That Santa doesn’t exist.

[Elf25]

When did your DCs stop believing in Santa and whilst they did believe what was your rhetoric about how Santa works? E.g. Santa brings presents but parents give him money etc..

I saw another related post and it made me wonder what people do..

I have an under 1 year end of so will be there soon

We’ve never made a big deal out of Santa because my sil, who had kids first, insisted on doing the whole ‘Santa brings all the presents’ line to the point that even family gifts from grandparents were from Santa. No thank you, no appreciation for the time and effort we all went to. I found it rude. It was a while later thanks to mn that I realised how bad it would seem for those kids who had less at Xmas. So with my kids it was never mentioned. The surprise of what was in the stocking was enough, they knew it was me that did it, they knew who other gifts were from and thanked them. I think youngest ds said something about a friend believing in Santa when he was about 6, I said well people have different beliefs and traditions, that’s his, so let it be. It’s never been an issue for us.

10 year old still 100% Santa, not a doubt! Told 12 year old at 11, they suspected but we confirmed so now older D.C. is in on it and still gets ‘Santa’ gifts or will until the little one stops believing.
So this is our last ‘proper’ Santa year as we’ll make sure the little one doesn’t go to high school believing in Santa!

We never did the elaborate ploys of footsteps, or sleigh bell sounds, never did the ‘santa’s watching ‘ etc kept it pretty simple so they wouldn’t feel like twits when they found out!

Santa only fills stockings in our house so any requested gift needs to fit in there. Only one gift request.

My children know that we like to buy them their most sought after presents (if we can afford to) because we work hard to earn money to buy the present. I want them to know that their gifts come from people who love them very much. Santa doesn't get all the credit in our house, but brings just enough to keep the magic alive.

Although my eldest DS is 8, and I think this might be our last year.

@BattleOfPastings
😅 I fixed the auto correct 5 times on that message and still left it! Weirdly, I don't even have an account with them and yet they have invaded my phone. Might have to leave NatWest if they give me santa 🤶 🧑‍🎄

Age 1-3 you don’t really need to say anything apart from ‘it’s Christmas!’ And give a pile of toys 😂

Age 3+ I explained the Santa legend and that its a fun game the whole world plays but some people tell their kid its real so don’t tell them it isn’t as theirnparnts will be mad, just say nothing if the subject comes up.

Has avoided a lotta drama!

In our family, Santa doesn't buy or make the presents. The person buying the presents sends them away to Santa for safekeeping then Santa brings them back on Christmas Eve, sort of like a celestial Yodel driver. This stops the DC asking for anything ridiculous like a flying pony, helps to explain why some people get piles of presents and other people don't, and makes sure they thank the appropriate person rather than Santa.

We don't do stockings but Santa does leave them one gift, it's always something to share such as some board games or art supplies or cinema vouchers.

Eldest two DC know Santa isn't real. They asked if he was real and I asked "what do you think?", they said they thought he was real so I agreed and left it there. They each asked again, separately, and again I asked "what do you think?". They said they didn't think he was real so I confirmed it. I said that obviously we buy their presents, which they already knew, but we don't send then to Santa and that this is just a game to make Christmas seem magical for smaller children. I let them help put the presents out after the younger DC were asleep so that they could be involved in that side of it.

9yr old DC is questioning it this year, if they haven't worked it out before Christmas then I'm certain they'll work it out afterwards.

4 DCs.

Our rule of thumb is that he stops coming once you get to secondary school age weather you still believe or not, because there just isn't room in his sack for toys for EVERYONE who believes in him.

My kids get skeptical at about 9ish, but the older ones have always kept the secret beautifully for the little ones

Oh, and we have the stocking presents which appear xmas eve, and are close as poss to what is on the list left out, and then family presents which are stored under the tree.

