how do you 'do' santa?

[wildflower79]

We do one gift from father christmas. Everything else is from us or whoever. We donate gifts to our local salvation army for kids that won't get any and I couldn't find a way to explain that if santa brings everything.

We usually do presents from friends/family labelled under the tree, so they know who bought them. And then all other presents from Santa. This is how it was when I was little and it never occurred to me to wonder why my parents didn't get us anything.

This thread has got me thinking now though! We'll be doing an Xmas shoebox and I said to DD the other day about some children not getting any presents and I never even gave it a thought about why santa wouldn't be bringing presents for some kids. Fortunately she never asked!

Think I might introduce a Santa present and the rest from us this year. I'd really like DD to know how fortunate she is, compared to some children in the world and appreciate things a bit more now she's getting older.

 

[WackyMumof2]

Because of lack of storage in our house I don't have anywhere I can hide everything I buy so they get the majority from us and the biggest ones from Santa. I wrap and stack all the ones from us in the lounge until I put the tree up. I know what you are all thinking 'how do you not have the kids in them?'. It's simple. They touch, they don't get them - at all. They found that out one year and NEVER touched them again. If they are stacked in the lounge unwrapped the kids see them as fair game. They are wrapped, they leave them alone. They get 1-2 big ones from Santa, and smaller one depending on what I can find and those I have JUST enough room to hide. The big ones go out at the tree, the smaller one they get on their beds and they know they stay in bed until me and hubby get up. Santa sacks go on the wall in the lounge empty. I fill them Christmas Eve when the boys are in bed. Neither of them have ever questioned it and they are 7 and 9.

 

[Scout]

We do one gift from father christmas. Everything else is from us or whoever. We donate gifts to our local salvation army for kids that won't get any and I couldn't find a way to explain that if santa brings everything.

We usually do presents from friends/family labelled under the tree, so they know who bought them. And then all other presents from Santa. This is how it was when I was little and it never occurred to me to wonder why my parents didn't get us anything.

This thread has got me thinking now though! We'll be doing an Xmas shoebox and I said to DD the other day about some children not getting any presents and I never even gave it a thought about why santa wouldn't be bringing presents for some kids. Fortunately she never asked!

Think I might introduce a Santa present and the rest from us this year. I'd really like DD to know how fortunate she is, compared to some children in the world and appreciate things a bit more now she's getting older.

I thought about this last night since we do the angel tree and I've decided to carry on as usual. I tell dd that we are buying for a child who isn't as fortunate and may not get gifts for Christmas, but I tihink because we do it usually 2 to 3 weeks before Christmas she may not put it together with Santa. If she does ask, I'll try to ignore it and start talking about something else. That works well right now with her being 4; not sure when she's 6 but i'll come up with a plan then.

 

[CaptainMummy]

I do all presents from Santa, apart from family presents which get put under the tree if received before Christmas and they always know who they are from. On Christmas eve, Santa leaves them a pile each and a full stocking and they think it is wonderful! My parents did the same thing and I never questioned anything. We loved the excitement and suspense of not knowing what he will bring us, and creeping downstairs to see all the presents in piles that he had left for us.
I don't care if he gets all 'the credit' I think its great that they get so excited. If my dd1 asks me why I don't get her any presents, I'll just tell her 'because Santa bring you lots!' but I don't see that happening (she is oblivious and totally still believes in the magic)

 

[vaniilla]

Santa gets everything in the stockings and the rest is from whoever sent it.

 

[loeylo]

We do Santa stockings and main present, maybe a few small presents too.

Our stocking is related to the main present. This year her main present is a portable DVD player so in her stocking will be a few dvds, sweets etc. - that's what my parents did with us. So one year I got a desk and my stocking had art supplies in it, if I got a bike I might get those spoke beads and elbow/knee pads, we got a play guy one year and we had the key inside our stockings.

We get her presents through the year and some will be from Santa, but no branded things. Santa "makes" things so it's only toys he gives.

We tend to do a few big but not main presents from us. This year she's getting a dolls crib and another few accessories for her dolls, along with her other presents.

