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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

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Original poster

Does Father Christmas bring your DCs BIG presents?

24 replies

Elf · 09/12/2007 14:16

Don't know if this has been covered before.

I just wondered why some people say that Father Christmas brought the new bike, or whatever.

In our house, FC fills up a medium stocking with bits and pieces and then later on, we, Mummy and Daddy give them their presents from us, which would include the bike or hobby horse or whatever they are getting this year.

If you have FC give the big presents, what do YOU give the dc? Another big thing? A little thing?

Each to their own but I am interested in why your children can't get their best present from you. In a nice, friendly, Christmassy way.

OP posts:

VanillaPumpkin · 09/12/2007 14:23

No way. Small nick knacks in the stocking and a book and a satsuma. I want the credit for the good stuff . Though actually it is the grandparents who buy the big stuff .

boomie · 09/12/2007 14:24

We don't give ANY presents to the children from us - they are all from Father Christmas. Thinking about it, it does seem strange but it's one of those old traditions that we have always done.

WeWhizzzYouAMerryXmas · 09/12/2007 14:26

No - FC fills up the stockings with small stuff & eats a mince pie.
We & others buy the big pressies.

InnAFull · 09/12/2007 14:28

I always made it clear Santa filled the stockings, nothing more. This avoided altogether the awkwardness of child believing Santa could bring the big stuff that Mummy and Daddy couldn't afford/didn't want her to have.

BahHunkerBug · 09/12/2007 14:29

Boomie, have they never asked why you don't give them any presents?

FC does stockings chez Hunker. Not letting some fat bloke in a red suit and beard taking all the credit, tvm

Niecie · 09/12/2007 14:30

It never occurred to me until last year to give the children anything from us as I don't think I got anything from my parents whilst I still believed in FC.

However, last year I was thinking about telling DS1 (who was 6 then) that he should buy everybody a present and realised that as far as he was concerned we don't buy him and his little brother anything. So we split the budget and gave them a biggish present and some books each from us and the rest including the stocking came from FC. It just seems that they write the Christmas list to FC and so he would provide most of the things they were after.

Giving stuff from us as well means that I can get a few things second hand that for them that we couldn't afford to give new (Gameboy Advance last year) as I don't think FC would give second hand would he?

S1ur · 09/12/2007 14:30

Nope not us, only satsumas and balls here too

I thought that's pretty much all they could get up in lapland!

I do know of people who put all pressies in stockings (figure they're actually probably xmas sacks)

DrNortherner · 09/12/2007 14:32

In our house, mummy and daddy buy the presents and send them to FC to deliver. He won't bring them though if you are naughty.

How else do your kids understand to be grateful for what you have bought them?

FC makes wooden toys for chikldren with no mummy's and daddy's. Apprantly. That is ds's theory anyway.

saltirehangingonachristmastree · 09/12/2007 14:32

Our DSes get a stocking filled with what DH terms as crap. They get a santa sack from FC which is usually filled with things such as DVDs, Books, Games etc. They get presents from us as well. TBH our 2 haven't had anyting "big" for a couple of years, simply becasue they haven't asked for anything

TinyTimLivesinVictorianSqualor · 09/12/2007 14:34

Santa gives satsumas, some chocolate sweety tubes, and a book or something similar.
Santa doesn't have much room on his sleigh to bring big presents, so we get the main one.
However we only do one present per person, dd is getting me,dp and DS something, ds is getting me, dd, and dp something, etc(although as dd and ds are 7 and 3 we pay for them!!!)

S1ur · 09/12/2007 14:34

Traditions are weird aren't they though?

I think its good for dcs to know that people including us have thought about them and what they might like, just as we encourage them to think that way about others when we involve them in choosing pressies for their relatives (they are v young though so don't really take much on board - but I like to ask opinions )

My dd doesn't write to FC for wish list - instead does a pic for him to leave on xmas eve. ahem but she is 3.

LUCYKateallthemincepies · 09/12/2007 14:37

not in our house, father christmas has a £10 budget, main present comes from us, although we still only have a small budget per dc, all together, its about £50 max each

castille · 09/12/2007 14:37

Little stockings from FC (not that my eldest 2 believe any more). All big and expensive things that require profuse thanks and year-long gratitude come from us, grandparents and other family.

saltirehangingonachristmastree · 09/12/2007 14:37

I always used to be puzzled when I was younger as to why FC would leave me a stocking in my bedroom, and then presents, unwrapped on a chair for me, alongside the presents from relatives etc. Yet my friend across the road got all her FC presents left in her bedroom, all wrapped up, and presents from her relatives under the tree, and yet another friend got everything from FC in a big sack on her bed, and it seemed, nothing from anyone else.
it used to puzzle me for days how Santa could be so inconsistent

ChristmasSendsMePsycho · 09/12/2007 14:40

santa only gives stocking fillers here and I want them to understand that mummy and daddy and other falily gives them stuff too.

also, as it stands, it would be very heartbreaking to them to ask for something mega expensive and not get it as we couldn't afford too yet they wouldn't be able to be able to understand that as they would think that santa does it all and would then think that santa was just being mean (I hope I am understanable here, not sure I am making sense?).

As we are the ones buying and they know that, then if they ask for a PS3 (as the boys did this year, along with a WII), and we say "we just can't afford that can you think of something else?", they understand and will (well, with encouragement and compromise).

also explains why other friends might get so much and they don't.

boomie · 09/12/2007 16:04

FC buys all the pressies and DDs have never asked why we don't buy them. At the end of the day though, when they are older and don't believe anymore, they'll obviously know they were all from us anyway.

Nymphadora · 09/12/2007 16:32

big ones from me and smaller ones from FC

Original poster

Elf · 09/12/2007 19:55

Seems like most people are like us then, ie only smaller presents from FC. Funny how we probably all do what we had when we were little and it just seems right.

OP posts:

Hulababy · 09/12/2007 19:56

In our house FC brings the maiin Christmas present. We buy other gifts, generally not quite as big/dear (as appropraite as it could be either) as the main one. This is how it worked in both mine and DH's families way back when, so have retained it. We don't do stockings.

CodRestYeMerryGentelmen · 09/12/2007 19:57

lolol at these threads

Hulababy · 09/12/2007 19:57

Oh, and DD knows that mummy and daddy help FC pay/nuy evn the one present he brings. Therefore she doesn't get complete free choice of anything.

sarahhal · 09/12/2007 20:03

We were always the same as DrNorthener - family asked FC to bring the presents. I actually didn't have a stocking, so that didn't come into things. Must admit that Dh and I do need to get our stories straight this year!

TrinityTheRedNosedRhino · 09/12/2007 20:08

oh god NO
definitely not

father christmas brings one or two little presents under the tree maybe and definitely the stocking but WE give them the BIG presents

no way some fat guy with bad facial hair is taking credit for the sweating it took to get the Wii, oh and the Dora bike

mustrunmorewantsanewname · 09/12/2007 20:11

This is the first year ds1 will really see the diffrence between us and FC. But we are giving each ds one big pressie, they are giving each other a smallish one, and FC has given them 5 small things in their small sacks But, because each of their big pressies came off freecycle, the stuff in the sacks actually cost far more! Sacks: a little disney car,a hand puppet, a cuddly animal, a wooden springy xmas figure, a book, and a Mr Man off the persil.

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