Is Father Christmas/Santa Claus not so much a thing now?

[DottyHarmer]

I just get the feeling that there is much less emphasis now on FC bringing presents (for children obviously). I have seen online and in real life people just piling the presents up under the tree even for young dcs instead of the idea of FC creeping around filling sacks. (Perhaps always was a bit disturbing when you think about it !)

I suppose kids are more.”knowing” now and they can see everything online, see that stuff is delivered and also that gratification can be instant. The adverts atm all seem rather transactional now too.

I just was musing whether FC would go the way of stagecoaches on Christmas cards, ie a thing of the past.

It is definitely still a thing in my community.

We do FC but he doesn't bring tree presents. DC get main presents from us and family, although I wouldn't put them under the tree until he's gone to bed on Xmas eve because he wouldn't be able to resist poking them (3 years old). Santa fills the stocking with little presents. But we would put the other presents under the tree earlier if it weren't for nosy toddler.

Christmas presents wrapped under my tree are waiting to be handed out to family and friends. Santa gifts come out on Christmas eve after children asleep.

I have noticed a lovely idea that one or two presents are from Santa and the rest from parents to stop children with less presents feeling inferior. But not many I know doing that yet.

Everyone i know still does father Christmas. However the other gifts are from other people, with just the stocking from FC so it does make sense to put them under the tree before Christmas - they aren't all delivered by FC and maybe there isn't anywhere else to keep them

Eh?
I don't get this impression at all!

Everyone I know with small children does Santa. I do think kids are finding out earlier these days, I was 11 and refused to believe it was true! but my own DD sees that shops are full of toys, and asks why if Santa makes everything in his toy shop etc. They definitley see more these days and even at 6, I think I probably have 2 more good years before she starts to question.

In terms of what Santa brings, my kids write a letter requesting 2/3 things and Santa will bring some or all of that plus a stocking. We buy other gifts and they know that that stuff comes from us.

Santa is definitely still at large here! As @Sally872 said, tree presents are from us and stocking and small gift that she's requested from Santa which we leave by her bedroom door for her to wake up to

I do get this impression, but he’s very much a part of our Christmas traditions here.
He doesn’t go upstairs to fill the stocking though, that freaks DD out a bit.

I think it can be difficult hiding presents in modern houses tbh. Also they see packages on the doorstep. When my mum did it, she was a sahm and would go out to the shops and then bring presents home to hide them and we didn't see a thing.

That said, my dcs are still believers at 6 and 3. I won't lie when they ask me though tbh. I found out at 9 and think that's normal for my generation.

I thinks it's even more of a thing now with Santa trackers apps and and apps that will fake a phone voicemail from Santa at the North Pole and apps that will take a photo of Santa in your living room with your presents and Etsy shops that will sell you his magic key and his driving licence and stencils to make boot marks on the floor and etc and so forth and the rest of it.
So much "evidence" that my ten year old DSD still absolutely believes.
I didn't at that age, but I didn't have all the "proof" that she does.

I feel the opposite. We always had a stocking from Father Christmas and tree gifts from friends and family. But the whole idea of Father Christmas was done with a bit of a wink- it was just for fun and involved a bit of double-think from the kids, in that we knew really that he wasn’t real but still believed in him. These days I feel some parents go to great lengths to make their children actually believe and to keep believing long after they might have smelled a rat.

I agree with the poster above. When I was a child it was that double-think, so I never literally believed FC was real. With my own DC I tell them that he's magic, not literally real like us. Most people I know seem to be doing everything possible to persuade their kids that he is literally a real person, including santa trackers and visits to Lapland. I think people forget that children have the ability to believe and not believe at the same time.

Santa/fc still very much a thing, but I think different families do it differently. In my family santa fills the stocking and larger gifts and those from friends or family are left under the tree. My dhs family santa brings them all, including those from friends and family and they are left in piles for each recipient, as well as a stocking on the end of the bed.

I’m 47 and my parents always had main presents from them and a pillowcase with selection pack, chocolate coins, books, art supplies a satsuma and some nuts (to be found under the bed in June) plus fun bits and bobs. I do the same now for DC minus the satsuma and nuts. I don’t think I ever noticed some people got a bike and some got chocolate and stocking fillers only. I think it is more fair for kids who don’t get much as it’s really cheap to do a stocking, plus less of a shock when the realise it’s all a lie and the bike was from mum all along.

