To have thought that trips to see Santa wouldn’t end yet?

[redambergreen70]

On a Santa experience today with DD8.5 and DS5.5. It’s a fantastic experience, lots of activities and cost a decent amount of money.
We think DD is starting to have doubts about Santa but hasn’t said anything directly, however it’s quite obvious from today that this is probably our last year as DD seems almost a little embarrassed and too cool for it all.
I feel quite sad and maybe it’s naivety on my part but I honestly thought we would have another couple of years.
So I guess I’m asking, what age did you stop doing the traditional Santa visits and look at something more suitable for older children? And what did you do instead?

My 9yo would not be bothered about going to see Santa this year but pretty sure she still believes or at least is very happy to go along with it - certainly isn’t too cool for Santa stuff. I took her and some friends on a trip out to the cinema yesterday and put our elf in the front seat of the car with his own fake cinema ticket - all the girls just loved that, and talked about their elves and the silly things they do all the way there. Not one of them said anything about it being set up or their parents, so either they wholeheartedly believe or are very very willing to suspend disbelief. They took him into the cinema and even showed the man on the door his ticket, definitely not too cool to go along with the whole thing. They’re not streetwise though (from a village primary which is massively big on children doing children’s things and not growing up too fast!)

Still going strong here at 10 and half years. I expect to be going until end of primary so 2 more years.

I thank my lucky stars my DC go to a wee rural school where they can enjoy their childhood.

I teach in a city school and the difference is stark when it comes to growing up too quickly.

I'm 61 and I believe in santa. Why are some people so hell bent on Killing the magic?

8-9 is probably the cut off for visits to Santa but perfect age is under 6 I think.

I have younger and also older DC so it’s a hard balance. Tend to just take the younger ones for Santa visits and older ones we do other things like the cinema, Christmas shopping and hot chocolate, they do come on the Christmas Eve trail with us at a local stately home too and they still enjoy helping to build the gingerbread house.

Precisely! We do everything to keep the magic going. Seeing their little faces when we go to visit Santa / attend a festive experience.

The white “snowy” (flour!) footsteps leading from the fire to the tree on Christmas morning…

Elf on the shelf caper…it’s just magical!

My 9 year old still believes but really didn't want to go see Santa this year! I had to bribe him so I could go as a family one last time, I thought even if he stopped believing we could still go for a few more years for the photo and family day.

Just wanted to say that is lovely.

I asked my 9yr old this year and she said she wanted to go and see him.

There were plenty of yr6 kids queued up to see Santa at our fair (and some yr7s). I don't suppose any of them thought Santa had come to visit the shed in our playground but they seemed happy to get a present!

@ohfook maybe the kids I know are a bit more sheltered. I appreciate there will be differences but I think it's nice for them to believe in the magic for as long as possible.

I reckon my 8 year old probably knows but is playing along with me, and I'm happy to keep it going. She is also very happy to see Santa. My 5 year old 100% still believes.

Thanks, ScreamingFrog. Having a sibling with a disability means a different, sometimes difficult, life, but it brings some extra fun too!

At the risk of sounding like a terrible parent, I've never once taken my kids to see Santa, though they've had the occasional visit at parties in school, preschool etc. They all seem to have survived

My youngest does I think still believe at 9, and we've always had lots of lovely magic around our family traditions at home, but I have yet to see a commercial Santa grotto that doesn't look tacky and naff so we just never got into that tradition. I also remember loathing the experience as a child which is perhaps why I never started the tradition with my own DC.

I do agree that many Y5/6 kids probably do still genuinely believe. But I'm not surprised that children start feeling a bit meh about going to a Santa grotto once they're older than 5/6. Let's face it, they are a bit cringe and embarrassing for a child who is otherwise quite socially savvy. Doesn't mean they can't still appreciate a bit of Santa related magic elsewhere, though.

Nice traditions to have instead: going ice skating, going for a wintry woodland walk with hot chocolate at the end, going for a night walk to look at all the houses in the local area to see which has the best Christmas lights, having a meal together in a favourite restaurant. We also have a tradition of each choosing a new Christmas tree ornament each year, followed by a drink and cake in the local garden centre. There are loads of lovely things you can do as a family at this time of year.

DD is 11 this month and she still believes in Santa and the elf. All kids are different

You can do panto/christmas markets/ice skating/christmas baking etc instead of visits to santa once your children have outgrown that stage.

Ain't you a ball of festive fun!!
I'd hate it if you were my mother. Bet you told your kids (if you have any) Santa isn't real just because you couldn't be bothered to take them.

That's really unpleasant. Do you have children? 4 or 5 is most definitely not anywhere near the "cut off" as you put it.

Didn't do Santa visits from about 8ish BUT both my dc believed until they were 11 and most of their friends did too.

Mine carried on going to our annual Santa visit until they were teens but they were always aware that the Santa they saw was someone dressed up. They never believed it was the real Santa.

You can carry on doing the Santa trips @redambergreen70 . Just tell your DD that you're going to let her into a secret and that the Santa they visit before isn't actually the real one but they'll still get a present.

Mine carried on until about 10, more for the present than because they believed. I think they stopped believing at about 6 or 7.

We only did the Santa grotto thing if there happened to be one at the tree place. They never thought it was Santa or anything. But I'd say 6/7.

Why?

The only a 4 year old doesn't believe is of someone has specifically told them.

Well mine are 6,8,11 and still believe

I can’t understand why some people are so miserable about it, it’s like a race to who can tell their children first by some mumanwttwrs 😭

I think there is a difference between the grottos and believing in Santa. All the kids wanted to do the grotto at the fair but my 6yo was like mummy it’s a daddy dressed up but she still loved it.

My nephew believed in the tooth fairy longer than he did Santa which I also thought was quite funny. He was such an inquiry, cynical child who cracked Christmas early but not the tooth fairy so was nice he had something magical to believe.