Tips for keeping DS in bed

[IhatePlaydoh]

Hi. Just wondering if anyone has any tips for keeping DS (5) in bed until a reasonable wake up time Christmas morning. He is normally an early riser (5:30) no matter his bedtime. It was his birthday on Friday and he was up at 4 due to excitement. Any ideas? I will tell him he can't get up that early as Santa may still be delivering presents but otherwise I am stumped on how to make him sleep through. I know this is part of his childhood but if he is up that early he will be grumpy by lunchtime

Lots of exercise on Christmas Eve. We usually take the DCs swimming but might have to be a bike ride this year.

My daughter (age 5) was up patrolling the house at 3am a couple of weeks ago because she was SO excited that it was her SISTER’s birthday! 😳😂 the excitement was very sweet but have to say that the next day felt very long! Agree on the exercise and lots of fresh air on Christmas Eve but ultimately I’m not sure we can contain their excitement!!

We have an early night instead, nothing can keep ours in bed!

Pretend it is 23rd December.

I create a little festive-themed ‘busy box’ for mine - I’ve bought a cheap sticker book, printed off some Christmassy colouring, dot-to-dots, spot the difference and found a cheap 50 piece jigsaw on Amazon!

Best way I ever got my dc to sleep in late xmas morning was by letting them all have a sleepover the night before xmas eve. They were all shattered were all asleep by 10pm and woke just after 6.30am
Obviously you cant do that this year so maybe duct taping him to the bed?

Don’t tell him it’s Christmas Eve!

We adopted a tradition my MIL did with my DP when he was younger. She'd wake him up just after midnight after ringing sleigh bells outside and would tell him he'd just missed Father Christmas bringing his stocking! Then he'd open the stocking presents, have a tiny bit of a play, then would be conked out again within half an hour and would sleep until 8am. I was highly sceptical when DP suggested we do it with our own DC but it worked! Last year was the first year we stopped because our DC goes to bed much later now so it's not worth waking them. But it was a really magical thing to do and our DC loved it when they were smaller.

You should get a Gro-clock! No getting up until the sun shines. They are magic! 😁

I'm the worst person to ask. I absolutely love Christmas and by the time I'd finished whipping them up with excitement in the days before Christmas, sleep was patchy!
2.30am was their record for getting up and even now they're up at 6am (15&19!) Dh and I never battled with them to go back to bed, the Santa years aren't long and strong coffee got us through and I loved every minute of it.
As a family we look back at the middle of the night excitement really fondly and they often talk about how magical it all was.

Put something very heavy on top...

I really need to follow this.

Dd4 is an awful sleeper. Wakes multiple times a night. Last night was 11.30 and then 2 and wanting to get up at 4.45.

I have no idea what to do :(