Ideas to make them believe Santa really came

skyblue78

Hi all, I'm just looking to know if anyone has any ideas to make the kids believe Santa really came. For the last few years I've done different things but I've run out of ideas. So far I've... Left a present in the chimney like it fell out of Santys bag on his way back out. put horse poop on the car roof droped by the reindeer as they flew away, made hoof prints on the car with sut like they landed on it. My only child is now 10 so I'd really like to hang on to Santa for 1 more year. Any ideas would be great. Thanks

CrazyRabbit

10? And still believing? Is that even possible? I pity the poor child if he's around his mates and claims to still believe. He'll be teased endlessly.

If you're serious though, try something simple like leaving half-eaten cookies and a half-glass of milk, along with a note from Santa saying thanks.

chucken1

skyblue78 wrote: »

Hi all, I'm just looking to know if anyone has any ideas to make the kids believe Santa really came. For the last few years I've done different things but I've run out of ideas. So far I've... Left a present in the chimney like it fell out of Santys bag on his way back out. put horse poop on the car roof droped by the reindeer as they flew away, made hoof prints on the car with sut like they landed on it. My only child is now 10 so I'd really like to hang on to Santa for 1 more year. Any ideas would be great. Thanks

If you have an open fire,a little bit of soot with 'footprints'..be they Santy or Reindeer worked on my chidren until they were about 11. Dont listen to the bah humbugs:)

axel rose

OP, someone is definitely been hoodwinked here and it ain't your kid!!!!

CiaranC

skyblue78 wrote: »

Hi all, I'm just looking to know if anyone has any ideas to make the kids believe Santa really came. For the last few years I've done different things but I've run out of ideas. So far I've... Left a present in the chimney like it fell out of Santys bag on his way back out. put horse poop on the car roof droped by the reindeer as they flew away, made hoof prints on the car with sut like they landed on it. My only child is now 10 so I'd really like to hang on to Santa for 1 more year. Any ideas would be great. Thanks

I think your kid is stringing you along maybe.

If your child is 10 chances are they are playing along for the extra pressies.
That or they're going to get slagged unmercifully at school

skyblue78

I didn't ask for comments on whether you all think he believes in Santa or not. If hes pretending so what! He doesn't need to pretend so he'll get extra prezzies as hes an only child so hes the only one I have to spoil at xmas. And yes I do spoil him at xmas as hes mine to spoil. I know many more 10year olds who all say they believe in Santa and I haven't heard anyone mocking them. All I asked for were a few ideas to make it a little more special. If anyone would like to contribute some that would be great. Thanks

CrazyRabbit

skyblue78 wrote: »

I didn't ask for comments on whether you all think he believes in Santa or not. If hes pretending so what! He doesn't need to pretend so he'll get extra prezzies as hes an only child so hes the only one I have to spoil at xmas. And yes I do spoil him at xmas as hes mine to spoil. I know many more 10year olds who all say they believe in Santa and I haven't heard anyone mocking them. All I asked for were a few ideas to make it a little more special. If anyone would like to contribute some that would be great. Thanks

I made a suggestion...as did another person.

skyblue78

Crazyrabbit thank you for your suggestion. It is appreciated along with chuken1. I suppose I was just amazed at all the comments that a 10yr couldn't believe in Santa or will be mocked for doing so. I dont believe 10 is too old and I'd be pretty amazed if he was the only 10yr old to believe. I do believe it'll be the last year with Santa and all I wanted were a few ideas to do something a little different to make it look as though Santa and the reindeer did stop by.

dublinlady

my parents used to get us to put out carrots for the reindeer on christmas eve and then when we would go out to see if they were still there on christmas morning most would be gone with a few half chewed one (id imagine there was a large whiskey before and after my father had to chew dirty carrots...all in the name of christmas!!)
Also the glass of milk and biscuits thing, otherwise id say u've gone to great effort already!
Dont mind the begrudgers.....i knew the truth for years before i told my parents but loved that they went to that effort and thought it was all great fun!

byhookorbycrook

Bit of glitter around the fireplace..even a trail to the pressies if you fancy hoovering it up later. Santa used often drop a present near the fireplace with the name of the next door child on it(your neighbours can do the same and ye swap.)I would say your child may well believe, no matter what others here say. You may need to tell him before nest year though, as some children will glory in making nasty comments.

kippy

Leave the biscuits and milk out, make sure they are eaten/drank. Leave a red shock hanging from the underside of the chimney and maybe a bit of black soot around the chimney. The old ones are the best.

