Letter to Santa - do you get everything on the list?

[Iggi999]

Ds (8) has just written his letter to Santa. He wants various DS games, a musical instrument, an Xbox one and a (new season) football strip.
How the heck do I buy all this. Have got him quite a bit so far, but mostly toys - minecraft things etc.
Obviously I can't buy what I can't afford. What I'm asking really is, how do you explain to a younger child (who still strongly believes) that he might not get everything, and does this lead to disappointment on Christmas morning instead of joy? I guess we've been lucky so far as his wishes have been in line with what we can afford!

[WhirlwindHugs]

No we don't.

We talk about how it's to give santa ideas and also that santa has a budget so if it's too expensive it's not happening! I aim to get one gift per list.

I forgot to copy their lists before I sent them this year so we have a double challenge

[Minisoksmakehardwork]

Mine get one thing they really, really want from Santa and their stockings. So if they've asked for smaller stuff they might get it. We didn't ever really plan it like that as until dd1 was old enough to write her letter, she'd just had a stocking. But she only asked for one thing on her very first Santa letter so we made sure she had it. It worked quite well though as we now have 4 dc so it cuts the expectation and the cost too.

[Wolfie2]

You tell her its a wish list and Santa chooses which one to make

[Wolfie2]

But actually in our house Santa brings the stocking. Everyone else gives tree gifts. That way the kids know who put the thought in

[ThatsNotMyHouseItIsTooClean]

I'm finding this interesting as DD has just turned 6 & is in Y1 and is such a reluctant writer that her lists usually only consist of one or two items. It probably also helps that, with an autumn birthday, a lot of her wants have been fulfilled. Hopefully next year her writing will have "clicked" but I doubt she'll still believe in Father Christmas then, in which case the whole want/need/cost thing will be easier to explain. I don't doubt for a second that in a few years time she's going to want "I" this, that & the other but at least she knows who is paying for it.
DS is 3.6 & still can't write his name so won't be writing to Father Christmas. Does shouting for me each time particular adverts come on count?

[SitsOnFence]

WhirlwindHugs when DD was in the school nursery they wrote and posted letters to Father Christmas as part of their topic work. She refused to write another, or tell us what was in it ("it's a surprise Mummy!") In the end I said that her grandparents and aunts/uncles had been asking me for present ideas, and I didn't want to suggest something that she had already asked Father Christmas for. Would that work with your DC?

[Iggi999]

Sitsonfence - Couldn't they have had the wit to photograph or photocopy them first?
This thread is showing me where I've clearly gone wrong. I didn't really need limits before as he was vague - a football, Lego, playmobil - you could spend as much or as little on it as you could!
Sadly I can't get him a bit of an xbox. I think it's him being disappointed that worries me, but with any luck he'll be so excited on the day he won't notice.
I've been buying stuff since September and none of it is on his list!

[Iggi999]

Sorry, hit send too soon. Thank you all for your posts, it's really interesting to hear how differently everyone does things.

[ARichVernacular]

Same as Wolfie, in our house FC brings the stockings and tree presents are from people.

We don't do lists. I did ask the DC to write one this year as relatives were asking for ideas; hard-to-buy-for DS said he just wanted surprises, and DD just automatically says "I want that" to every piece of plastic crap advertised on TV. So I'd be stuck either way if I were beholden to their choices

[SpikeWithoutASoul]

Laughing at the thought of Makemine's DD being in 'penguin territory' again.

[fuzzpig]

Heck no :o we never encouraged them to write lists but they did a couple of months ago and then added to them! We did 'post' them but we did laugh and say they definitely shouldn't expect all of the many many things on there. I reminded them that they've never asked for what they ended up getting from FC before i.e. he always knows what to give them, 'tis part of the magic :o

I did have a good look at their essays lists though, and took a bit of inspiration from it.

[fuzzpig]

DS is 3.6 & still can't write his name

Totally off topic, but just wanted to say that is really nothing to / about! :)

[AdoraBell]

Mine know that a Chritsmas list is not the same as a shopping list, as in grocery list.

We buy all things on the grocery list but the Xmas list is more of a wish list.

[ReallyTired]

Dd wants this.

www.tumbltrak.co.uk/equipment/GiftIdeas:TumblTrak:59/jr-kip-bar.html

Quite where she thinks we could put it is another matter.

