How do I keep Christmas magical whilst flying half way round the world?

[lavenderbongo]

We live in NZ and will be travelling back to the UK for christmas. Trouble is due to the cost we will be leaving NZ on Christmas morning about 3.30am and travelling back arriving early hours of boxing day at Heathrow.

We have two dds, a 5 year old and a 8 year old. They still (thankfully!) believe fully in Santa and we want to preserve this for as long as possible. My parents will do Christmas for us when we get to the UK but the kids will be aware we are travelling on xmas day.

How do we keep the magic alive - do we gve the presents before we leave - bearing in mind we are going so early in the morning and cant carry that many with us? Has anyone got any ideas or suggestions on how to handle the presents xmas day bit? We will be spending about 6 hours in Sydney airport on xmas day.

How a about doing stockings at sydney saying santa left them with you so they didn't get left behind? Maybe do other gifts on christmas eve?

Maybe a couple of small games in stocking yo keep them amused on the flight

Stockings at sydney is a good idea - thanks

I'd deliver presents on xmas eve afternoon with a letter from Santa saying that the elves told him that they would be travelling on Christmas day but as they have been such good children he has decided to deliver their presents early.

You could always get them to write him a letter a couple of weeks before explaining that they will be away so they are extra excited at getting a response?

You could also include the stockings in Sydney thing in the letter? My kids accept anything if I say that Santa said it!

I would let them find their christmas stockings as usual on christmas morning, but explain to them that you have to carry them with you as you have not got time to open until you get to Sydney. I would wrap most of the little gifts in the christmas stocking and let them have one or two little things to open during the flight to Sydney, with the rest for at Sydney airport.

On long distance flights with my children a few days before christmas, I wrapped up several cheap small poundshop type toys and let them open one each hour during the flight, broke up the journey and kept them amused nicely. They played with the toy and if it got broken, or lost as it was cheap it did not matter. The wrapping paper got dispatched on the plane too.

Hope you enjoy your trip home and have good flights.

Write to santa together, including your itinerary.

Take the stockings with you. Find someone working in the airport who can walk past you "looking for [insert your DC names here]", or if they're in a shop or something, who can ask your DC as DC walk past them "are you X and Y?". You could provide them with a santa hat, if they're willing to go that far. Have them explain that santa left the stockings with them, knowing that DCs would be landing in Sydney christmas morning.

There must be someone in the airport working on xmas, who would think it was fun to help out this way. Keeps it more magical. :)

If you're worried the DC will get scared they're not getting stockings if it takes too long, maybe ask the plane attendants to bring them. An "in flight delivery". "Didn't you see santa? He pulled up next to the plane! ".

(possibly best to try to arrange all this when no other kids in right age bracket are around, as santa won't have delivered presents to them the same way...)

Totally agree with keeping stocking presents to open every now and then on the plane, if the DC can wait that long. Help pass the time on longhaul!

Could they get stocking presents on Christmas morning with a note saying that the rest of the presents are waiting for them at home. They can then return to the presents in their home. You can then have Boxing day at home, but in the style of Christmas day.