I don't think there's any harm in having a child who is ten believing in Santa, whether they are stringing you along or not.
If getting "mocked" by other kids of their age is the problem then you need to realise that you kid could get "mocked" for almost anything at that age. Its part of growing up but theres no harm letting them believe in the "magic" of Christmas as long as possible.

cats.life

op my now 13 year old belived in santy till he was 11, get the dvd POLAR EXSPRESS, tom hanks wrote it and stared in it , its about a boy who didnt belive in santy . i sat and watched it with my two boys and know what it was a cosey happy feel to it, i still have the dvd a nd watch it with them every xmas eve. to hell with the not so happy posters op, you do what you want.

metrovelvet

I stopped believing when I was four but I also really wanted to believe it too. I was kind of sad that I had stopped. My parents convinced me the one thing I really wanted [a mickey mouse analogue watch] there was no way I was going to get. By that time, I had figured out how to tell time and having done transatlantics I understood time changed in different countries so I had my doubts as to how this all worked. We also lived in an apartment with no fireplace or chimney, so that didnt help either. My mother tried to explain trans molecular transformation or something she saw on star trek or something to explain how he got into the apartment. [This led to a slew of questions about burglers getting in. Sigh my poor mom!] So for a month they gave me reason after reason why I wouldnt get one from them. They dont sell them in NYC. They are too expensive. Im just going to lose it. Im just going to break it. What do I need to tell time for? They were aware I had fallen from faith too. And then at the last minute on Christmas eve, they sensed my desperation for a mickey mouse analogue watch and suggested I write a little note to Santa [no atheists in a foxhole theory being applied here by my parents] and tape it on the window, using the 'after all it cant hurt to try right?' method of persuasion. So I wrote my note, in my best handwriting, with please and thank yous and taped it to the window. And I didnt sleep a wink all night.

And the next day... what was under the tree? Yes, my mickey mouse watch and I believed Santa came. And there was no glitter or soot or anything like that.

lily lou

How about some white fluffy beard?? The year i was starting to doubt Santa this completely convinced me that Santa was real, we were all so excited when we found it.

Tabnabs

Get a big pair of shoes/boots and sieve some flour carefully around/over it to look like Santa's footprints (cause he has snow on his boots of course!). Some grass that must have been left behind by Rudolf etc.

Use the http://www.noradsanta.org/ site to build a sense of excitement throughout the day too.

Nevyn

My 10 year old still believes and the 12 year old is undeceided.
If NORAD beleives in Santa then he's having trouble disputng that atm.

muckety

a tuft of 'beard' (cotton wool) that snagged on the fireplace usually gets a reaction in our house. Last believer left is 9 years and I hope to keep that belief at least through this xmas!

TheQ47

This is another brilliant site, my 3 children were astounded by it last year (eldest was almost 10, now almost 11, still believes, I think) Basically you put in the childs details, what they want for Christmas, also details of their lives, such as favourite things, how they've been good boy/girl, Etc., their e-mail address, and they get sent a link to a personalised video message from Santa, all for free.

http://portablenorthpole.tv/

Great fun, worth trying out.

EraseAndRewind

some brillant ideas there guys -its all about the magic

also OP my daughter is 10 and still believes in santa and the tooth fairy and the easter bunny as do many of her friends so your not the only one

goosie2005

- half eaten carrot on the car windscreen.. as if fallen from the sky!
- glitter in fireplace
- small presents in the garden, to be found later in the day, with another child's name and address on it, e.g 'Sven, Stockholm, Sweden'...as if fell from the sleigh!
-also, remember someone describing how they laid out 2 planks of wood on the grass a day or two before the big day, which when removed left a mark on the grass as if they were 'sleigh prints'

Enjoy the magic for as long as you can!