Santas present is ubwrapped with a big bow, stocking things are wrapped in a Santa themed paper. Everything from us is in different paper.

Grandparents, aunties etc give presents when we see them later on Christmas Day.

 

[SpringerS]

Everything DS gets under the tree on Christmas morning is from Santa. It consists of the 2 or 3 things he asked for, some surprises (some related to what he asked for, some completely different) and his stocking. In our family we acknowledge Santa's love of environmentalism and are more than happy to have preloved gifts that the elves refurbished. Kids who are happy to receive refurbished gifts tend to get extra surprises because maybe the child who used to own the Batcave you asked for also owned a Fortress of Solitude, Spiderman house and extra figures and they all want to stay together. So DS gets all of them. It's a win on every level as DS gets lots of toys, they cost me less than just a new Batcave alone and we have a very straightforward explanation if any child ever wonders why DS gets more from Santa than they do.

Gifts from relatives are given in person later on the day or over the next few days. To stave off any questions about what I give him, I prepare his Christmas Eve box and give him that when we come home on Christmas eve evening. It contains numerous items that come out each year, like his special Christmas book and teddy, magic bell and stocking. It has consumables like popcorn, Christmas candy, bath bomb and a Christmas special on a USB stick. And every year I buy a new board game for us to play before bed. So it's a really cosy, special tradition which also clearly counts as a gift from me.

 

[Talia12]

Everything DS gets under the tree on Christmas morning is from Santa. It consists of the 2 or 3 things he asked for, some surprises (some related to what he asked for, some completely different) and his stocking. In our family we acknowledge Santa's love of environmentalism and are more than happy to have preloved gifts that the elves refurbished. Kids who are happy to receive refurbished gifts tend to get extra surprises because maybe the child who used to own the Batcave you asked for also owned a Fortress of Solitude, Spiderman house and extra figures and they all want to stay together. So DS gets all of them. It's a win on every level as DS gets lots of toys, they cost me less than just a new Batcave alone and we have a very straightforward explanation if any child ever wonders why DS gets more from Santa than they do.

Gifts from relatives are given in person later on the day or over the next few days. To stave off any questions about what I give him, I prepare his Christmas Eve box and give him that when we come home on Christmas eve evening. It contains numerous items that come out each year, like his special Christmas book and teddy, magic bell and stocking. It has consumables like popcorn, Christmas candy, bath bomb and a Christmas special on a USB stick. And every year I buy a new board game for us to play before bed. So it's a really cosy, special tradition which also clearly counts as a gift from me.

Very cute ideas!

 

[happilyhappy]

we do it the same way as it was for me growing up, santa is a bit like a post man, he just brings the gifts. Basically all the gifts that we have bought are from santa, we are friends with him so he knows what to bring lol and we have sent him some money to pay for them. Then all other presents are from whoever gifted them - nan, grandad, aunts etc. I never once questioned it growing up just believed that santa bought all the gifts on christmas eve and over time realised what was really going on. My little one has actually never asked any questions but he's only 6, he's just so happy with his presents to worry about who bought them haha

 

[staralfur]

We tell her to pick one or two things that she wants to tell Santa about in person and then whatever she says is what we give her from Santa, everything else from us.

With the stocking I usually end up filling it about halfway and then once she goes to sleep on Christmas Eve I fill the rest with stuff from Santa. She doesn’t really seem to understand this and assumes that everything is from Santa even though half of it has been sitting in there for weeks but whatever, I’m not too bothered about where she thinks the stocking stuffers come from.

 

[x_WelshGirl_x]

Their stockings are from Santa and they are in the bedroom waiting on Christmas morning. They have a pile of presents each waiting for them downstairs which is from Santa. We will keep a present for each of them and put under the tree from us.
Presents from family/friends gets put under the tree when received.

I have had to tell Alex that we have to send Santa money to bring their presents. The other week he said he was having an Xbox for christmas and I told him it's too expensive and besides, we have a ps4, he replied with "oh well too late it's already on my list" so he sort of understands why he can't have really expensive stuff, that we pay for them and Santa delivers them.

