Preserving Your Children’s Belief in Santa Claus!
One of the very best times to be a parent is on Christmas morning when Santa has finally come and you get to see the expression of pure delight on your children’s faces! It’s the magical reward for weeks of planning, shopping and wrapping, and as parents, we want this magic to last as long as possible! Over the years, I’ve come up with a few strategies to keep the lid on this one!
Christmas Shopping
- Drop off larger store-bought gifts at a friend’s or relative’s for secret storage.
- Also, send toys and gifts ordered on-line to a friend or relative’s home.
- Once in a while, purchase a gift that your kids have been pleading for but you’ve vetoed! In my house, I had refused to buy Bratz dolls for my little girl, but Santa put a few mini Bratz in her stocking. Santa has a mind of his own!
- I usually have a gift or two for each child under the tree that is from me and my husband – clearly showing that we are not Santa!
Wrapping Santa’s Gifts
- Before wrapping the gifts, take the time to assemble the toys and insert batteries where needed. For those toys that are practically bolted into the box, snip the ties, clips, and strings beforehand and place the toy back into the box! Nothing is worse than struggling with scissors and wire cutters while your child is not so patiently waiting!
- Purchase separate wrapping paper and ribbon to be used only on Santa’s gifts (unlike something you might typically like!). Choose a unique pattern for each child in your family. Dispose of all extra paper and ribbon in a black trash bag – no reusing here!
- It can be fun to leave one or two larger gifts unwrapped and assembled under the tree.
Christmas Eve
- Sprinkle “reindeer food” on your lawn for Santa’s reindeer!
- Leave a special plate of milk and cookies for Santa. For the cute personalized plate for Santa pictured above, see rosenberryrooms.com.
- Make sure Santa has a way to enter the house without setting off your house alarm if you have one! Consider purchasing or making a secret key for Santa! (Santa’s Key, $24.95)
After Bedtime
- Make sure that those milk and cookies are consumed! That’s always one of the first things my kids check out on Christmas morning!
- Have Santa leave a special note thanking them for the treats and commending them for their good behavior!
Do you have any great ideas for protecting your children’s belief in Santa? Please share!
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My wife always buys a dozen of carrots that still have the leafs. Our kids make sure to put out 9 carrots with tops on them for the reindeer. On Christmas day, the tops of the carrots with the leafs are found all around the front yard. You can see the bite marks even from the reindeer! Sometimes there are even a few hanging from the roof ledge.
Santa seems to leave boot prints on our floor. This works well at our house since we have hard wood, and I suppose it would work on carpet, because you could vacuum when you are done. I take my husbands boots and walk from the wood stove to the christmas tree. Each step I take baby powder and makeup brush and tap the baby powder all around each boot as I take those big steps. It leaves impressions on the floor of the boot. This has been a big hit at our house. Last year an elf was there too, with little green foot prints. I just added green food coloring to the powder and stirred. Merry christmas!
One way to extend belief is this. A couple of days befor Chistmas leave a brush around in the room where your tree is, so the child knows its been sitting there, then on chistmas morn put a bunch of white hair in the brush and some one in the family notice that santa must of brushed his hair befor he left.
Great suggestions! I love it when parents contribute to the fantasy. Boy do I remember the days when I believed in Santa – they were magical! Hope people post more ideas on this.
Instead of having to hide all the wrapping paper and bows, my husband and I have told our daughter that Santa quickly wraps all her gifts when he gets here. We leave out all the wrapping paper, bows, tape, etc. on Xmas Eve that we’ve chosen and Santa does the rest! I love the carrot idea above, I think I’m going to use that one this year
oh i am sooo doing the carrot idea this year, i was also thinking of leaving a white glove behind.
merry christmas all
Last year, my husband and I hung ornaments and candy canes with fishing wire (child can not see the wire since it is clear) from the ceiling after they went to bed. In the morning, they awoke with floating ornaments and candy canes above their heads. It was wonderful to see their reaction, but very nerve racking to put them up the night before since I did not want them to wake up!!!
I made reindeer food last year – rolled oats and added some cinnamon for a nice smell along with “flying sparkle” glitter. I wrapped it in a nice little bag along with a note from Santa asking to spread out the food for the reindeer before the child goes to bed on Christmas eve, something along the lines of “I’ve noticed how well behaved you’ve become and I know I can depend on you Christmas eve…. etc etc”. It worked a treat.
growing up my mom and dad always did something new to keep us believing. one year i remember sleigh marks and hoof prints in the snow and then once there was some red fabric caught on our porch rail where “santa caught his pants”. half ate carrots were a must but now that i have children i like to keep the tradition going, we have bought a santa suit and ill wake my son up and me and him will peek down the stairs and watch santa. he gets so excited. (hes 4.) and santa always walks by dads trail cam outside so we get a good picture of him being there. this year santas gonna rip his pants or lose a button or glove. and im makeing the sleigh marks since we finally have snow. its hard to keep him believing when kids in his preschool class are telling him theres no santa…
Santa visits our house every day for a week leading up to Christmas. Whether or not (and for whom) presents are left is dependant upon their behavior that day while were out. Even my oldest cannot figure out who is “playing Santa” while we’re out running errands. This idea originally got started when we told the kids Santa brings gifts from God, gifts are given in the spirit of Love and every gift received is a result of God’s love. In short… Santa is the “delivery guy”. My daughter spied a box on the porch one day from the g-parents and insisted (in this vein) that Santa delivered them on the g-parents’ behalf. So unless they SEE the delivery guy, they automatically assume Santa brought it himself. Kinda round-about but it’s *FUN* all the same!!!
Ok, what do I do they found the gifts from Santa. How do we keep the magic going, since they have seen the gifts?
So Upset