked if they can help?

Oh and when DS was a similar age, he asked for some lego that was from a range that is discontinued, he wasn't trying to test father Christmas, more he'd seen it at a friend's house. I explained that father Christmas doesn't make lego, and has to get it from the lego factory as its too specialised for the elves etc. Ds was ok about not getting it, then dh found someone selling some unopened packets on ebay (there's a big trade in discontinued lego ranges for adult collectors apparently!) and paid an obscene amount for this small lego set, but ds genuinely thought it was magical, because he'd got something Mummy definitely couldn't buy in the shops.

It wasn't about spoiling him, and we'd have coped if he couldn't have it, however it was that bit more special.

I hope you find your hairband. This year needs all the magic we can manage.

How old is DD?

@MargosKaftan, I’ve done that with discontinued Lego. So worth it!! There is a huge market in discontinued and Preloved Lego.

Op did you find it? If not, Christmas will still be magical. X

Time to tell her Santa is a figment of her imagination!

When I was growing up in the 60s we had two phones in our house which was pretty unusual for a bog standard Victorian terrace. If you dialled 174 and hung up, it would make the phone ring.

So the phone would ring, a still-believing child would be told to answer it and voila! My dad Father Christmas was on the phone!

@StCharlotte

When I was growing up in the 60s we had two phones in our house which was pretty unusual for a bog standard Victorian terrace. If you dialled 174 and hung up, it would make the phone ring.

So the phone would ring, a still-believing child would be told to answer it and voila! My dad Father Christmas was on the phone!

More recently i.e. for 5 or 6 years until last year, DBro was in my phone as "Father Christmas", complete with photo of the. If man in red ripped off Google. He'd ring the DC in the run up to Christmas, and sporadically throughout the year. They were completely taken in by it for a long, long time. DBro ramped up his part ever year, the the point that he had elfin sound effects and jingle bells.

FC won't replace something she was careless enough to lose nor does he give everything on the list, the list is a list of suggestions.

Thank you to everyone who posted kindly and helpfully.

For those who were keen to know the outcome, I had no joy locating someone with an old hair band to sell - but it was always a long shot, and a “nice to have” rather than an essential. I’ll keep looking in case one turns up one day, and we will have a peaceful and happy Christmas regardless!

To some of the other posters (and I don’t mean those simply sharing stories of what worked for them, or their treasured childhood memories) Well... I wasn’t really expecting so many suggestions as to how best to manage our family Christmas, or my daughter’s emotional well being. But to reassure anyone who is worried - yes I am capable of letting her down gently / creating alternate explanations & scenarios / giving something similar but not the same - or even (shock horror) telling her the truth...

What I was certainly not expecting when I originally posted, is that this thread would provide a license for judgement - especially of my DD (for instance, whether she was careless or not). Nor did I imagine that trying to find things that are meaningful and special to give a child at Christmas, or going out of your way for them, could be construed as unnecessary/OTT/spoiling, as so often implied above... I sort of thought that was part of the point of the whole event.

But thank you @hansgrueber for reminding me that as long as she grows up with compassion for, and generosity to, others in her heart and actions, then both she and I will be doing very well.

Wishing you all a very merry holiday season.

@hansgrueber

FC won't replace something she was careless enough to lose nor does he give everything on the list, the list is a list of suggestions.

How very festive of you.

Have you ever lost something?

@FuzzyPuffling

Time to tell her Santa is a figment of her imagination!

Says who?

If the OP can keep the magic going a little longer why not? No harm in trying.

Children should just naturally come to realise on their own, there's no need to go out of your way to tell them.