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 took our DS to see santa once when he was 2 and I was pregnant with DS2. The experience put me off for life. It was 45 minutes of screaming hell.

We live in the sort of area where Santa is driven round on a float towed along by a Toyota truck every year. Even last year with Covid. They like that. They know he's not real. Cos Santa has reindeer not a rav4. But they still like it.

No, it would have freaked them out.

I have only ever been to Audley End which is brilliant, train ride through the woods to see Santa and he comes up to your carriage with a gift. You also see Mrs Claus and lots of dancing elves. This year we couldn't get tickets so are going to a local garden centre. Hoping it will be good although to be honest, I'm not sure if it raises too many questions and takes away some of the magic. My favourite thing to do is point out a plane in the sky on Christmas Eve night. DS is convinced it's Santa in his sleigh and the red light is Rudolph!

Yes but for me it’s part of our Christmas Day out that we all enjoy and we do something different each year. My brother and his gf don’t bother seeing Santa but I think they don’t want to spend money on it plus I don’t think it’s part of her tradition growing up.

*'i took our DS to see santa once when he was 2 and I was pregnant with DS2. The experience put me off for life. It was 45 minutes of screaming hell.'k

I think alot of 2 year olds would be similar. I've waited until dc1 is 4 and excited to go to take him.

Yeah. Just a local shopping centre one, but we enjoy it. Didn’t go last year.

@stridesy

Yes but for me it’s part of our Christmas Day out that we all enjoy and we do something different each year. My brother and his gf don’t bother seeing Santa but I think they don’t want to spend money on it plus I don’t think it’s part of her tradition growing up.

Same here, we don't specifically go somewhere to see santa but we go somewhere he will be so its part of a day out! I do love having photos of her with father Christmas though, I love seeing mine from when I was younger. We didn't go last year so looking forward to this year

Our local youth centre do breakfast with FC. It's £5 and you get breakfast and kids get a selection box. They use the same guy every year and my dd has seen him every year. He is amazing, has a real beard and really gets into character. He also does one of the local farms and it's A LOT more expensive than the youth centre. We had to bite the bullet and go to see him there last year as the Youth centre didn't do it due to covid. So glad he is back there again this year

It seems that all of the Santa Clauses have been replaced by “Christmas Experiences”. So instead of paying £3 to see Santa for a few minutes and receive a selection box, it’s now £12 per person (including parents) to walk through an enchanted forest with fake snow, decorate cookies with the elves, listen to a story read by Mrs Claus, feed the reindeer, see Santa and finish off with a mince pie in the Christmas Cafe. I can’t afford to pay £36 for me and DH to take one child to see Santa.

The other thing they’ve started to do is prevent you taking your own photos. They take an official photo and on the way out you can buy it in a frame or on a keyring or mug for an extortionate price. Which again I can’t afford.

I just want to see Santa for a couple of quid per child and take my own photos like we used to. Cheap and cheerful!

I went to see him every year as a child. I never really enjoyed it, but my mum wanted us to do it. Don't hold any special memories of it and wasn't bothered at the time 😅 I think I'm just socially awkward and didn't want to go.

With my own dc. Some years we have and some not. Ds is autistic so he's not always been keen. I've never paid ridiculous prices to see him. Pre covid the school fayre always had a nice Santa and it cost a couple of quid - job done! Obviously not much was going on last year. Dd did see him at a Christmas craft fayre last weekend for £2.50. Ds wasn't there which was a shame but he's a little older anyway and doesn't really enjoy it.

I'm sure her kids still have a great Christmas without seeing him! Plenty of other things to do.

We had the most magical Christmas last year and we didn't do much at all for obvious reasons. Most nights we would go for a drive looking for lights - something we have done in the past but maybe only once or twice. Last year it was most nights 😅

Some years I've felt that there have just been TOO many Santa sightings for my kids! e.g. let's say we spend £££ one one of the aforementioned magical "Santa Experiences" on a heritage steam railway or whatever. Then Santa also made an appearance at the toddler group we went to. Then, yet another Santa came to visit the kids at pre-school. Then my husband's workplace throws a big party for employees' kids, and Santa is there too. And he's at the garden centre, the shopping centre, and so on....!

Don't get me wrong, I think it's lovely that so many people and places want to offer some Christmas magic. But sometimes it just gets a bit much and I start feeling like all these Santas are taking the mystery out of the magic and it starts raising a lot of questions.

@Snowisfallinghere I couldn’t agree more. I really, really felt this when DD was a toddler. When she got a bit older and more aware of things we made a big effort to avoid seeing him except for one lovely Barnado’s fundraiser one we would go to which was deep in the woods in a gypsy caravan and just brilliant.

But obviously we didn’t go last year and the kids didn’t miss it… the older two are 5 and 7 and already stopped believing and I’m sure it’s because of the complete Santa/Santa chat overload, like you say.

I never did. They were too scared if anyone dressed up, particularly Santa. Once they were over that they were too old.

Even if they’d not been so scared, I couldn’t be bothered for the queuing, to be followed by meeting someone who clearly wasn’t Santa.

@Snowisfallinghere absolutely agree. Why would santa turn up at preschool and toddler groups and the garden centre. Totally take the magic out of it. Especially if the santa is a bit crummy, as its likely to be the case when it's just one of the preschool dads with a cheap beard on. When I was a kid we only saw santa at paid for events with a proper grotto and sense of occasion and magic. Now they're ten a penny