Evidence Santa has been?

I remember when I was about 4 (DD's age) my Dad went to great lengths to convince us that Santa had been to visit. We had a fairly big back yard with lots of grass and Dad burnt two long lines in the back yard - he told us that was where the sleigh had landed!

I would LOVE to do something like this for DD but we have NO yard at all! So, what can I do to leave evidence of Santa and his reindeer? I thought of leaving some black marks on the footpath out the front but not sure how to do that... I thought of black soot to say that's where he'd stepped... but DD is a neat freak and would probably get rather cross with Santa for messing up the house! (Should have heard her last year over the mess the reindeer made!).

DD is leaving out some food and water for the reindeer and something for Santa., so there will be empty dishes etc... and a letter from Santa (have another thread about it) but what else? I had hoped to source a bell that I could cut the ribbon on and say it must have fallen off the sleigh (AKA Polar Express) but not found anything suitable.

So, all ideas welcome!

Merry Christmas!

I've heard of people doing things with glitter or faking reindeer poo..

OMGosh, MG, I was about to start a thread exactly the same!! I know therre was a thread with ideas in it last year but I can't find it. I think {Sarah} has a lot of good ideas, so I hope she pops in here soon!

Santa always leaves glitter, where ever he goes. It's magic dust to help him fly.....

Oooo Awesome idea!!!

I love the idea of the burnt grass too..!! Hope the rain will stop here so DH can do it tonight! More than likely not.. Damn you mother nature!! Santa is bringing my kiddies a trampoline this year, and won't be able to play too much in the rain :(

What could you use as reindeer poop??

Footprints on the tiles
A bit of red material in the door, window, entrance that he uses
Chewed on carrots for the reindeer

We do magic dust as well and the carrots left for Santa get bitten down and some chewed out bits (gross I know but the kids love it) left near where they were.

Someone I work with suggested powder and stand in it make a footprint, then easy to vacuum up.

could you leave drops of water around presents? for melted snow all the way from the north pole? :)

we make reindeer food (quick oats and glitter) we also leave chewed carrots out

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I had hoped to source a bell that I could cut the ribbon on and say it must have fallen off the sleigh (AKA Polar Express) but not found anything suitable.

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My kids wanted one for the Christmas tree after seeing that movie and Spotlight had some really nice choices - all on ribbons. They were just tied on bows which came untied really easily (so you wouldn't even have to cut them :)) and 2 large bells cost about $1.50 because they had their decorations 50% off. I don't know if you can get to Spotlight at this point, but thought I would put it here in case it was helpful :)

Olive - I've just my reindeer food exactly the same way!

Great ideas so far :)

yes we have the reindeer food, oats and glitter , we normally sprinkle it out around the front porch and lawn, those reindeer can be messy eaters.

We make reindeer food too, we sprinkle it over the lawn and then put some in a bowl on the verandah and some carrots for the rudolph. We make a mess of the food in the bowl all over the place and chew on the carrots to make it look like they've been messy eaters.

We also leave Santa a beer and biscuit, he always leaves crumbs all over the place and leaves dregs in the beer glass or bottle.