30lady

such great ideas....can't wait to try a couple, I just LOVE the magic of Santa Claus and Christmas.

My son is 11 and he still believes..... definately.
and as this has to be his last year believing I'm going to make it as magical as possible - magic dust (glitter) on the fireplace and big snowy (flour) boot prints by the tree, I can't wait

holystungun9

I second the footprints thing. My mate told me that he was fooled by some white sugar by the fireplace and little footprints in it. I guess sugar might be a bit too obvious to your kid's age group but maybe flour or something. Maybe even some real snow if you have it and can time his entrance into the room. The idea is that Santa has to shrink down really small so that he can get down the chimney, he knocks down some snow on his way and leaves his little footprints in it. Sounds sweet.

metrovelvet

Dont do flour or sugar or snow. An 11 year old will see right through that. I think my three year old would tbh. They know snow is supposed to be cold.

wolfpawnat

How about a little bit of water and glitter instead of flour and stuff, they are intelligent enough to know ice melts:) Glitter makes it more special.

11 is the right age to stop believing, we are so busy growing up these days.

You should leave a half eaten carrot in the sitting room for Rudolf.

How old is he stocking? If it is a year or two old you could get santa to replace it!

littlebitdull

I wanted to say an actual thanks (as opposed to simply hitting the thanks button) to each and every one who put such great suggestions on this thread !

We have done some of these before - I have not done the poo on top of the car one , and think I will try that this year - its something really different anyway! think I will get santa to replace the stockings too ...

My youngest is 11, still believes in santa ..(she would have admitted it to her big sister if not to us) ... but we will be telling her next year before she starts in 6th class.

LittleBook

skyblue78 wrote: »

I didn't ask for comments on whether you all think he believes in Santa or not. If hes pretending so what!

When my daughter was about that age, Santa Claus became a game ... the rules were unspoken and unwritten but they were understood completely ... the first rule was you do not talk about the fact that Santa doesn't exist, the second rule was you do not talk about the fact that Santa doesn't exist ... a Santa Claus Fight Club if you will.

It meant that we kept the magic alive a little longer at home, for all of us.

Anyway back on topic ... a little easier (to clean up) than the soot footprints was "snow" footprints leading from the chimney to the tree and back. Just cut out a big boot shape in a piece of stiff card and get the spray snow out.

smokingman

When I was small, Dad used to climb up onto the roof and ring a bell (the old fashioned kind) and this was our queue to stay under the covers should he find us still up and not give us any pressies.

Milk and carrots were gone when we arrived in the sitting room as well....ahh innocent wonderful times...

TheQ47

smokingman wrote: »

When I was small, Dad used to climb up onto the roof and ring a bell (the old fashioned kind) and this was our queue to stay under the covers should he find us still up and not give us any pressies.

Milk and carrots were gone when we arrived in the sitting room as well....ahh innocent wonderful times...

Ha! I do this with my kids now, well not on the roof, but outside their windows with a little bell. Still gets them every time.

Myyra

How about this? http://www.santagreeting.net/?a_aid=77c2c6f0
You can order a letter from the real Santy, also when my siblings and I were young my mother used to put a santy hat on broomstick and quickly move it around behind our bedroom windows so we'd catch a glimpse of the hat and think that elves would watching us It worked like magic

planetX

My 9 year old still believes without any doubt, and it's starting to worry me a bit. I'd kind of like the opposite to the OP - suggestions on how to gently make Santa less real. I'm planning to tell him towards next summer, just to avoid it happening at Christmas, and I don't want it to be a shock, or for him to be the last kid in the class to know.
So how did people break the news???

Nevyn

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

kippy

planetX wrote: »

My 9 year old still believes without any doubt, and it's starting to worry me a bit. I'd kind of like the opposite to the OP - suggestions on how to gently make Santa less real. I'm planning to tell him towards next summer, just to avoid it happening at Christmas, and I don't want it to be a shock, or for him to be the last kid in the class to know.
So how did people break the news???

I havent been in the position of " breaking the news".
To be honest I found out when my dad "accidently" made a very bad job of "hiding" toys one year before Xmas.
I didnt really have to ask after that.

