How to make Santa real!

[Dropinthe]

My eldest son will be 4 in January and last year didn't really understand Christmas at all. He certainly didn't understand the Father Christmas concept! This year,I am trying to hype him up in order to get him feeling excited about him coming etc etc but keep balsing it up!
What did you tell your toddlers regarding whether Santa was going to be buying all of his presents as well as bringing them or just bringing all the ones that all of his friends and family have bought him or what???
Want him to feel the magic like I did and feel the excitement I did on Christmas Eve knowing he was coming to my house!

Advice please??

ooh youre like me a big kid. Let me just have a look ive got a great link

trythis

Have you got some Christmas books you can read to him? The book shops have got all their Chistmas books out now. Also an Advent calendar will help to get him excited

I'm not getting links up at the mo-copy and paste the link please Lucy!

Got the Advent calender but its a Spiderman one so he will be more interested in him than Santa-now Crimbo books-thats a good idea.

oooh I do love that link, got stuck to the computer last Xmas eve tracking him!!!

For actually at Xmas you could do what dh did for ss a few years ago and make glitter footprints (you can do fake snow) on the carpet starting in bedroom where sack/stockings are left, that go downstairs and to door/chimney! ss didn't forget it and couldn't wait until the next year!

All the presents are delivered by Santa.
We put the presents for friends and family around the tree and then the week before christmas the elves come and collect them to pass on to Santa....they all get distributed then by us.
No presents for a week and then on Christmas Eve night we put all the pressies under the tree so Santa has been.
Use talc and glitter and mark out foot prints using a wellie....sprinkle some up the stairs and in his bedroom too....so he can see Santas magic footprints.

That is v sweet but can imagine glitter everywhere for a v long time!!

www.noradsanta.org/

My DD is about the same age as your son. I have told her that Santa lives at the North Pole (yes dear, with Pingu) and he has lots of elves in a factory and they make all the toys for children. Then mummy and daddy and grandma and grandad ask Santa to bring the presents on Christnmas eve. To be honest, she is more interested in the Nativity story now.
She asked me at the weekend 'Mummy, why did Mary have baby Jesus in a Kennel??'

Make sure that you write a list to Santa together and my Mum used to tell all of us that when the Robin Red Breasts start appearing we have to be extra good because they where Santas spies checking how well we were behaving.

its a bit early but its great you track santas journey.

Also try this

Again try in a couple of weeks

i also use with my kids at school \link{http://blackdog.net\this

You can email FC and get a reply, again probably in a couple of weeks. Its a bit american cheesy but the kids dont know. There are also some lovely craft things.

It's noradsanta.org - brilliant on Christmas Eve! Books are nice - The Night Before Christmas, Laura's Christmas Star, Jolly Postman's Christmas Letters (maybe a bit old).
We told dd1 that Santa brings the presents in the sack and we put something smallish under the tree to open from us, the family ones are from family.
Putting food out for santa is good fun too. We also do the magic footprints using glitter. We get more fun out of it than they do I think!

I have a ghost in my PC! Keeps doing strange things-need to turn off

ok, ill be cleaning in 5 mins, yeah right!

I think mil writes to Santa at the post office and dd1 gets a letter from him and somehting to put in the window saying bring your presents here Santa. Not sure how it works. I'll ask her. Baby on knee, spelling bad.

We put out all our presents and ones handed in by relatives on Christmas eve (after kids in bed, obviously!) On Christmas day they will be given more by visiting relatives. I use one design of wrapping paper for each child (and dh) - which apart from making it really quick to sort out whose is whose, really makes ds in particular think he's got things from Santa.
We used the Norad site last year - brilliant! It was fantastic as the neighbour's kids were over too on Christmas Eve and they were absolutely convinced they could her sleigh bells outside!
We do the glitter thing too (just in front of the woodburner stove) and open the door of the stove before kids go to bed so Santa can get out.
Christmas stories (Jolly Postman, Night before Christmas etc) from mid November.

try again this

ooh this is driving me mad trythis

My dad used to jingle keys at the bottom of the stairs on christmas eve. It used to send my sis and I into wild panic as we knew he wouldnt come until we were asleep.

My dad used to put soot marks on the plate that i left a mince pie on for santa and also on the Sherry glass and he would ring some little bells as my mum was putting me to bed and she would tell me to go to sleep as santa was on his way it made it all so magical and i will be doing it this year now my daughter is old enough to understand.

dd who is 4.5 mentioned to me the other day about the snowy footprints Santa left in her bedroom last year.
That and the jelly lollies he gave all 3 of them ("I got a penguin, ds1 got a snowman" etc) seem to have been the highlights of christmas for her!
4 is old enough to go and see Santa, we like the one at our local National trust place about 3 weekends before christmas.
How about making cards and decorations, or christmas food - need to do yr christmas cake this week really!

i also do teh glittery footprints and some snowy ones that go up the path. and i have got an offcut of red velvet that i am going to pull tiny threads from and leave attached to door handles fo their rooms and some stuck on the edge of teh fireplace so that it looks like he has pulled a thread climbing in or out.
i am also printing the labels from the santa presies so taht he has "special" writting.

Love the printing of labels as Dd 6yrs will probably recognise the handwritting. We have done the talac makes the carpets smell nice the next day. Stories are a good idea my Dd loves the poem "Twas the nite before Christmas" and Ds loves all the christmas stories. Also our advent calendar is material and for each day their is a woodern decoration which them goes on the Xmas tree in the dinning room. With 24 spare decorations which the other child puts on in the evening before bed being doing that for a couple of years they love it.

DD always knew that presents came from friends and family but was absolutely convinced that Father Christmas filled up the stocking!

We always leave a drink and a mince pie on the mantelpiece (with a carrot for the reindeer!)and I move any ornaments etc away from the fireplace "in case he knocks them over". If you say it all matter-of-factly they believe it!

I always wrap the stocking fillers loosely in tissue paper and ribbon because elves don't use sellotape! Then the paper can't match any of the other pressies and spoil the illusion. I use red for a girl and green for a boy because it's easier for FC (and me)to fill the stockings when he is in such a hurry.

You see, I have even convinced myself! Or maybe I just love christmas. I think I had more fun than the kids last year tracking FC on his sleigh!