Prepping for Santa

In a previous post (Family Photo Flash Cards I think) I mentioned that Aiden is in the "I'm not so keen about being around strangers" stage. Because of this we decided to forgo the visit with Santa in the mall this year as I think for Aiden the visit would be the equivalent of making me hold a big, hairy spider (I hate spiders) and the photo would be akin to Munch's Scream painting.

Well, next weekend we have a kids Christmas party that's being held by Aiden's Dad's work. It a pretty big deal - we've heard that there's horses, cookie decorating, face painting, games, treats, and a present from none other that the big guy in the red suit. The catch though is that Aiden will need to visit Santa in order to get his gift. We want Aiden to enjoy his experience there as much as possible and not scar him for life with his first encounter with St. Nick, so over the last week or so I have been doing my best to prepare Aiden for his all important meet and greet. Here's a list of what we have done to prep for Santa and things you can do if you are in a similar situation:

The Prepping for Santa List
1. Make a personalized video from Santa for your little person. I used the Magic Santa app. Play the video at least once a day to get your little one used to seeing Santa.
2. Read stories about Santa. Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs is excellent.
3. Make Santa hats out of construction paper for your little person and their animals.
4. Write a letter to Santa with your little person. Make a special trip to the post office to mail it.
5. Get or make an advent calendar with a picture of Santa on it. (Aiden now associates Santa with the little chocolate he gets every morning when we open a door).
6. Walk past the mall Santa a few times on different days before your official Santa photo day. Wave to him and maybe he'll wave back.
7. Make Santa puppets and act out stories using the puppets. We made Santa into a secret agent super spy and also a time traveller who hangs out with Aiden's dinosaurs when he's not needed in the north pole.

I'm happy to report that our preparations for Santa are going well. Our preparations are going so well that when we were in the mall the other day and Aiden saw an older gentleman with a full, white beard who looked remarkably like Santa he yelled out "Danta". Thankfully plain clothes Santa was an excellent sport and chuckled in a very Santa-like way and said "Why yes I am!" Here's hoping that Saturday goes as well!

Happy Santa-ing,
Creatively yours,
Maya :)