Christmas presents

[nietis]

Okay, I need an input.

This is our first time having a big enough Christmas tree to put presents under it. My question is... when do you put out the presents? Do you put them on Christmas Eve or as soon as you finish wrapping them?

I want to avoid my son asking billions of time about those presents but I am so excited I want to put them out

Help!

[Kitartas]

We put them out as we wrap them

[KristinCB]

we put them out as we wrap them.. sometimes it's torture for both the kids AND the parents. haha

[flergs]

We put wrapped presents under tree. Some I label some I don't, stops my kids obsessing over what theirs could be.

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[~Cindy~]

I put ours out Christmas Eve. Then I only have one day of kids trying to open them. I have a 3 year old and a 7 year old.

[misfitinmn]

I put them out as I wrap them. I have always done this - they've examined them sometimes, but never have tried to open them (thank goodness! I know I was spared only by luck on that.). I like having the pretty packages there all season (I try to finish shopping and wrapping early)

[KingsQueen82]

If presents arrive in the mail we'll put them under the tree but if it's presents from us to the children or from Santa then we wait until Christmas Eve. My kids still believe in Santa so it only makes sense to them that way.

[flergs]

Our Santa gifts are all hidden. They get put out in their sacks overnight. Even for the older one who doesn't believe. Keeps it fun and a surprise.

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[Neverland Scraps]

We don't celebrate Santa and the children know the presents came from us. So we put them under as they get wrapped. We currently have all presents under the tree. Our 3-year old isn't asking to open them. However my 15-year old wants to open them, only because she knows there is clothes in there and she wants to wear something new to school these next few days!

[Neverland Scraps]

Originally Posted by flergs

We put wrapped presents under tree. Some I label some I don't, stops my kids obsessing over what theirs could be.

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I wrap each of the kids gifts in their own wrapping paper. They don't know who's wrapping paper is theirs so they have no idea which present to look at. Although, with the 3-year old, he has age-specific wrapping paper (Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Mickey Mouse). But still, the girls have a harder time guessing

[LeeAndra]

It is a HUGE pet peeve of mine to have gifts under the tree that are then poked, prodded, shaken, guessed abt, etc. every second of every day...

so there are never ever ever gifts under our tree until Christmas morning. I wrap everything after the kids are in bed & in between going to and coming back from the 11 p.m. service at church on Christmas Eve.

[nietis]

Originally Posted by ~Cindy~

I put ours out Christmas Eve. Then I only have one day of kids trying to open them. I have a 3 year old and a 7 year old.

That's the thing. I have a 4 year old that would ask a billion of time in a day. I am thinking about sparing my sanity for the family's sake. haha...

[YepBrook]

Typically I only put a few gifts under the tree... ones we have to GIVE to our friends and family, and gifts we've been given from friends & family. We also put a few random ones for the kids under there to help them not completely freak out, some with tags and some without. They get worried if they don't see anything for them under there.

Then Christmas Eve night, I put everything under the tree!!! Eeeee! That's the most exciting part. On Christmas morning they are SHOCKED to see how much. I'm afraid if I put them under as I wrapped them the excitement on Christmas morning wouldn't be nearly as much.

[britaneejean]

I vary from year to year ha! But it's typically that presents for others are wrapped and under the tree. That's mainly because they're gone pretty quickly. If i can help the kid wrap their gifts to each other quickly then those go under the tree too. Usually the ones from Brian and I and Santa go out Christmas Eve night. My kids love the magic of seeing the tree filled up the next morning and I love it too! Like Brook.

[GraceLee]

Christmas Eve is when ours go under the tree, after the kids are in bed. Last year my husband and I put together a doll house that's almost as tall as the tree and there's no wrapping that. We went to bed at 3 and got woken up wayyyy too early! But it's magical and the kids really do still believe. It's awesome to see their faces light up on Christmas morning.

[Keely~B]

When I was growing up they always just accumulated under the tree. Now they all magically appear before we open them. My kids are teens but I still like it that way.

[Julie Billingsley]

we use to put most of the gifts under the tree about midway through December. However, we have a dog that won't leave the gifts alone, so now the gifts don't come out until Christmas morning. I miss seeing the gifts piled under the tree.

[jak]

I don't wrap them until late Christmas Eve, just before I go to bed... so that's when they go under the tree. Same with the Santa stockings.

[YepBrook]

Originally Posted by jak

I don't wrap them until late Christmas Eve, just before I go to bed... so that's when they go under the tree. Same with the Santa stockings.

This is what I usually do, but this year I wrapped them all (minus the tags and bows) and stashed them away! I am getting too old to stay up until 2am wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve.