 

[Scout]

I've always told dd that she can ask Santa for whatever she wants, but he only brings what he thinks would be best for her. She knows she'll not get everything she's asked for so I don't have to worry about if she asks for something I think is too expensive. Which she has this year, and she's not getting it.

 

[Talia12]

I've always told dd that she can ask Santa for whatever she wants, but he only brings what he thinks would be best for her. She knows she'll not get everything she's asked for so I don't have to worry about if she asks for something I think is too expensive. Which she has this year, and she's not getting it.

My parents did something like this with me. They said the list I sent was only a suggestion/request. I got some stuff that wasn't on my list and didn't get some stuff that was, I was never that bothered about it because it was all so amazing anyway, but one year I do remember asking my mum why I didn't get something specific that was on my list and she kind of shrugged and said, well you know how santa works, you still got loads of other nice presents. And I was ok with that

 

[.Mrs.B.]

One gift from Santa and a stocking, the rest is from us/family etc.
I loved it this way when I was little and it was so exciting knowing that I could ask for anything I wanted - that one extravagant gift that would turn up under the tree, it really made it special.
Having everything from Santa wouldn't seem as magical for me and I want my kids to have the experience I did.
Plus in most films you actually see Santa leave 1 present per child - this makes it more realistic that he could fit all that on his sleigh, lol.

 

[_dreamer_]

We do the same as when i was a child. Santa fills small stockings by their beds (small gifts only) and a sack in the living room. Presents from us and everyone else go under the tree. We've not had to go into it too much but as my eldest is nearly 6 this year I feel some more in depth questions might be coming our way this year!

As children the four of us opened the stockings sat on my parents bed then we went down and opened our santa sacks before breakfast. Everything under the tree had to wait until after our Christmas meal which was so hard to do but meant the excitement lasted all day. We do a similar thing now but open all gifts then family have joined us from 11 ish the last 3 years and they've all put their gifts under the tree again so we have round 2 of a tree full of gifts!

Ooo I love Xmas! It's lovely hearing how differently everyone does it and it's amazing that kids never click why lol.

 

[Scout]

I love how everyone describes their Christmas as magical and can't imagine it any other way. Just goes to show that no matter how you do it, our kids are going to have amazing memories to pass to their own family one day.

 

[MindUtopia]

We only do her stocking (and assorted stocking stuffers) are from Santa. All gifts under the tree are from us (or whoever they are from). I'm Jewish, so I don't really do Santa at all anyway, but we celebrate Christian holidays in our house on a cultural level (as husband did growing up, even though he is not religious at all, an atheist actually, so no spiritual meaning at all to Christmas in our house, we celebrate Jewish holidays in a religious sense). But my husband's family is perhaps fairly traditional (rural farming family, etc.) in the sense that presents were from who they were from. He got no presents from Santa growing up as his parents felt really strongly that presents should be from the people who worked hard to pay for them. So in his household growing up the only thing from Santa was the stocking. This makes sense to me, especially as we don't do a massive Christmas with ridiculous amounts of presents. Our daughter might get like 3 presents from us and then others from assorted friends or family, so we feel like we want those to be from us. But everything in her stocking is from Santa and it's left next to the brandy and mince pies she left out, so still retains the magic of Christmas, without the over the top spending on loads of different presents from Santa and us.

 

[pa2k84]

Santa only brings one present here the rest are from mummy, daddy and other family members.
Would be weird to me and sure my eldest would question more if Santa brought all the presents, then Grandma, grandad etc. brought them presents but Mummy and Daddy didn't?

He will specifically say, "i would like you to buy me x y z" and "I am going to ask Santa to please bring me ..."
Obviously the big man gets the credit as he asks him for the most expensive thing (as i guess when he has asked in the past i have told him i can't as too expensive!)

 

[.Mrs.B.]

I love how everyone describes their Christmas as magical and can't imagine it any other way. Just goes to show that no matter how you do it, our kids are going to have amazing memories to pass to their own family one day.

It is funny that you don't realise everyone does it different until you're an adult.
Just goes to show that children really don't compare with each other.

 

[rangersgirl69]

Everything from Santa here . Except presents from family they come from them and I give them one present under the tree