AIBU to ask about the Father Christmas promise

[Tworoads]

My little boy is 5 years old. He is fascinated by all kinds of electronic gadgets, teaching himself how to move around a PC, load apps onto a mobile, work a Sat Nav etc. His favourite outing isn't Smyths or The Entertainer - it's Currys! He is also pouring over cars all the time, recognising manufacturers' logos and chatting about cars, cars, cars all the time.
So we come round to the letter to Father Christmas and he decides he wants a ride on Ford Ranger electric car WITH the touch screen radio built in. They are £400-£500!!!! I have found a different Ford electric car without the touch screen for £200 and might possibly stretch to that but it's not what he wants and the other one is out of the question.
He thinks Father Christmas is magical. He has no idea that he is asking for something so expensive - to him £500 might just as well be £5. He's a lovely little lad. Not spoilt but nevertheless, I have a problem.
How do I satisfy him? What would you do to make a little boy's dreams come true without bankrupting myself?

This is a hard one!

Are you doing a Santa visit before Christmas? I'm wondering if you could have a little word with the elf before you go in to see the main man to have him explain that he may not be able to bring that specific one 🤔

I feel your pain though, my 3yo has asked for a laptop 🙄

I always told my child that Santa brings the presents, but the budget was set by parents who paid. Not because of your situation, but because how else to explain how privileged she was, and how so many people had nothing.

She still loved the magic of Santa, and believed until she was 10.

Could you get someone to call to pretend to be Santa, they can explain that models not available. Maybe the cheaper
Model and an old second hand sat nav would do the trick then.

Santa does not bring things that require batteries or a plug (anything electronic). Mums and Dads have to pay for those and send them to Santa.

For this very reason we have always told our kids that because there are so many children in the world, the elves can’t make all the toys they need, FC has to buy some from the shops and as he doesn’t have any money, all the mums and dads have to send FC the money for their childrens gifts. We told them each child has one Santa present and the rest are brought by him but are paid for by us, so there is a budget.

Worked really well and also helped when explaining why some Children get less/more or all their toys from Santa (because their parents let Santa get all the credit!)

Can you not say elves don’t make that kind of stuff? I steer mine away from asking the big guy for branded/specific gear you can get in a shop and tell them to ask me for that stuff and ask Santa for stuff like ‘a purple bike’ or whatever.

@Cocomarine

I always told my child that Santa brings the presents, but the budget was set by parents who paid. Not because of your situation, but because how else to explain how privileged she was, and how so many people had nothing.

She still loved the magic of Santa, and believed until she was 10.

We bought the presents and sent them to the North Pole for Father Christmas to deliver on Christmas Eve. A lot easier to manage expectations &, as you say, make DC aware that they were lucky to have things whilst other children maybe didn’t get everything they wished for.

"I once saw a news article about things in Santa's work shop year ago because it's all so secret and these are the types of thing I think they can build there"

Also do you have space for it? Mine asked for snow one year and got a letter explaining it wouldn’t be practical as granny couldn’t visit- if there’s no space Santa could make an executive decision...

Mummy and or etc Daddy give santa the money to buy the presents, and there isn't enough money to buy that.. Otherwise by 18/and potentially more kids you'll be bankrupt!!!

If he has only just asked, you could say that that sort of present needs a lot of planning and santa would not be able to do it with such late notice.

However, with that just be prepared for next year and then having the conversation about budgets

Father christmas only brings a few small things for the stocking.

Everything else goes under the tree from parents or family.

In our house Santa only brings the stockings with the small presents. Anything big is from family. This has worked great at controlling large purchases.

We where always told the letter to Father Christmas was a wish list and we would get some things off the list - I tell mine the same (well I did when they were little) - that way they don;t expect to get everything they ask for - so maybe explain that Farther Christmas brings a selection of things depending on what fits in the sleigh

He thinks Father Christmas is magical.

And unfortunately Father Christmas can't bring anything electronic because of interference with his magic

@Didiusfalco

In our house Santa only brings the stockings with the small presents. Anything big is from family. This has worked great at controlling large purchases.

also this - they got one big(ish) gift of FC and small stocking bits - the rest were from us!

off! ffs

Get Santa to type a letter to little lad and explain that there are delays with some presents arriving this year (Suez canal etc etc or whatever) and he will do his very best to deliver his Christmas wish but that it may be slightly different and Santa hopes DS loves it just as much...?

My 3yo is really into robots. I told him father Christmas will look at the list but might not be able to get the elves to make the specific robot in time as there are lots of other girls and boys too but father Christmas will try his best to get one similar to what's on the list. He seemed satisfied so we'll see how it goes

You just have to raise them to know that they’re giving FC ideas! I have no idea why parents do anything any different.

I always told my child that Santa brings the presents, but the budget was set by parents who paid

This is what I did too.

I raised dd as a single parent and even when I was working full time I was still on benefits too and money was VERY tight!

It also allows for children to understand why others get more/less than them without delving too deeply into why hopefully

I also think they're never too young to be taught that this isn't the be all and end all of Christmas.

To think of others less fortunate at this time too.

It's good for them to learn there are limits

My DD started saying, “I’m ordering this for Christmas.” She meant writing it on her list and we had to have a conversation about the Christmas list being a wish list but you don’t get everything on it. Also, when she was 5, what she wanted changed depending on which toy she’d recently seen.

Main presents come from Mummy and Daddy. Santa brings her stocking and some sack presents (books, puzzles, small toys).

Also, I’m guessing these ride on cars aren’t small. Could you say that Santa doesn’t have space on his sleigh for big toys like that.

I think Santa is about to write to him and explain that he hasn't got unlimited money, it has to buy presents for everyone, therefore the very expensive car would cost too much.

I've always told mine that I buy his gifts and 'send them', as in, to Santa. Neither of them ever questioned why I would do that, nor why Santa would bother bringing them back!
It makes it easier to manage expectations. They knew some things were just too much money. Obviously, pitched in such a way as not to worry them. "We have enough money for what we need, and some of what we want, but not for that."