[mariewilcox]

I wrap as I buy (usually) and a couple go under the tree before Christmas Eve but I prefer to put them under the tree after Cheyanne's gone to bed so she'll be surprised in the morning (even at the age of 16). She likes it that way too.

[Gemma]

I wrap them as I buy them but put them all under the tree on Christmas eve, it's not worth the risk of the temptation being too much for Charlie and him opening them when I'm out the room

[wendyp]

We never do lots of presents with christmas only a few because we celebrate Saint nick much bigger with presents. But mostly i put them under the trree with Christmas eve.

[nesser1981]

Gifts from my mom, the kids gifts to each other and their Christmas Pj's from us will go under when I wrap them. The gifts they got my husband and what I got him I'll put out early. Santa brings everything else at our house, so Christmas eve.

[LynnZant]

The gifts have been wrapped and stashed in black garbage bags in the basement since last Monday. They'll go under Christmas morning so the cat doesn't open any of them. Especially the stockings with candy. I don't need him chewing on things and getting sick. My kids are older so no more Santa anyway.

[Nixenkind]

My husband and me are having a big Christmas-wrapping-session on Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed. After that, we put the presents under the tree, not before. I don't need that kind of torture in my life... the kids would spend all their time guessing and questioning and wondering and I'm not up for that.

[crystalbella77]

I put mine out as I buy them and wrap them I don't have enough space to hide them for long so I do it early! I wanted to do it Christmas eve this year but we ran out of room!

[micheley]

Originally Posted by LeeAndra

It is a HUGE pet peeve of mine to have gifts under the tree that are then poked, prodded, shaken, guessed abt, etc. every second of every day...

so there are never ever ever gifts under our tree until Christmas morning. I wrap everything after the kids are in bed & in between going to and coming back from the 11 p.m. service at church on Christmas Eve.

Oh my gosh yes! Very few gifts (except a few that may be for the whole family or between dh and I) until Christmas morning. Plus I loved seeing the kids faces when they raced down the stairs and saw the pile that Santa left.

My youngest is now 11 however, so I am tempted to wrap and put out early so that we can go to bed at a decent time on Xmas eve.....

[farrijc]

I like having presents under the tree as soon as it's up!! I've always done it that way, so my kids are good with it (i.e. trained, lol). It probably also helps that we do separate xmas celebrations with each set of grandparents, so they are opening gifts throughout the month rather than waiting until Christmas Day to open everything.

[bcgal00]

We have always put at least a few under the tree b/c we love to torture LOL. But important ones we would wait until late Xmas Eve.

[mrsashbaugh]

We put them out after the kids go to bed on Christmas eve. It's always so exciting to see their faces when they wake up. We're doing a better job wrapping the presents early so that we're not staying up super late Christmas Eve into Christmas morning.

It's always a big adrenaline rush doing it too...I'm always scared the kids are going to wake and I'm going to be caught red handed putting the gifts under the tree!

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[bexy]

We do a little bit of both. Anything from Santa doesn't go out until they're in bed on Christmas Eve - but everything else goes out when I get to it

[Kitartas]

Originally Posted by nietis

That's the thing. I have a 4 year old that would ask a billion of time in a day. I am thinking about sparing my sanity for the family's sake. haha...

I have a 3 year old and she asks every day if it is christmas yet but hasn't tried to prod or poke or unwrap one single present. I think it's a great lesson in patience and i try to take advantage of those little every day lessons as much as i can.

I also have a 3 older children - 18, 17 and 8 - and we have always put the presents out and told them not to touch and it has never been an issue

[Kitartas]

Originally Posted by bexy

We do a little bit of both. Anything from Santa doesn't go out until they're in bed on Christmas Eve - but everything else goes out when I get to it

oh yes definitely all the presents from santa don't go out until christmas eve - it's only the ones from us that we put out early

[~Cindy~]

Originally Posted by nietis

That's the thing. I have a 4 year old that would ask a billion of time in a day. I am thinking about sparing my sanity for the family's sake. haha...

Yes! I would be insane. I would love to put them out but, for certain I will be chasing the three year old out of them. Plus telling the 7 year old not to ask again lol!

[Nettio]

My aunt sent Ryan a gift last week and I made the mistake of putting it under the tree. He would not stop asking about it and throwing a fit when we said he had to wait to open it so it's since been moved. We're spending the holidays with family so I don't think I'll be putting out any gifts until Christmas Eve. I'm sure it'll be better when he's older but it's SO not worth the meltdowns at this point.

[nietis]

Originally Posted by mrsashbaugh

It's always a big adrenaline rush doing it too...I'm always scared the kids are going to wake and I'm going to be caught red handed putting the gifts under the tree!

