Do you take your children to see santa?

[Saladcreamormayo]

I was quite surprised to find out that a friend of mine has never taken her child to see santa, They love to celebrate Christmas , house full of decorations inside and out etc but never do a santa visit.when I asked why she just said its just something they never bother to do. I was just wondering how common is this I just assumed all children went to see santa. obvs I understand different religions/cultures don't celebrate Christmas so may not go or some children dislike people dressed up and it won't be for them. Do you take your child to see santa?

I have taken mine in the past, but DD5 asks a lot of questions these days so I'm debating not taking her as I don't want to spoil the magic. Plus its always really expensive and the gifts are crap so I often feel disappointed.
Our local Round Table do a drive by santa sleigh who comes round alltbe houses so I think we will just watch that instead.

It's surprising her dc haven't asked to go see Santa. My 4 year old is so excited for his visit we have booked in!

I have a 10 & 7 year old and have never taken them to a grotto to see santa.
They seen him at events but I've not taken them out for the purpose of seeing him.

It's never been a priority of mine and they've not asked to go. Like your friend, I love Christmas, it's a massive deal in our house but we've just not been to see a santa tribute act.
I don't think my children feel hard done by or are missing out.
Just because a lot of people do something doesn't make it odd if some people don't.

Also it didn't cost the earth as it's at a local garden centre and quite reasonable (not like a wellknown store i know that charge the adults too ) You also got to choose an age appropriate gift they get which i quite liked; Santa is prepped with a message of your choice so something they wouldn't know (to add to the magic).

@DockOTheBay ooh I think we might be local to you, white reindeers? love the Round Table Santa.

We're taking our little one but in all honesty she's too young to understand, I think I've gone a bit mad this year as last year everything was canceled. To be honest I can see it raising questions, especially if you get a poor Santa!

@ChristmasEvieNight incase of poor Santa and suspicions just say "oh this is Santa's helper as Santa is too busy with his elves at the North Pole sorting all the presents so sometimes needs alittle help...' i think it's better to bend the truth with these things!

@ChristmasEvieNight I think there are Round Table "chapters" all around the country so it could be a different one, but ours does have white cartoon reindeer :)

The other issue i have with seeing FC (and I appreciate this is probably me being precious) is that they ask what the kid wants for Christmas and then hands them a box with a clearly different and inferior gift, usually something they're not even vaguely interested in. All seems a bit weird when FC is supposed to be magical and all knowing 🤔 i would love to visit a Santa where you bring your own prewrapped gift for them to handover and don't have to have the crap one

@Blackmagicqueen - charging adults annoys me too! We go to the same place every year and always myself, the DC and their dad (even though we're separated). Anyway, their dad was booking it yesterday, our eldest is 14 and was happy not to get a gift. But he realised that if we only booked for our DD we would then have to pay 2 adults as you only get 1 adult free per child and 14+ counts as an adult. An adult costs half that of a child. So he ended up booking for 2 DC as we may as well get the gift, drink and gingerbread and arcade credit for the same price. They get to choose their present from the gift shop so he will probably be able to get something he likes, anyway. Just thought we'd save a bit of money this year but clearly not!

Mine have never thought the FC they visit is the actual one, though. They could tell he was someone dressed up (and looked different to others you'd see around) and also FC only comes when you are asleep! They just enjoy their afternoon (we go to one at a funfair).

I never have, I'm usually working but MIL has taken them a few times. Its not really a huge thing for us.

Yes, we always took our adult dd to the one in Fenwicks. We'd start of seeing Fenwicks window, then up to the toy department to visit the man himself, a browse around the toy department on the way to see him, then back downstairs to choose a bauble for the tree. We'd end it all by going for a hot chocolate somewhere nice in town. We always went by bus rather than car, the bus ride to town was a highlight too. This year I'm doing exactly the same trip with gd (5) this Sunday, except now you have to book online and it's a package thing so it wasn't cheap, I then booked their story time with the elves before hand. I wouldn't normally spend so much, and I'll not book it next year to give others a chance as the tickets are like gold dust, but the way I see it it's a special granddaughter/grandma day and a memory for both of us, and I'm not splashing out on any work/friends nights out this year, or buying new bits for myself for Christmas like a new outfit etc, so this is my christmas treat to myself just as much, have to admit I'm a little excited. Her mum and dad will be doing the santa visits in the future and happy I'm entertaining gd for the day and their having a weekend away for son in laws birthday.

We always go on the Santa Express.
Only taken them to a grotto once.

But even without that, they see Santa at school, after school clubs, in the street...

We never made a special trip to a grotto, but had our turn either at the church fair or a local museum. We always referred to them as Helper Santas, which is why there are so many of them, and why only Santa brings the big ticket items.

I have fond memories of going to see Santa as a child and the magic around it, even if just at a department store with a crappy gift.

If I had children I would take them, but each to their own.

Yes when they were little we did some sort of see santa thing.

FIL is the Father Christmas for his rotary club and the DDs have seen him in costume. So we had to explain he was a helper. They weren't interested in others after that. I

Additionally, i have generally found it easier to keep the magic alive if I've not put too many concrete things in place, like seeing FC or trips to Lapland. It's harder to disprove whatever they've established in their own minds. Cognitive dissonance, I guess

In my area the whole thing just seems to be a massive ballache. You have to book tickets (even pre-Covid), which seem to sell out really quickly everywhere and it costs so much! We did used to go when DDs were small but not anymore. I also absolutely love everything about Christmas but the Santa visit just leaves a bit of a sour taste

We don’t bother. To us FC is a magical being rather than something ‘real’ so seeing him wouldn’t make any sense.

We've never been to a grotto - ds1 saw Santa at nursery one year, and we went on the Santa express 3 years ago and have booked it again this year, he comes down the train with a bag of toys. Ds1 has always hidden in my face, even on the train, he's never liked big characters in costume. Ds2 has less experience of any of it, but he is quite shy too. I'm not bothering going to a grotto if they're going to stand at the entrance crying.

@UndertheCedartree i know it is so annoying and especially when usually both parents or older children will want to tag along! I hate it when other places do it too (not naminh names) simply for a supervising adult who wont be doing anything lol but that's a whole new thread i think!

I always take them to see Santa when the Christmas lights get turned on in my town, its just a quick hello, what do you want for Christmas, have a sweetie kind of thing.

Though this year I also took them to Santa in Lapland in the summer which was the full on experience, rather odd in the middle of the summer but exciting for DS.

We go, I enjoy it and my dd 4 gets so excited. But then we don’t do light shows etc so I just think everyone is different

I did but ds shouted "mum that's not the real santa he's got a brown beard opening out from under his white beard" luckily none of the other kids were near by

sticking out not opening

Every year since he was a baby.