Christmas Gift Dilemma

Santa always says "we'll see"... he never promises what Mom & Dad might not be able to deliver.
Can you get her 1 Care Bear from you & some smaller gifts to go with? That way, Santa isn't getting her this big huge toy & you're not getting her much at all. It won't ruin the magic of Santa-she'll be sad if she doesn't get it, but remind her that we don't always get exactly what we want & Santa does the best he can too. Plus, it's something for you to save for for next year's Cmas-maybe you'll get lucky & find it on some awesome sale.
Santa has shopped at Big Lots before for my kids-great deals & some cool little things for them. Just a thought!

My mom went through the same kinda thing with me when I was a kid. I remember I wanted some toy that was the the "it" toy of that Christmas and I ask Santa for it. My Mom couldn't find the toy anywhere so on Christmas morning I had a different gift and a special note just for me. The letter was from Santa explaining that lots of little girls wanted that toy this year and his little elves worked so hard but they just couldn't make enough of them so he got me this other toy instead. Of course I like the toy I got instead and me and my sisters thought it was so cool that I got a letter from Santa. My Mom had went all out too and got some paper that was worn looking, she wrote the letter in cool hand writing and she rolled the letter up and tied it with a big red bow. So I don't know if you want to do something like that but it worked for me when I was little.

You could get her just the one if you can afford it, if not something else. If she has many of them maybe it's time Santa said she try something new? Take her through toy store and see if she eyes anything else.
See if family and friends will all pitch in for these special gifts.

Can you get family members to chip in too? Maybe just get her one and tell her she will have to ask for the other one for a birthday or the next gift giving holiday. I would try hard to get her one, even if that means no other gifts...it is what she really wants. It would be better to get her just one gift than a bunch of cheap toys she doesn't really want anyway. So my advise, dig deep and ask family to chip in if you need to.

Hi M. - that is a hard one, especially since ALL she is asking for are those 2 carebears. How pricey are you talking about? If they are $50, or even $100 then maybe Grandma and another family member together would be willing to buy one of them for her. If they are $300 then it may be impossible to buy both.

My kids understood pretty well that we cant get everything that we ask for because some things are just too expensive, even for Santa ( he has a lot of kids to buy for after all!) It's a hard lesson but one they have to learn eventually.

I took a peak on ebay and I noticed that there were several lots of bears for sale. Maybe if one of those lots had the bear you wanted, you could buy the lot and then sell the others again on ebay? Look for a seller named tabbytab27 - she seemed to have a lot listed and mentions that she has more that arent listed. Maybe you could negotiate something with her . . . just a thought.

Good luck!

I would try to just get one of them so that she at least got something that she wanted, even if it's not everything that she wanted.

I'm sorry did you say you are afraid she will lose her faith in Santa?! I think you forgot what Christmas is about. If you have lost your focus, I am not surprised you daughter has too. Try helping her focus on what she will be giving to others this year instead of what she will be getting.

buy her one if you can . . . . hate to say it, but she needs to learn that she won't get everything she wants. I know you want Christmas to be special, but it still will be. If you want, you could just go with the Santa thing, give her one bear with a letter from Santa talking about how they are a special bear made only in a special workshop in the world with special materials and each little girl only can get one, so everyone can have one. . . .

I have talked to santa before my 5 year old and had santa tell her that it may not happen. My daughter then told santa other things she wants. When we left she wasnt upset and told Daddy that santa said the elfs could not make -----. It didnt seem like a big deal and she hasnt said anything else about it. Maybe try that. Good luch

How pricey is pricey? If its within your budget to get them, i think you should get them, BUT let them be from mom and dad not santa. (So that you get the kudos ;)lol)

If you dont "spoil" her througout the year, why not get them, that is what Christmas is for in house. The time to get the special things we have wanted all year and saved for.

And why not have her "donate" a couple of bears to show her giving spirit.

Her faith in Santa, will not be ruined if she doesnt get what she asked for. I always told my son that it was too many dollars when he was that age, and Santa might not have enough to buy that expensive toy for him. We told him that if Santa brought him that REALLY expensive toy, then he would not be able to give some other little boys ANYTHING for christmas, and would he want someone else to NOT get anything while he got so much?

My own opinion is if you can get them for her or even one of them get it, its special enough to her that she has asked for it repeatedly. And it is not a whim.

IF you cant afford it, have the family start a care bear adoption fund in a jar. and have Dad, Mom and her put change and money she earns helping out others to buy her the carebears. That way they will mean even more to her.

We remind our kids that they are asking Santa (as opposed to placing an order) and that he will do what he can but it might not be exactly what they tell him.

Last year my son (5 then) wanted a T-Rex - the robot dinosaur that could "guard" things and stuff. It was really expensive and out of our price range. Santa brought him a dragon that could walk and roar and "breathe flames" when you pushed buttons. When he opened it, he was SUPER excited. Even when his sister said "That's not what you asked for" he said "I don't care, I love it!" So I think, if you let your daughter know up front that these are hard to get and that Santa will do his best, then get something similar (even if it's not specifically a care bear, but something close) she should do just fine.

What I do is just tell my kids that Santa usually gets just one big special gift and a couple of small things for stockings and such. I tell them over and over that Santa has to get gifts for children all over the world and is just not able to get us EVERYTHING or the other kids would not get what they want. One of the things we seem to do to our kids is get them everything so they lose their appreciation for what they have or have to work for.

She will understand and remember, at 5 they usually are just happy to open stuff and get all excited and forget they even wanted two. One of the other options is to put it on the list for extended family, like grandma or something. Maybe she will get two but one is from Santa and one is from Grandma.

Good luck!

Can you afford one of them? I think it's good for kids to not get what they want from Santa. Frankly, I don't even ask my kids. My husband's family asks what you want, and to them, it's like rattling off a shopping list. You say the color and size you want, and that's what you get. No surprises, no work on the part of the gift-giver to actually think of something. DH is a HORRIBLE gift-giver now. He is learning to think of things on his own. But I feel super selfish when he asks me what I want and expects me to rattle off a list. So sometimes I give him general ideas.

Anyway, my kids mention things that they want when they're talking, and I take note. That's how I do my Santa gifts. Or if they have a toy already that they are really liking (like my 3 yr old got some toy dishes and likes to pretend to cook) I get something to go along with it (fake food and a used toy kitchen).

My 5 yr old is super smart & very observant, but he wouldn't freak if Santa didn't bring him everything he wanted. If anything, I bet he'd be so happy to open everything, and not until the afternoon would he notice that he didn't get such and such. And then we'd have a teaching moment about being grateful for what he did get instead of whining about what he didn't get.

Good luck!