which presents are from Santa in your house?

[heyduggeee]

Hello!
I'm so sorry if this has been done before but I can't find anything.
Me and my partner can't agree on which presents should be from Santa / us. This is the first year DS who's 3 is starting to understand, the youngest is only 1.
my DP grew up with stockings + one big present under the tree from Santa, everything else he knew was from parents.
In our house the big guy bought everything - but we didn't have stockings.
My parents weren't too bothered about keeping the magic alive or family traditions. I can't recall what we used to do Xmas day as a child, so I think I'm trying too hard to make everything perfect tbh and over thinking everything.
But just wondered what everybody else does?

I grew up with everything from santa my husband had a stocking from santa and tree presents from family so we comprimised.

We do stocking and half the presents from santa and then half the tree presents are from us. It meant that we could tell them santa didn't bring bikes/games consoles anything else we couldn't afford but would also leave the option open for them to come from us if we could afford it one year.

I do wish we had gone with just the stocking from santa though as there are also a lot of general toys which cost a huge amount of money now so for example, it's hard to explain why santa could provide a wooden dolls house but not a £200 LOL house or a Teddy but not a furreal type one. It just gets complicated and would have been easier to stick to stocking from santa tree presents from us.

For our DD we do a stocking/sack of gifts which are from Father Christmas - this is either left in her room or downstairs in the sitting room depending on where she wants them to be. She probably has about 10 items in there of varying value.

Then there’ll be a main gift(s) from us which will be under the tree. I put them there whenever I’ve bought/wrapped them so that might be a good couple of weeks before Christmas. She knows they are there.

She’ll get gifts from family as and when we see them, be that Christmas Day/Boxing Day etc. They like to see her open the presents in person.

TBH - I’ve not come across the idea that FC gathers all the gifts from various family members before Christmas and delivers them on Christmas Eve. I think I’d find that quite stressful to orchestrate as we have a large family.

Thank you all so much for the replies!
I can't believe how every household does things so differently, I assumed every house did everything from Santa like our parents did for us. I don't ever remember thinking where's the presents from mum and dad - but I totally agree that all presents from friends / family should be thanked and the dc's know who took the time and spent money on them.
I bought some lovely Santa sacks - but we don't go crazy at Christmas to fill them up. we've bought our 3 year old about 4 things, and then picked up up a few little bits for his stocking. colouring / sticker books, that sort of thing.
Perhaps I'll put one or two of the presents in the sack along with the stocking, and the others will be from us.
I thought my dp was bizarre for suggesting stockings only from Father Christmas - I now realise it was my family that was different all along haha.

I'm not sure if my post made sense, what I was trying to say was I don't have enough presents to fill the sack, as I say, 4 toys and then a little stocking. maybe Santa can bring the biggest in size to fill the sack up a bit

All presents from us are written from Santa. Everyone elses such as from aunts uncles are from whomever gives them. I wish we had done main gift from santa when we started however. They are 10 and 7 now so dont want to change things

We do everything we buy from Santa, anything else from the actual giver. We don't go overboard, I think the DC have 7 or 8 things to open from Santa this year. I'm not bothered how other families do it because our way works for us, and I think too many adults get caught up in overthinking the whole thing.

It's how both of our families did it growing up, it never resulted in any upset or ungratefulness and I don't recall ever questioning why my parent's didn't give us anything - that was Santa's job not theirs. None of us, including my two, have turned into mannerless heathens for not directly thanking our parents on one day a year while we still believed.

Stocking and single bigger present from santa ( so Playmobil / Lego set etc ). This is all opened first thing.

After lunch present from everyone else ( including a present from me to them). So presents come from grandparents etc and not from santa.

My children are aged 6-16 and have never bought up how other family s do f.c. by the time they realise that others do different things the whole father Christmas thing is not true anyway.

Like some previous posters we changed it around so that the cheap stuff is from santa (chocolate coins, etc) etc and expensive stuff from us. Would hate to think of kids comparing Santa gifts and getting hurt feelings to to "deserve" expensive presents

I can’t remember what we had when I was a kid but we definitely had stockings from Santa.

My 2 get stockings and one present from Santa and the rest (including the big/most expensive gift) comes from me. Santa doesn’t bring bikes/Xbox’s/massive dolls houses. I don’t have a tonne of money and I want to be realistic about expectations without sucking the joy out of the whole thing. Also petty as it might be, I want the credit

Everything is from Santa other than extended family gifts which are labelled from them.