Poor kid is getting this instead

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Duty-Chin-Ups-Pull-Ups-Sit-Ups-Iron-Bar-Workout-Strength-Body-Workout-New-/281706459605?hash=item41970371d5:g:hEYAAOSwl9BWIUUm

Father Christmas does not bring anything too large to fit down the chimney. (Except dd has mentioned that our house doesn't have a chimney!)

[oobedobe]

We do it as a 'wish list' not a shopping list and my DC are told Santa knows what toys you will love/will play with the most and it might be a special surprise (If I know they will love something but it wouldn't occur to them to write it on this list).

[WhirlwindHugs]

Oh no, sitsonfence! How daft of them.

I remembered enough of DD1s list to manage the one wish fulfilled I usually aim for. DS is only 3 so has already forgotten what he wanted! As long as DD1 doesn't recall either I think I've got away with it.

[Ragwort]

Of course I wouldn't buy everything on the list (when my DS was young enough to write a letter to Father Christmas) - as others have said, it is a 'wish list'. In our house FC gave the stocking presents and the 'main' present always comes from mum and dad - fortunately he never made the link between askingFC for something which he then received from mum and dad. .

Now as a teenager we have all those years behind us !

[reni2]

I would certainly tell him now that the Xbox is too expensive and he won't get it so he doesn't find out on the day.

[fuzzpig]

Iggi just reread your OP and I'd suggest if you are going to cut out some of the things on his list (which would of course be entirely reasonable!) I'd get just one of the DS games if he's asked for a few.

Is there any way of getting the Xbox as a joint present, with other family members contributing? Otherwise it's completely normal to just say it's too big a present for Santa to bring.

[BondJayneBond]

If the XBox is definitely out, then I'd tell him now, so he has a chance to get over his disappointment before Christmas.

[blatantplacemark]

Have you considered a second hand Xbox 360? My 8 year old talked about an Xbox one for this Christmas - he has the 360- and it was stressed to him that it would be the only thing he got, due to the expense of it. He soon changed his mind .. At 8, it's all about the amount of presents.

We took him to Tous R Us this year and he compiled a list from what he saw in there for FC and we told him that he may or may not get the toys on there. It had about 18 items on it, ranging from fifty quid to a tenner and it fit with our budget so he's got everything on the list.

[Iggi999]

Thanks, we could get the Xbox (fingers crossed for Black Friday discounts!) but then not the other stuff - I would think it would be nicer to get lots of games/guitar rather than one console, but I'm not 8. (And when I was 8, the zx spectrum was still a glint in Clive Sinclair's eye).
And if we bought all on the list, we'd still have to get him a mum-and-dad present!
I should point out he does have an Xbox 360, he is just ready to "upgrade" as all his friends have one.

[Iggi999]

Blatant, cross post, that is a good idea to stress the all-or-nothing side of getting the One
Wish I'd planned ahead in terms of the "Santa brings three presents" or whatever side of things!

[VinoTime]

I heavily influence DD's (8.5 yo) list.

She's allowed to write 10 things down, but most of those things have to be relatively 'small' things - i.e. something that doesn't cost £100's. She usually writes down two 'big' presents so that Santa has a choice in what he would like to get her (it also means my parents can have the option of buying her whatever big gift Santa isn't bringing if they want). So this year her big things were a keyboard (Santa) and a tablet (my folks).

She also asked for some Lego Elves sets which I would now classify as big gifts given the cost of them, but neither of us knew how expensive they were when I initially found out about them and got DD interested. So I've bought her the collection (I got her keyboard cheap) but God love her, she's totally unaware of just how much these sets are.

Her smaller items were things like DVD's, some drawing stencils, a Descendants doll, stickers, a (cheap) Wii game, etc.

Generally speaking, she doesn't get everything on her list. But she does get a fairly big stack of presents and I pick her up other bits I think she would like that she hasn't asked for. She gets quite a lot spent on her because she's my only and because her dad never bothers, and I'm a bit of a Christmas nut [santa]

[Littlemousewithcloggson]

With regard to Ds games, I got mine 3-4 Ds games each for their stocking from ebay for £2-5 each.
I also bought 2 for 99p each as they had no case or instructions (easy to find online) and an going to put them inside a Christmas cracker!