EraseAndRewind

planetX wrote: »

My 9 year old still believes without any doubt, and it's starting to worry me a bit. I'd kind of like the opposite to the OP - suggestions on how to gently make Santa less real. I'm planning to tell him towards next summer, just to avoid it happening at Christmas, and I don't want it to be a shock, or for him to be the last kid in the class to know.
So how did people break the news???

im baffled as to why you would want to tell him tbh?Why is it worrying -i think its fantastic and a sign that your child is acting his age and not growing up too fast

who cares if he is the last kid in the class to know-why are people always so afraid of what everyone else will say or think?!Teach your son to be himself and believe in whatever he wants to believe in...theres plenty of time for him to grow up let him enjoy being a child

littlebitdull

planetX wrote: »

My 9 year old still believes without any doubt, and it's starting to worry me a bit. I'd kind of like the opposite to the OP - suggestions on how to gently make Santa less real. I'm planning to tell him towards next summer, just to avoid it happening at Christmas, and I don't want it to be a shock, or for him to be the last kid in the class to know.
So how did people break the news???

This time last year I was feeling exactly how you are now. And I had fully intended to tell my daughter over the summer, but never quite got around to it!

So here I am doing santa again this year, and you can be full sure it will be our last one.

She is our youngest and with my eldest he asked me - one summer while I was hanging out the washing! ... As I felt he was old enought to know (I am pretty sure he was heading into 5th class) I told him the truth. He must have spent the whole of the summer asking me about it :rolleyes: he was just curious to know how we had managed over the years. But he was not disappointed.

My middle child we never actually told - and she never actually asked - we all just came to the knowledge that she knew on a gradual basis.

With this one - my last child - I am ready for it all to stop. I have enjoyed Santa over the years - and did not realise I would feel this ready for it to end, but can honestly say I am not disappointed or upset at the idea.

I would just let it go this year - see how you feel around Easter time - and make your decision then. What class they are in school will make a big difference - my daughter will be going into 6th class next sept and I feel it would be silly for her to still profecess to believe at that age.

Its called allowing them to grow up - and you have to allow them to do that - and sometimes you have to help them too.

littlebitdull

To get back on topic - slightly !! - we have bought some of those sky lanterns we saw at halloween and my daughter is going to write her santa letter onto one ...and send it off up to him that way.

planetX

EraseAndRewind wrote: »

im baffled as to why you would want to tell him tbh?Why is it worrying -i think its fantastic and a sign that your child is acting his age and not growing up too fast

who cares if he is the last kid in the class to know-why are people always so afraid of what everyone else will say or think?!Teach your son to be himself and believe in whatever he wants to believe in...theres plenty of time for him to grow up let him enjoy being a child

It's nothing to do with what other people think. I just feel that leaving it much longer will make it so much more of a let-down. A few in my family were very upset when they found out - mostly because of the idea of an adult lying to them. I've loved doing Santa, and would love to keep it going forever, but I just feel in my child's case that by 10 it's becoming more of a deception than a fantasy.

magentas

santa stopped coming to my little brother at 11 (he's 13 now and the baby of the family) and Christmas wasn't the same last year
Having kids for santa really makes Christmas magic

Love some of the ideas here, the reindeer poo on the car is brilliant!

My parents used to leave half eaten carrot, crumbs from the minced pie and a tumbler with a trace of brandy in the bottom!
Dad would complain about how much of the bottle santa had drank and say he hoped he didn't get pulled over by the flying squad!

littlebug

I was told there was no santa when I was 8 and I remember I wasn't in the slightest bit bothered about it . I never understood how people could keep it going any longer than that but I have to say my 8 year old seems so young now That said as soon as the question is asked outright the truth will be told. The fact that their best present comes from us every year while the santa present is the B present will soften the blow.


edited to add..... and that's completely off topic isn't it?! sorry! We've never done any of the extra stuff to make them believe.

CK2010

i love all the ideas on here! my girl is three so this is her first year with a bit of proper understanding re santa and christmas so im looking forward to making it special, shes still too young to even notice some suggestions on here but i will be using some!