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Christmas

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Original poster

Who are the presents from?

51 replies

NuzzleandScratch · 22/12/2014 20:15

So dh & I have been married 9 years, dcs aged 2 and 4. This topic has only just come up. It transpires that in his family, all presents were from Father Christmas. So presents from aunts, uncles, grandparents etc had been delivered to them by FC to pass on.

In my family, a select few main presents were from FC (wrapped in different paper, and tags in different hand writing to my parents!), and the rest were from whoever gave them.

So I assumed dh's family were weird, and mine normal. But then I asked a friend, and his family did the same as dh's!

So I'm left wondering what the majority do, and Mumsnet must have the answer!

OP posts:
Linguaphile · 22/12/2014 23:10

Stockings for us, the presents were from people! However, my parents did keep some of the magic going by waiting to put the gifts under the tree until Christmas morning. It felt like magic seeing everything appear!

ColdCottage · 22/12/2014 23:14

Agree with you. How my family do it.

Original poster
NuzzleandScratch · 22/12/2014 23:21

Excellent. Could it be regional? Dh & said friend are are oop north.

OP posts:
Original poster
NuzzleandScratch · 22/12/2014 23:22

Oops, that should say 'from', obviously!

OP posts:
RunawayReindeer · 23/12/2014 13:52

It is most wholeheartedly definitely regional Xmas Grin dp and dps entire family hail from Stoke and the way they do it there is everyone gives their presents to fc for him to deliver like he's a bloody yodel driver however in the real world Wink fc brings a stocking of varying sizes and we give ours under the tree and relatives give theirs under the tree too.

Further stokies/Staffordshire folk all seem to think the delivery option is the done thing!! Not so in any of the other places (southern) I've lived Xmas Grin

disneymum3 · 23/12/2014 14:32

We're the same as you OP.
In DH's family all gifts come from Santa. But in my family only a few things were from Santa. Need less to say we went with how my family does thing with the DC. Santa brings 1 main gift, and the sack, and the stocking. All other gifts are put under the tree when they arrive and are from family.

Songofsixpence · 23/12/2014 14:38

We do a stocking from Father Christmas, which is usually bits and bobs like knickers, colouring pens, hair bands, etc and then one biggish thing they've specifically asked FC for.

Everything else goes under the tree and is labelled from the person who is giving it to them.

A friend (not from up north) of mine does it that everything is labelled from the person they came from, but that it's all sent to FC and then delivered by him on Christmas Eve. DD1 could never get her head around sending presents to FC, only for him to have to deliver them all back again.

BiddyPop · 23/12/2014 14:44

Santa only delivers things off the list and the stocking. There is a present under the tree from "Mum and Dad" (even if that's only small when Santa is a big feature) and all other presents are from the senders, not via anyone else.

MindReader · 23/12/2014 14:54

Stocking/Santa Sack and one Big (unexpected) pressie from Santa.

The rest are from the givers (mostly us as we have a small family).

Otherwise you get into the trap of unrealistic requests to Santa (a real Unicorn, a full size Ferrari etc) and the protest: 'but Santa is magic, he can bring anything'. No, he cant! Grin

Biscetti · 23/12/2014 14:55

Stocking from FC, rest from the people who gave them. Always thought that the whole lot coming from FC was an odd way to do it. How do they write thank you letters to the people who have given them? Bloody rude not to IMO.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 23/12/2014 14:59

Santa delivered all of ours (from everybody), but only one toy plus the stocking was from him.

The bit that doesn't make sense is why Santa sends all the toys his elves have made to the shops - he has to get them all back before putting them on his sleigh!

redcaryellowcar · 23/12/2014 15:01

Santa brings a few presents and a stocking, everyone else's gifts are from them. DHs family are more of the school of thought that everything is from Santa but I don't think Santa would bring as much tat as they are likely to buy

QueenYnci · 23/12/2014 15:21

FC just brings the stockings and one big item (normally a train set so unwrapped and set up). Everything else is under the tree and labelled either from us or whoever it's from.

peggyundercrackers · 23/12/2014 15:47

all our presents were from santa when we were kids and that's what we do too. No one minds not getting credit for their presents because you don't give to receive...

lecherslady · 23/12/2014 17:25

Another one the same as you.

In our house, Father Christmas brings the sack of presents, with a usual budget of up to £10 per item (except clothes).

Big presents come from us, because I want the credit.

Other people give their gifts when they see the DC or send it over if not. But it is from them.

My aunt did it the way you mention, but Santa was delivering the presents from the family (cousins, aunts etc) and so it still had labels on. I guess that way is cheaper, but I'm not keen myself.

BlueEyeshadow · 23/12/2014 17:34

Yes, only stockings from Father Christmas. I saw a post on FB the other day pointing out that if one child gets a bike or a play station from Santa while another only gets little things it starts to look a little like favouritism!

OstentatiousBreastfeeder · 23/12/2014 17:41

One small gift from the Big Man, rest from us. I wrap it differently with brown paper and string because I'm a saddo I like it to be convincing!

Cooki3Monst3r · 23/12/2014 18:50

I wrap santa presents differently too ostentatious. I like to make sure it's wrapping paper with santas on it - not as easy as you'd think!!

financialwizard · 23/12/2014 18:57

Couple of small Santa gifts and rest from whoever bought them.

callmekitten · 23/12/2014 21:06

We generally open gifts from family and friends as we see them through the season so we usually don't have those gifts at our house ahead of time. DH, DD and I will each get on gift from the other two, which we open on Christmas Eve. Then, everything under the tree on Christmas morning is from Santa, even DH and my presents. I used to insist on this even before we had DD.

WhatWouldTheDoctorDo · 23/12/2014 21:50

Everything DH and I is from Santa - all stocking presents and a pile under the tree. These all only appear once Santa delivers them on Christmas Eve. Other presents are whoever they're from and go under the tree as they arrive.

DS has only started asking this year, age 6, if we'll also be buying him presents. He is only trying it on though, as he thinks it's a way to add a few more things to his list!

ZebraGiraffe · 23/12/2014 21:57

Only stockings are from santa. Stockings just contain small items. The rest is from whoever gave them. Children get big presents from parents and know these are from the parents.

littlehayleyc · 23/12/2014 22:48

For those who say all the presents are from Santa, don't your DC's wonder why you don't buy them anything?!

Growing up, my parents and DH's parents both had stockings from Santa. By stockings, I mean an actual sock not a sack full of big things. So it was little bits and bobs, an orange, choc coins, xmas socks, small toys. Probably no more than £15-20 in total. We do the same with our DCs. Their main presents, i.e the things they're more likely to ask for are from us, or other family members. They know who they are from and do thank you notes.

littlehayleyc · 23/12/2014 22:52

Another thing with the stocking, is that it stops the kids thinking they can ask for what they like 'cos Santa is magic and will get it for them. Eg, when the latest toy is sold out or too expensive.

OriginalGreenGiant · 23/12/2014 23:26

Santa gets the majority of the credit here.

Santa leaves a stocking on their beds...sweets, tat, books and some DVDs.

He then leaves a main present downstairs and a sackful (sounds loads...I think there's 8 gifts each) of unwrapped presents each.

The dc then get a couple of presents under the tree that are wrapped and from dh and me. They have lots of other stuff to unwrap from family which is why the unwrapped Santa presents seem to work well.