OT - How do you phase out Holiday Movies?

[KristinU]

Looking for advice from BTDT parents - how do you phase out holiday favorites? DS is obsessed with Polar Express (although he's currently watching Zaboomafoo with DH, so I think he may even be getting burned out!) I mentioned to him that pretty soon we'll need to put away PE until next year and he seemed to take it OK. Any suggestions on putting movies "back in the vault" to make them special for following years?

We're headed down to WDW for DS's birthday on January 10th - I was thinking of using that as kind of a cut-off date, but I don't want to just go hide it on him and have it disappear while we're gone.

So I'd appreciate any suggestions!

TIA

 

[8 Ears]

Oh no!, how very sad. When the boys were small they would watch Frosty in any time of year for example. Maybe it is just that Mom's LOVE for Christmas has rubbed off on them.
They were allowed to watch the Christmas movies when ever they wished.

That is just us, I am sure others will pipe in with different thoughts.

 

[ntburns22]

We don't phase them out here. DS loves Polar Express and DH works on trains so we watch it all year. We also watch Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas all year too.

 

[KristinU]

See, that's our problem - we didn't phase out Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas last year and watched it well into the summer...then DS lost interest and we didn't even watch it once this season - so I'm hoping to keep PE special so we can make it a classic for us to watch every year. DH and I really love the movie, BTW, so it is not that we don't like watching it - I just want to keep it from being overlooked in the future because we burned out from it this year.

I think DH and I are thinking from the perspective of our own childhoods, pre-VCR and pre-cable-in-every-household days, so when Charlie Brown or Frosty or Rudolph was on it was super-duper special. Know what I mean?

 

[Ariel8676]

LOL i never do..my kids watch the Grinch and Mickey's once upon a Christmas year round, amongst others...Sorry im no help....
Im sure he'll get bored with it soon...

 

[ilovejack02]

I know what you mean. I bought all the Charlie brown movies last yr and he watched them all summer. When the specials came on this yr he didnt care. I was soo bummed and learned a lesson. Put the special ones up. I dont care if he watches the Disney ones all yr, but Frosty and Rudolph and PE and Charlie Brown are going up. Im just telling him they went up with the xmas decorations, and if he fusses Im sure he will get over it. Im the mom so i get to say what goes lol.

 

[VolleyballQt07]

My dbro and dsis will watch The Santa Clause 1 or 2 occasionally thru the year. Even if we have the movie, we still watch certain ones on tv when they are on. Like we have had POTC 1 since it came out on dvd (my dad got it free from Coronado Springs during a business trip when it came out ) but when it debuted on tv this year, we watched it on tv..Same with movies like waterboy, wizard of oz, santa clause, etc...we have the dvd's but still watch them when they are on tv..My mom even makes a big deal about it, such and such is on tonight, we have to watch it!! We're kind of strange I gues..lol

 

[earthyfamily]

I may not be a lot of help, my kids are only allowed 30 minutes of pre-approved educational TV per day...and most days we skip even that. Perhaps you could try to move on to the next holiday. Find him some valentine's shows or movies, then St. Patrick's, then Easter/Springtime and so on.

 

[bartleby1]

I know exactly what you mean. I left the Christmas movies out all year one time, and they lost their "specialness" for my kids too. I now put them away. They have plenty to watch the rest of the year.

As far as the kids missing them, well, that's kind of the point, lol! That is what makes them special again the next year! I don't like to "hide" things from them or sneak things away, so I make them a part of putting them away when we pack up the Christmas household decorations. My kids say "goodbye" to the movies and "see you next year", so they know they aren't gone for good and since they are part of putting them away they don't give me a hard time. I think they just need some closure of Christmas and this allows them to do that.

Good luck!

 

[karibritt01]

My son loved his Christmas movirs when he was 3, and watched them constantly. When Christmas was over, I packed them all away with the Christmas decorations. The next year he had nothing to do with them. I think leave them out. In a few weeks, he will move on to new movies. BTW, my kids still watch PE about every 2 weeks from last Christmas, and still love it!

 

[tadamom]

I keep them out too! My son is a huge movie buff (he's 5) and will watch any kind of movie anytime of year. Nothing has lost its luster on him. But that's just us.

 

[Reese]

We pack them away with the Christams decorations, we do the same with the Christmas books and stuffed animals too. The only one that we keep out is Lazytown since it had three regular episodes on it too. Also it would be a shame to put Sportacus in a box for an entire year .

 

[bigbabyblues]

All of our DVDs stay in the same place, and I don't worry about it. When they're done watching it, they won't get it out anymore. Eventually it will wear down, until November or so!

 

[Bibbidi]

We just watch them until the kids are tired of them, usually not long after Christmas. We usually take a couple road trips per year and I will buy one new DVD for those long rides and that will usually turn them off the Christmas movies and onto something else for a couple months. This year we started watching our Christmas movies in October on our Friday night family nights so we got lots of Christmas "in" before the season even started!

 

[HollyJoy]

I don't really see the harm in letting him continue to watch it... does it really matter if the season is over? I would think that when he tires of it, he will let you know, then you could put it away. Guess if you really feel it's a big deal, try introducing some new movies to him and see how that goes. I let my girls watch the movie of thier choice, even if it's out of season..

 

[mom2kandj]

Yes, we live in CA and are Americans, but loosely celebrate Canada's Boxing Day, 12/26. On the day after Christmas, we pull out the boxes for our Christmas decorations and have the kids help by starting to disassemble the holiday decor. The kids also go through their rooms and "box up" toys that they are willing to "let go" to Goodwill so that we can make room for their new Christmas toys. They are allowed to only open one toy a day until all Boxing Day events are done. This year we were completely packed up on 12/29 and new toys were being moved into place. My kids are young (4 and 6), but I hope that this type of family activity continues on. FWIW, as long as we finish up around January 1, I call it success.

HTH!

Rose

 

[rt2dz]

When my kids are allowed to watch a movie/video, they can pick whichever one they want. DS3 was soooo excited at Christmas this year (even before Thanksgiving) because he loves to watch Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas--THAT was a major problem in july when he stepped on it and broke it in two (that goodness for Disney's DVD replacement program!!). And I foresee a spring of Frosty the Snowman. I mean gosh, what great concepts to keep going year round--giving, thoughtfulness, the true meaning of Christmas. Who cares?

They DO move onto other movies. It doesn't mean they have given one up (burned out) completely, just expanded their interests. Santa always leaves my 3 one-two DVDs in their stockings. And I introduce other upcoming holiday films (Charlie Brown's Valentines, Bear in the Big Blue House shows, Peter Cottontail, etc, etc)

 

[graygables]

We just put them back up on the Mom & Dad shelf when we watch them for the last time of the season. Then, we have a Christmas in July, where we each choose one to watch! Usually, it's the Santa Clause 1 & 2, Miracle on 34th Street, and Twice Upon a Christmas. The one I haven't put away yet is the Disney Collection that has Small One on it. That one is new to our collection this year, so 8yo DD has been watching it every night. It still makes me cry, years later!

 

[KristinU]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and what you do! It sounds like everyone varies quite a bit.

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

We pack them away with the Christams decorations, we do the same with the Christmas books and stuffed animals too.

Yep. My son does have a copy of The Santa Clause that he keeps out, and he watches it about every 3 or 4 months. Aside from that, pack them up.