pancakes
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,002 
|
Post by pancakes on Nov 9, 2022 4:47:08 GMT
This will be our first year to write a letter to Santa at our house (little Pancakes is now 2.5 and is a chatty one…)!
I’d love to hear what your family did (or does) for letters or wishlists for Santa.
|
|
|
|
Post by pantsonfire on Nov 9, 2022 5:31:25 GMT
Just wrote a letter and mailed it off. No tradition.
|
|
|
|
Post by Basket1lady on Nov 9, 2022 5:52:39 GMT
Time sure does fly!
I’ll be honest—I manipulated those Santa letters. The kids were allowed to ask for up to 5 things and then I’d decide which two were from Santa. We did highly desired items from Santa, but not expensive ones. They only received two gifts from Santa. Then I’d talk those two items up so that they didn’t change their minds. I’d also mention the two items when we were waiting in line for Santa and to family members. Luckily, my kids seldom watched any tv with commercials, so they weren’t influenced by those. The kids generally gave their letters to Santa in person, usually at an office Christmas party, so I got the letters back.
I always wanted the kids to have their big desires fulfilled. If they asked for big ticket items, that was fine. But we got those gifts, not Santa. As they got older, I explained that some items weren’t made at the North Pole or that they were too expensive fora Santa. When they got old enough to realize that their friends sometimes got expensive items, I’d say that maybe the parents gave Santa some extra cash to help out.
Santa lasted a long time in our house and I had crazy smart kids. But DS had a friend who was a Jehovahs witness. He regularly told the other kids that he didn’t believe in Santa and that he was made up. And I had told my kids for years that once they stopped believing in Santa, Santa didn’t bring them gifts anymore. That poor little boy made a believer out of my kids for at least another 5 years.
|
|
SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,926
|
Post by SweetieBsMom on Nov 9, 2022 11:51:25 GMT
DS would send his letter to Santa every year but the first year DS really 'got' Santa my sister used an on-line place to do a letter to DS, from Santa, and he was over the moon. We kept that tradition going, it was cute.
|
|
|
|
Post by Linda on Nov 9, 2022 13:36:40 GMT
Mine always wrote letters on/around Thanksgiving - and were always aware that they were wishes not a shopping list for Santa. They always got at least one thing from their list and at least one thing they hadn't thought to ask for. I still remember the year I scoured the stores looking for a purple Hot Wheels or Matchbox car for DS when he was 4 and really wanted a small purple car. And the year I crowdsourced to find a green sand pail for my youngest when they were in K and that was their biggest Christmas wish.
|
|
milocat
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,899
Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
|
Post by milocat on Nov 9, 2022 18:51:56 GMT
We wrote and mailed letters to Santa and he'd reply (form letter)! I think Santa's address is so cool.
Santa Claus
North Pole
H0H 0HO (Ho ho ho but in the proper Canadian postal code form)
Canada
No stamp required and there might be a special Santa mail box to send your letter in.
|
|
|
|
Post by littlemama on Nov 9, 2022 21:33:58 GMT
I honestly dont remember! When ds was really young, I made sure to buy a Santa gift that elves could conceivably have made- usually a wooden toy. We didnt emphasize Santa a whole lot, but I remember one time when ds was in preschool, they did letters to Santa- I was done shopping at this point. I asked ds what he had asked for and he said, "A pirate ship that really floats!". This kid had never mentioned pirates or ships or floating EVER. Needless to say, I searched high and low to find him a pirate ship that really floats and then made the orginal Santa gift come from us. 😂
In our house, Santa filled the stocking and brought one gift- never the most desired gift, that came from us.
|
|
|
|
Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 9, 2022 22:32:03 GMT
The way we handled it was DD would write her letter and leave it for Santa next to her stocking on Christmas Eve. I would leave Santa a letter too, asking for DD’s letter to be left behind so I could put it in her scrapbook and Santa always obliged and would put it in my stocking, LOL.
She could put whatever she wanted on the list because it was like pulling teeth to get the kid to ask for anything at all, and half the time she would ask for things like certain clothes (fuzzy teal hoodie). Sometimes we would give her the #1 thing on her list and other times Santa would, especially if we saw that the things she wanted sold out quickly in stores.
When she was 3, she really, really wanted the Lightning McQueen train table that she saw at Costco. We looked at it every time we went to the store together and every time I would tell her it was just too expensive. In the meantime, I snuck off to the store by myself one day and grabbed one of the last sets in stock and hid it at home. The next time we went together, she looked for it and when it wasn’t there anymore I told her I was so sorry but it must have sold out, but she could ask Santa for it. 😞 Then when we went to see Santa that year and he asked her what she would like, that was what she said she wanted and he said he would do his best. 😉 She was SO surprised to open that gift on Christmas and she played with that thing every day for well over a year. Well played, Santa. Well played!
Another year it was Zoomer Kitty (sold out literally everywhere, got one online) and another year it was the Hatchimal (also sold out everywhere and my friend managed to snag me one from somewhere). Other years we gave her the big gift (iPad, gaming computer) because DH didn’t want to be upstaged by Santa, LOL).
She’s 12 now and I know she hasn’t believed for a while now, but she pretends very well and plays along for my benefit. I keep telling her Santa is real because IMO Santa IS real as long as people have a giving spirit in their hearts.
|
|