My children are taught that Father Christmas is not real, just a nice story. I don't live in the UK but nobody here thinks otherwise.

To add I always put one think from the wish list from Father C. We make mince pies and biscuits on Christmas Eve to leave out plus a glass of port and a carrot. I don’t confirm or deny anything and pretend to be just as surprised as the DC are when they are consumed over night. I never use Father C as a threat either.

I say all presents are from me. Santa just brings them. But my DD pre schooler doesn't quite believe it. She says he's a man dressed up. No older siblings either. She says because there are so many Santa's around that all look different. But either way if she believes or not he's definitely not taking credit for any presents!

Dd6 believes in Santa. We told her that we as parents give money to santa to build the toys and deliver them. That way she understands her friends whose parents may have less money may not get as much. It also helps her understand less fortunate children and we take her to get a gift to give to a child less fortunate.

I tell my kids that I buy the presents but Santa stores them and checks them over before returning them on xmas eve.
I think it is important so they understand that some years if we are hard up - or their friends get more or less than them, that this is not a reflection on them as a person.

People either seem to do everything under the sun from Santa, or just the stocking or one present. With loads of judging from the other side. Big push on SM for Santa not to bring expensive stuff and getting g rid of it being a behaviour award (so that children who can't recieve much don't fill bad)

It’s always been stockings from Father Christmas, and actual presents from real people here.

I don’t (didn’t - mine are not believers anymore due to age, apart from dd1 who has learning disabilities) go out of my way to make them think FC is real, but there have been a few slight of hand/astonishing gifts in stockings that have made them do a double take (astonishing as in they didn’t know that toy was a possibility, as had never seen it in the shops, because I made them), which made it just real enough.

Ds is my youngest, and doesn’t believe anymore, but still firmly asks me to ‘ask the elves’ to make a toy for him each year, and is very specific about what he wants/how he wants it to be personalised!

Even with older children, the stocking still comes ‘from Father Christmas’ with a wink, and I think dd2 and ds both enjoy the fact that dd1 still believes to a degree, as it means they can indulge in the magic still.

@Bananabrush

I agree with the poster above. When I was a child it was that double-think, so I never literally believed FC was real. With my own DC I tell them that he's magic, not literally real like us. Most people I know seem to be doing everything possible to persuade their kids that he is literally a real person, including santa trackers and visits to Lapland. I think people forget that children have the ability to believe and not believe at the same time.

I agree with this. I won't be doing snowy footprints or fake videos or elf on the shelf to try and trick them into believing its real, it will just make them feel stupid when they realise and/or make it easier to trip up and accidentally give it away IMO.

In my childhood and for my own DC, FC only brought the stockings. Everything else went under the tree and the gift tags showed who each present was from.

If you raise them to think FC provides you create three huge problems:

1. Why FC is markedly more/less generous to other children;
2. Ignoring the vital social skill of thanking the gift-giver;
3. Denying them the experience of planning and giving gifts to others themselves - if FC gives everyone all the gifts, why would they ever need to?

Definitely still a thing.

I'm guessing in your family, all the presents come from Santa? So you think presents under the tree means Santa hasn't come? But actually many families have presents under the tree from family AND stockings from Santa. Others say the tree presents are from Santa too.

But I'll stop there as we're in dangerous territory! This is teetering on the edge of the annual MN argument about what's the right way to do presents from Father Christmas, and I've seen that get ugly!

@DockOTheBay, I’ve never once heard of anyone feeling stupid when they found out, though this being MN I dare say some people will say they were traumatised and could never trust their parents again. 😉

To anyone I know, it’s just been something that gradually dawns on you as you get a bit older.

Some wretched neighbour did once try to tell little dd1 at only 5 that FC was ‘just a fairytale’, but I cooked her goose good and proper by telling dd that she was probably so naughty when she was little that FC never came, so no wonder she didn’t believe in him.

Neighbour had form for effing and blinding in the street (as had been witnessed by dd) so it worked a treat.