Help with missing Christmas key!

[MaverickSnoopy]

We've never had a chimney and DH bought a santa key a few years ago saying that we'd leave it out with the mince pie etc and Father Christmas would be able to use it to get into the house. Lets not get into the logic behind this but nonetheless 7yo DD wholeheartedly believes in this concept.

The problem is that we've realised that the key has gone missing. There's no opportunity to look for it or buy another tomorrow, so I'm after ideas about what we can say has happened to it and/or how the big man will get into our house. She mentioned the key a couple of days ago so I know she hasn't forgotten. I was thinking of saying he will use magic, but then that doesn't explain why we needed the key in the first place!

Any and all ideas welcome.

Use another key (any old key) and explain you have upgraded the lock because the old one was getting a bit stiff for Santa to turn in his old age.

Could you get a key off a 21st birthday card and Christmas it up a bit with tinsel.

Do you have any pets?
Our guinea-pigs let Father Christmas in (they have no concept of home security and stranger-danger though )

Cheers all. Currently discussing with DH to combine a plan.

We went to see father Christmas today and he told my ds that he needed to draw one and stick it on the inside of the front door so that he could get in on Xmas eve.... could you do that?

Say you have hidden it in the garden, then leave some sort of treasure map/poem on the door.

We told our dc that he kept it so don't need to leave one out

Make one with a stick from the garden and some glitter.

Use an old key if you have one

Brilliant thanks all. Love the ideas. Think we'll probably go with he kept it last year or the draw a picture of a key and stick it on the door. Love MN!

This happened to us (temporarily - found it caught up in the tinsel a week later) I told my children santa must have kept hold of it would this work?