Santa uses different wrapping paper to us, obvs, and tends not to do labels

Father Christmas brings stockings which are left on the end of the bed. These are smaller things, usually picked up cheap through the year.
All other gifts are from parents, friends and family.
No mention of money given to FC. They write a list, send a letter etc. We make it clear that they won't get everything on the list, and it won't all be from FC. It is also a list to help family and friends know what they would like.

I try to make sure there are one or two small things in the stockings that they have specifically asked for. FC and the elves make toys in the North Pole, and do copies of things they see in the shops.
We explain that FC has a lot of children to give presents to, so can't get all that they want every year, it has to spread across the whole world and FC chooses different children each year to sometimes get a bit more.
Mostly though, I just explain awkward questions away with 'Christmas magic!' 😆

My DD is 4 and we do santa but we're never going to maintain any sort of pretence that he's real. We also say that her toy sea creatures go out for a swim when we're not in the house. But have told her that this is just a fun pretend game that we play. It'll be the same with santa.

Also, I never turned round and told my parents I didn't believe anymore. I think I was afraid I wouldn't get a stocking otherwise! It was just a given that as I got older, we were given our full stockings to take up to bed with us on Christmas Eve!

People who don’t believe don’t get stockings on the end of their beds … none of my children are fools.

And to explain all the FCs you see in shops, school etc, he's very busy and needs people to help him. They all report back to him what the children have said, what they want and if they've been good!

Santa mysteriously being much more generous to rich kids is probably a hard but worthwhile life lesson. Society really does prefer rich people.

Father Christmas/Santa is a courier in my house. My kids are 24, 4 and due at end of next month. I've always just said we buy the presents, Santa collects them/are sent to Santa and then he delivers them.

DS is 8 and told us this year that Santa is us, don't think he really believed last year. All presents in this house came from Santa, the birthday fairy or the Easter bunny. This year is going to be strange we are still doing the elves tho find it so funny

Isn't that a bit odd, and a lot of extra steps when you could just buy them and give them?
I've always thought it a strange explanation, and defeats the point of having Father Christmas in the first place.

I think i stopped believing at about 12. It helped that I had elder siblings who kept it going for me. We got most presents from him, some from mum and dad. Made it believable. I plan to do the same for my baby.

For those who have all gifts from FC, how do you explain it when their friends have presents from parents, friends and family?

DC and his friends still believed in year 5. If they didn't, they were doing a fabulous job of pulling the wool over their parents eyes. Year 6, mine started to say "yeah, yeah" and roll his eyes, when I spoke about Santa, but has never ad

We live in a small flat so there's no hanging stockings by the fireplace downstairs. Because there is no fireplace, or downstairs lol

Instead, Father Christmas leaves them a present each outside the front door (how would he get inside unnoticed in our creaky flat?)

Also, his mince pie, brandy, carrot and water station is outside so it makes sense.

Ds is 10 and hasn’t said anything. I think he probably secretly knows. Dd is 7 and still fully believes. Father Christmas brings stockings and a few other presents. The rest of the presents they know come from family. I really hate it when all presents from supposed to be from Father Christmas, even ones from grandparents etc.

Absolutely the same here. That's what my mum did. I'm in Ireland so when I was a child certain toys were often difficult to get. We'd see things on tv but they might have been easily got in the UK but often scarce here especially certain Barbie stuff (it's actually so strange thinking about it now) so my mum was always pragmatic in her approach to Santa and I've copied it. I absolutely love Christmas but I think the past few years the Santa thing seems to be getting bigger and some parents are almost hysterical about the need for "magic" and the obsession for children to believe in Santa even when they are past the age of believing. My eldest daughter is nine almost ten and she doesn't believe but of course she will still have lots of presents it won't change anything for her at all. It's still exciting finding gifts under the tree on Christmas morning regardless of who brought them no matter what age you are.

Posted too soon - admitted he doesn't believe, ans he still hammered the signs in and spread the reindeer food, on Xmas Eve. Santa brings everything, except one present from us, under tree. I stopped allowing relatives to say santa had left things at their house for him, as I wanted him to thank people personally. They were a bit miffed, but agreed.