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Christmas

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Original poster

How to actually do this whole Santa thing?!

43 replies

ChalknCheeseplants · 15/12/2023 09:07

It's actually stressing me out! Growing up our stockings were always from Santa, all of our big presents were from our parents. This is what I did when my eldest was one, two and three but now he is four and has really become into the whole Santa thing. It doesn't help how it's depicted on tv, with people writing lists asking for big presents etc that they then get, him and his friends in reception have obviously discussed it too. Do I need to start doing one or two bigger presents from Santa as well as a stocking? I don't want him upset that so-and-so got a Paw Patrol Tower and a Bike from Santa and he got some bath paints, a couple of hot wheels and a book 😂

I didn't expect it to feel like this big a responsibility! He's already asked if Santa is real and if he is really-real! I'm stressed! Blush

OP posts:
YourNameGoesHere · 15/12/2023 09:12

We do the stocking and one big present from Santa and everything else comes from family so he can say thank you to them or us so he knows it's not just all from the big man in red. It seems to work well.

DoYouSmellCarrots · 15/12/2023 09:14

We always stuck to 3 things from Santa usually one big thing and two smaller so a bike, a book and a toy and also gave stocking from santa but it was done very cheaply. My kids got a couple of small things from us and then the usual presents from family

NoodieRoodie · 15/12/2023 09:14

We've always done stocking from Father Christmas and everything else is from the people who bought it. Mine have never queried it even though I know they have friends who get everything from Father Christmas! I would stick with what you want to do stick with the different things happen in different houses.

TheBirdintheCave · 15/12/2023 09:15

We say Father Christmas brings the presents but they're from mum, dad, auntie and uncle etc. Son is only three so though so this may only fly for a while 😅

EverySporkIsSacred · 15/12/2023 09:16

All my kids are older now but when they were little I used to manage expectations by pointing out
A) telly and books are lovely stories but they are not real and
B) mums and dads so the big presents at Christmas because Santa has so many boys and girls to give presents to now that he has to keep it small and also
C) if anyone says they got a bike from Santa it was their parents really because everyone knows a bike won't fit into a stocking!

SootspriteSearcher · 15/12/2023 09:22

We did one present from Santa. Dds wrote a list and could ask for up to 3 things. I always talked to them about fairness as Santa has lots of boys and girls to bring presents to so can't be really expensive/big items.

Other rules included
No electronics - elf magic interferes with them and as they are cheeky they might replace wires with strawberry laces or candy canes!!
No pets or real animals - Santa does not want poo on the sleigh!

SootspriteSearcher · 15/12/2023 09:22

Plus stocking! I cant seem to edit my post on the app 🙈

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 15/12/2023 09:23

We only do stockings form Santa- doesn’t stop my eldest reeling off a list of big presents about what she wants- but we get those. It’s really never caused an issue and didn’t when I was growing up either.

AliasGrape · 15/12/2023 09:23

My DC is 3 this year and very on the ball. I think she will still be very much accepting of whatever we tell her this year, but it’s already stressing me out because I feel like we need to get our story straight going forward!

My preference would be just stocking from Santa (Father Christmas in this house although even that’s up for debate at the moment she told me the other day mummy I want to call him Santa, and we have two identical decorations of him on the tree apparently one is Santa and one is FC). However my husband isn’t on board with this and is more in favour of FC bringing all the presents but him being some kind of delivery service bringing presents that are from other people (as well as some from him). That seems ridiculous to me, although thinking back it’s pretty much what I was told as a child.

She’s got 4 or 5 things she’s consistently asked for/ said she would like for Christmas. When she’s been doing lists/ visiting grotto I’ve told her she can ask for them all but he will choose one or two and maybe some surprises. She’s actually getting everything on her list but some is coming from other family, but I think I’ll say the other two plus stocking are from FC. They’re not particularly big things.

We have also got her a yoto player which we will say is from us since she doesn’t actually know what one is yet so hasn’t asked FC for it/ put it on her list.

Zonder · 15/12/2023 09:24

We also did stockings from Santa and presents from people. We hadn't thought about it but my MIL wasn't prepared to let the big man in red get the thanks for a nice big gift she bought, and we realised she had a point.

SnapdragonToadflax · 15/12/2023 09:26

Santa only brings presents that fit in the stocking!

onthefarmwithwellies · 15/12/2023 09:36

Interesting as I'm not sure I even gave this a thought when kids were younger. Grown up now, but presents from other people (family friends etc) was ok and allowed them to do thank you's. Everything else came from Santa, and come to think of it my kids never questioned why they didn't get a present from mum and dad!

