Help - Ideas 4 Christmas Surprise

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Hi,
I'm looking for help for a few ideas....We are planning on going to Disney early December, but for budget reasons I'd like the trip to be a gift from Santa. How can I surprise my believers with a trip from Santa? Thoughts and suggestions? Do you think I can make this work somehow? They are 8, 9 & 11. They definitely all want to believe in the magic of Christmas & the magic of Disney

 

[sksjasams]

I think it would be too hard to have the trip be from Santa. I would have the trip be from you and DH for Christmas, and then have Santa still come Christmas eve like always. Budget-wise it should work out the same I would think. Especially since they are older, I think they may doubt that Santa would actually bring a trip and bring it early (and certainly any friends their age would doubt it). Plus, this way you won't lose out on all the fun and excitment of Santa coming Christmas eve. You don't have too many more years left of that magic.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Thanks for the feedback....I am torn. Unfortunately, we as the parents give very few gifts at Christmas -- Almost everything is from Santa! (otherwise I would definitely just say it's from us as an early Christmas present).

And Santa would absolutely still come on Christmas Eve -- no way we would skip that! Just wanted to consider somehow making the trip from Santa so that they wouldnt be so surprised if Santa brought a bit less on Christmas Eve.

I am worried about the friend angle so I am still torn...

Santa always gives them each an "Open Last" gift which is the big gift -- thought maybe they could get an "Open First" gift this year. We do the visiting Magic ELf...so I thought maybe the night the magic elf arrived, she could bring a big box lableled "Open First" filled with goodies for the trip and surprise them -- and maybe a note that says since this is such a big early surprise, there would be a little less under the tree...

Not sure whether to do it this way -- I definitely think they would get a kick out of an "Open First" instead of an "Open Last"

And I usually tell them when I book a trip (6 - 12 months in advance) so I thought it might be fun to wait until about a week or so before the trip and totally surprise them....

 

[sharonabe]

I think your idea of an "Open First" is great, but instead of saying there won't be much under the tree maybe Santa can tell them not to tell their friends it's from him since it might make their friends feel like Santa wasn't being quite fair. They can just tell their friends they got an early Christmas present to Disney.

As for why Santa is bringing it early....tell them if he waited until Christmas, then by the time they got to Disney, he would be gone. This way, they can visit him while at Disney since he will still be there getting wishes from other children. AND he wanted them to enjoy Disney all decorated up for Christmas and if they had to wait til after Christmas, the decorations would all be gone.

 

[katybugsmom]

I think the trip from HoHo is a great idea and you're on the right track! My DD 11 finally asked the dreaded question after Christmas this past year and is OK with it-better than me actually! I still have my DS 5! Our motto with our DD as she got older and was teased by classmates for still believing was "if you don't believe, you don't receive!" Santa is as magical as Disney, so anything is possible, even an early gift from the big man himself! Good luck and have a great trip! We will be there Dec.16-21!

 

[ginnymack]

How about if you explain that the gift was from you and Santa? Explain that it was just too extravagant for you to do on your own so you asked Santa if he would help out.

Or perhaps Santa could come the day after you put your tree up and deliver some park tickets? He could leave a note saying that he wanted to deliver this part of their gift early.....