We had presents from family and friends clearly from them, not via Santa; Santa presents by the bed - nice surprises not THE big present; Santa also filled stockings (old footie socks) we put out by the fire next to the carrot, mince pie and whiskey we left for him. He put chocolate coins, a satsuma and some Knick knacks in these. This is what I do know in a house of non believers.

Sack containing small gifts (under £25 per item) and cheap fillers from Santa. Main present under the tree from Mummy & Daddy and other relatives give gifts from themselves too.

Santa does stocking, books and one list gift. This year it's a family board game that has been asked for.

Big presents are always from us.

PP mentioned how do parents explain that some kids get heaps from Santa, and some only get one thing. This is exactly why we do it this way. I couldn't bear the thought of my kids talking about Santa bringing them a pile of presents when their friends' parents might not be in a position to afford what we do. So we have Christmas traditions with those less fortunate in mind.

We always used to do a stocking for everyone (usually just chocolate for the adults) and big expensive presents from Santa. We used to tell dd to ask him for the things she didn’t think we would get her. Also, Father Christmas knew I ‘hated’ dd getting chocolate coins as I had to peel them for her. So every year he got her loads. One year he included one kg of the fuckers but also sent me a red wii as an apology for this 😂 We also bought seperate presents from us.

Now dd is 18 we all have Santa sacks (including the dog and the cat) with choccy and little bits for us and a nice big Santa sack of stuff for her. We now do kind of like secret Santa where we each spend c£20 on each other getting funny things.

Dd is also having another kilo of chocolate coins this year but I don’t have to peel them anymore 😂 She used to find it hilarious that Father Christmas would buy her stuff that we wouldn’t. I also found it hilarious and so played it up even more. I did regret the one kilo of chocolate coins though 🤣

We also explained that Father Christmas adjusts his budget according to the family circumstances. So dd got more than her friends as he didn’t want to embarrass anyone or buy toys that they didn’t have room for.

None of them.
We choose and pay for them all, Santa delivers them. They're all from us.

Stockings only from Santa. I worked in a school and I remember a child asking me why he had only had one present that year where everyone else had lots. He asked me if he was bad. I grew up with only stockings from Santa but that little boy made me realise how everything from Santa can be confusing for children and put pressure on parents who may not be able to afford much

My dp never did stockings so I had nothing to base my traditions on. I have always given dc a stocking and presents under the tree. Stocking from FC and all others from present giver but all are delivered by FC. Nothing under the tree until 25th.

Father Christmas brings the stocking and 1-2 presents (depending on cost) from their Christmas list letter. Everything else is off me and DH and family

Personally I've never expressed it and they've never asked. They know I buy things because I say I'm wrapping or I've bought things, and the older DC thank me for all gifts in front of younger, but the younger still seem to believe in FC. I would never expressly say everything is from FC because of the issues mentioned by others. It isn't fair on children who are in poverty.

my girls get a sack with small bits in (all under £5, mostly edible or things like bath bombs/pens/colouring books I try and avoid rubbish) and if the requested item fits it goes in wrapped in special Santa paper. if not it's next to the sack. this is opened first thing.

then they get presents from me and DH later after breakfast, dinner is on and everyone is showered/dressed :)

we also do a Christmas eve gift after putting out the Santa plate - new pjs, book, and activity (this year make your own snow globe)

Stocking and one small present from DDs list from Santa. The rest from us, plus gifts from family members who got them.

This has been the first year she has really got it and we've been very clear that santa will only bring one thing from her list but that she might get other gifts too.

When we were kids, I always assumed that santa gave us one gift but brought them all because we didn't have any gifts under the tree until Christmas morning. I don't think anyone told me that, I just assumed it was the case. We don't really stick to that now though, especially as family members keep putting gifts under the tree. Torture for a 4 year old!

Parents (and grandparents) buy, wrap and send to Santa. Santa holds the presents, cross checks the behaviour in the run up to Christmas and delivers on Christmas Eve - he's kind of like a cross between Paypal and a slightly more competent Yodel.

@kupount “ he's kind of like a cross between Paypal and a slightly more competent Yodel.”

😂👍🏻 brilliant

We have stockings things like mugs socks earrings for the now teens, used to be sticker books pens crayons etc

They had one present from Santa, not the most expensive but the most wanted gift.

All family gifts are under the tree and placed there by the giver.

The children wrap presents for each other, dad, and family friends, plus their own friends, they help deliver gifts to those people or find them if they visit us.

My children have been very involved in shopping and wrapping, how do you manage all the hidden gifts?