I ordered my daughter the Barbie dream house for Christmas last week. It was on sale for half off on the Toys R Us website. I've never seen it for that price so decided to seize the deal! Glad I did because it is no longer on sale. Well, as I was finishing up the dishes I heard the doorbell ring. As I walked to the door I saw the UPS guy waking to his truck and my daughter peeking out the front door window. Much to her surprise, and mine too, there was THE gift she had planned to ask Santa for this year! Busted!!! I "pretended" to call UPS letting them know it must have been delivered to the wrong house. My daughter was in tears! I feel bad! I never occurred to me that it wouldn't come in a brown box just as other deliveries. I hope she's still surprised and not too suspicious when she sees it on Christmas morning. I know it's not the end of the world but I'm still a little bummed. So has anything similar happened to you? How did you remedy the situation?
It happens......you did just fine, by telling her it was delivered incorrectly. Loved the calling UPS bit. It's a tough moment, but she will appreciate it all the more when it does come for her. Just remember....we have to preserve the idea of SAnta as long as we can....it'll be worth it.
Take the gift and "give" it to the rightful owner. Then sit down with your daughter and write a letter to Santa and mail it off.
When its Christmas and the local mall has a Santa, have her ask Santa for the gift. Tell Santa what the circumstances are so he can help her realise if she is a good girl that he will bring it to her.
Look at my profile photo. I've played Santa for about 15 to 16 years. The last three years were with my own beard. I get requests like this occasionally and always play it up big for the child and the parent. HINT: Bring your girl early to see Santa. The closer it gets to Christmas the less time he will have to work with you and your daughter. If you were coming to see me, I would say to come by 30 minutes or so before you arrive with her and tell me so when I see you bringing your daughter, I can call her by name and mention that I loved her letter and other things. I ofter have time to remind the kids that they should be helping their mom by setting the table and carrying out the trash and putting their dirty clothes in the dirty clothes, etc. When we have time the kids and I talk about getting homework done and other such things. I've even had very prepared parents bring me the letter the child wrote to Santa and Mailed off ;~)) so when I speak with her I can bring out the letter an tell the child, "See, I have your letter right here."
Good luck to you and yours.
P.S. I love playing Santa and seeing the sparkle and wonder in kids eyes.
Last year my daughter spotted the play set my husband and I were assembling in the back yard, which she had asked Santa for. BUT, she was only just getting ready to turn 3, so when we told her it must have been someone else's that they accidentally put in our yard (after we moved it out of sight), she just kind of moved on. She was still super excited when she saw the whole thing on Christmas morning, though. I'm sure your daughter will be, too, and while she MIGHT be suspicious come Christmas when it's there, I bet she won't say anything. Hope everything works out!
She will forget about it between now and Christmas. Just be apologetic for 10 seconds and don't bring the subject back up.
When I was in 5th grade, I wanted a spider bike with a banana seat, sissy bar and basket in the front, in the WORST way! My dad told me that he was sorry that there wasn't enough money in the budget for it. But there it was on Christmas morning and I was nothing but happy. She will be nothing but happy herself when she opens hers on Christmas morning too!
Dawn
Something similar-ish happened to us. She found the box for her Barbie house in the basement AFTER Christmas. We told her it was so big it couldn't fit in Santa's sleigh so he had to send it in the box & put it together at the house. LOL! She totally bought it.
She will love it even more when it shows up Christmas morning. Just change the subject if she brings it up anymore. If she is old enough to rationalize that Santa isn't real, this might be that year for you to have to come clean :)
My kids and I were walking thru a sporting store. My son (8) spotted some shoes he likes that are just like my husbands. I told him that he probably won't like them because I got them for daddy last xmas and they hurt is feet. He reminded me with a huge smirk that Santa brought them. Every time I tell him to make a xmas list for Santa, he gives me a big smirk and says ok mom.
It will be fine, just change the subject IF it comes up on xmas. And good for you for finding such a great deal.
This happened in our house when my husband ordered something for me. Now we send packages we worry may get spotted to my in laws or neighbor's house just in case.
Santa asked our neighbors to store a big gift in their garage one year, because it would take up too much room on the sled on Christmas Eve. The kids were entrusted to be "Santa's Helpers" that year, and not mention it to the other kids in the neighborhood, or ask to open it early, because only they were Santa's Helpers that year. Worked like a charm, and the neighbor's kids took great pride in their "special status"...and didn't once ask to open their big gift early.
Yep! I almost got caught. When I know something is coming, I will leave a note on the door for UPS not to ring the bell.
Just play it off!
Tell her it is for a family member or a friend had it delivered.
My teen daughter asked me to buy her a specific vest. I bought it and put it away until Christmas, just a matter of a month or so. I told her they were out. She rarely wore the vest. Eventually she told me that she was so disappointed about not getting it when she asked that it was no fun for her anymore.
It happened to me once when my son's present was delivered and my daughter saw it at the door. So then it had to be from me instead of Santa. Had I been thinking on my feet I would have said that Santa didn't have room on his sleigh and asked if I would keep it at our house for him. Something like that.
if she is young she will forget by christmas time that you even got it my kids went snooping last year in my closet and found a few toys I had bought when asked I told them that they were for their cousins and not them and to leave them alone by christmas morning they had completely forgot and where just as surprised
Sounds like you handled it really well. Good answer! If your daughter is 5 or younger I think she'll still be surprised on Christmas morning. Kids that age still believe in fairy tales and magic and aren't questioning it. Especially if they don't have older siblings. I wouldn't even bring it up and if she does just keep telling her she'll have to ask Santa for it and it's a big gift so it may be hard for the elves to make something like that.