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I am glad to have the whole day on my own almost every weekday! I can wrap the gifts peacefully

[tjscraps]

All of you that wrap on xmas eve, hat's off to you. I have anxiety just thinking about doing that lol

Everything for us is always wrapped as we buy them, usually we wait until Christmas Eve to put them out so it's a big shock & surprise when she wakes up in the morning. This year we have had gifts under the tree for about a week. She hasn't asked to open anything, hasn't touched them either lol (she's almost 9). Now with the baby it might be a bit different in the coming years.

[aurian]

We often put gifts for family under the tree (but not for the children, that's for Christmas morning!). However, we have nearly two year old twins who are hellbent on destruction at the moment so ANY gifts under the tree early this year are asking for trouble. :P

[breakingbrie]

We put out the wrapped gifts that are to each other from us out as soon as we get them. I love seeing the pretty wrapped packages under there! We keep all santa gifts hidden until they go to bed Christmas Eve. I love the surprise on Christmas morning. It was harder when they were littler, but being 11, they're just super excited and still like seeing some under there already. It's driving them batty though this year because I wrapped their smallest gift for under the tree already and told them it will be one of their fave gifts this year. They can't see how since its so small

[hosanhelwa]

We always put presents under the tree as they get wrapped, except for "the" gift from Santa, which shows up on schedule on Christmas eve!

[3BluEyedBabi]

I save a small gift (usually books or a game) for each of my three kids to give each other. I let them wrap them last night; so they are under the tree as well as the gifts they helped me wrap for their Dad and my mom. All the presents from Santa and us don't go under the tree until the kids are in bed on Christmas eve. Two of my kids still believe!

[pewtertm]

Generally our gifts go under the tree as soon as they are wrapped. This usually means that they are under the tree as soon as the tree is decorated Thanksgiving week. I think that a tree with nothing under it looks empty. This year is different, however, as I'm afraid that Rachel's dog would tear up the gifts...she has a paper and box fetish!

[ChristineF]

I put mine in a big ikea bag (the blue one) when they're wrapped and labeled. Then I put them under the tree on the morning of Dec 24th or the evening before so the kids wake up and it's all pretty. The kid sare used to seeing the presents around though because our huge ikea bag lives behind the couch all through December as I fill it up.

[angiepangie]

We put the kids' presents out around midnight Christmas Eve/Day. Everything else goes out beforehand. They're really good about not touching presents that are under the tree for other people (they're inquisitive kids but respectful about what isn't theirs), however I'm another who absolutely adores seeing the looks on the kids' faces when they see all of the presents appear for them under the tree on the day. I also don't wrap until the night, which I regret every year.

Originally Posted by mrsashbaugh

It's always a big adrenaline rush doing it too...I'm always scared the kids are going to wake and I'm going to be caught red handed putting the gifts under the tree!

I'm the same. Especially last year - we gave Tristan and Stella new bikes so we couldn't even wrap them and I remember putting them out and thinking, "oh crud, what if they get up RIGHT NOW, there's no way to hide them!!!". Thank goodness they're good sleepers.

[aussiegirl]

We do both! We put some out as soon as they are wrapped, but the bigger gifts we wait until Christmas Eve.

To keep the girls from snooping, I have done different paper for each girl before (not labeled so they had no idea), I turn over the gift tags so they can't see who's gift it is, and we have a rule that you can look as much as you like, but if you touch the gifts...you lose a gift! They are all too scared to really lose a gift that they leave them alone. Our girls are all old enough to mostly leave them alone, so we don't have to worry about them getting into things.

[lovely1m]

As I wrap them, always.

[rdjrneace]

When my kids were little; they knew Santa only brought 1 or 2 presents therefore Mom & Dad bought the majority and they went out as I wrapped.

I never wanted to take away Santa but I also did not want them upset that Mommy & Daddy never gave them any big gifts. It worked and honestly that seems to be what they do for their kids.

I guess I also "trained" my kids because they never really dug into the presents. Plus they also had Great Grandma/Granny but Grandma's house so they always were getting additional presents.

[lingovise]

Originally Posted by Neverland Scraps

I wrap each of the kids gifts in their own wrapping paper. They don't know who's wrapping paper is theirs ...

I love this idea!! I would love to skip the gift tags altogether!

I buy gifts throughout the year and don't start to wrap them until about the 12th of December. I put some of them out as I wrap, but just in stacks around the tree [the rest are hidden away]. Christmas Eve I put everything out and arrange them under the tree. My boys are really good about staying out of them... our house rule is that if you're caught nosing/poking around, one of your gifts is donated. It's been a terrific deterrent... no one has ever had to donate a present