Dracarys1 · 15/12/2023 09:41

We get one or two gifts from the 'list' from Santa (depending on cost - last year it was 1 each as they asked for more expensive stuff, this year 2 each as slightly cheaper requests), plus their stockings. Everything else is from family

TheGirlWhoLived · 15/12/2023 09:50

It’s harder when the two parents have such different ideas! My childhood Xmas (and what we do now as I’m a bully) is that FC brings sack full of ‘smaller’ gifts, usually £1-£15 about 25-30 presents. Then under tho tree are one large gift from the parents (Nintendo switch, Apple Watch, AirPods that sort of price range) medium gifts from sibling(s) (switch game, large squishmallows, book series- that sort of range) and then whatever from wider family

my DH had everything under the tree from parents/family but DELIVERED by Santa. Like Amazon Santa. Very strange

Footprintsinthesand · 15/12/2023 09:54

In our house, Santa brings a stocking and a sack. There are also a couple of things under the tree from us. Family gifts aren't under the tree. We exchange them when we see family over the Christmas period.

OhNaffOffYouWazzock · 15/12/2023 10:05

I really don't think it matters how you do it because everyone has different ways and their friends will likely have a range of experiences, so just do what suits you.

The vast majority of children will just talk about what they got for Christmas rather than where it came from. I know there has been talk about only giving small gifts from FC so the children who don't get bikes and consoles done feel bad or that they've been naughty but in all honesty having been that child I only noticed that Emma had a TV or Jonny had a Gameboy and I didn't. I couldn't tell you if they had been given to them by Father Christmas, their parents or their Great Uncle Bertie.

Fallstar · 15/12/2023 10:07

We did a stocking from Father Christmas and everything else from whoever gave it under the tree, while some of their friends had everything from Santa and others were told it was just a story.

My children are adults now but what I remember is that none of the children seemed to give these differences much thought and it certainly wasn't a problem!

So I'd say do it in whatever way suits you best. Kids are used to stories and make-believe, and seem to be predisposed to enjoy them however they are presented.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 15/12/2023 10:09

YourNameGoesHere · 15/12/2023 09:12

We do the stocking and one big present from Santa and everything else comes from family so he can say thank you to them or us so he knows it's not just all from the big man in red. It seems to work well.

This. You can’t ask Santa for a lot of big/expensive things, he doesn’t like greedy children!

Favouritefruits · 15/12/2023 10:13

Oh it’s a total minefield isn’t it! I said Father Christmas brought stockings and a few gifts but gifts from Auntie etc. came from the auntie… but then as the kids have aged they asked why I don’t buy them a gift but it’s too late to change anything now so now have to buy another big gift from me 😬 I wish I’d thought about it more in the beginning 🙄

gerteddy · 15/12/2023 10:17

Everything from Santa here. Although I've told my eldest (6) that mum n dad have to send money to Santa to pay for it. Just to get her to understand that she can't ask for a hundred things! Also that not everyone will get what they ask for as maybe parents can't afford it.

Growing up for me it was Santa got u the big toy like a bike or Barbie house etc. mum n dad sent everything else to Santa to deliver. I prefer this to be honest but my dh was adamant everything from Santa said it's more magical 😆

YourNameGoesHere · 15/12/2023 10:20

gerteddy · 15/12/2023 10:17

Everything from Santa here. Although I've told my eldest (6) that mum n dad have to send money to Santa to pay for it. Just to get her to understand that she can't ask for a hundred things! Also that not everyone will get what they ask for as maybe parents can't afford it.

Growing up for me it was Santa got u the big toy like a bike or Barbie house etc. mum n dad sent everything else to Santa to deliver. I prefer this to be honest but my dh was adamant everything from Santa said it's more magical 😆

See I never understand how this works with saying thank you. So if Auntie Anne for example gets your child something they think it's from Santa and not her? Don't they wonder why Auntie Anne buys you a present and not them?

reclaimmyboobs · 15/12/2023 10:21

Father Christmas is stockings only here. DD is nearly five and decided herself that other children’s big presents weren’t really from Father Christmas/Santa, because he couldn’t fit them all on the sleigh and a bike wouldn’t go down a chimney. But she won’t tell her friends their presents are really from their mummy and daddy, because that’s rude. Thankfully she’s very logical (despite believing in Father Christmas…) and loves rules/has a strong sense of Not Being Rude, which to her translates as not contradicting people, so she would never tell kids their tree presents are from real people. But spends a lot of time explaining it to ME. Grin

Mummyme87 · 15/12/2023 10:22

I got everything from Santa, also gifts from family. With my kids I do majority from Santa with a couple from mum and dad

cheezncrackers · 15/12/2023 10:22

As you can see from this thread OP, every family does it differently! We only ever had our stockings from Father Christmas and they contained approx. 15-20 small items like bath paints, socks, books, toys, etc and as parents DH and I have continued with that system. All the presents under the tree are from named people and FC never gives big presents. It's easy to explain because he's a magic elf and he does things the way the particular family wants them done!

TammyJones · 15/12/2023 10:25

TheBirdintheCave · 15/12/2023 09:15

We say Father Christmas brings the presents but they're from mum, dad, auntie and uncle etc. Son is only three so though so this may only fly for a while 😅

As I kid I was told , Santa delivered but mum and dad sent money.