wrapping Santa gifts

[Scout]

So, growing up my gifts from Santa were never wrapped. They were taken out of boxes and put together. I can't tell you how exciting it was to wake up and go downstairs and walk into the family room and see all those toys sitting there ready to be played with. Seriously, I remember standing there, taking it all in and shaking bc I was so excited LOL

But, this year I've decided to start wrapping Santa. I want the morning to last longer. I remember when I got a bit older, getting up and playing for hours before parents got up, and I want to be there when dd sees her gifts for the first time. Plus, my sister didn't wrap, just like my parents, and when her kids got older and didn't believe in Santa they refused to let her start wrapping at that point bc they said it would ruin Christmas.

My question though: do you unbox and put things together and then wrap? Or do you spend Christmas morning putting things together? and if so, how is that? Do you find it takes away from the fun or no? How do you all do it?

 

[babyv13]

growing up we never had our presents wrapped and I loved it I love the actual wrapping of gifts though, so I have wrapped DD's santa presents the last 2 years. I think unwrapping presents was a bit overwhelming for her though (even though she was only 1 and 2 so still young) so I've decided from this year onwards not to wrap! I've got a santa sack that I'll put things in

she goes to her dad's in the afternoon so I guess I'm wanting her to get as much play time as possible with her new toys - the opposite of you!

 

[jensonsmummy]

We never had ours wrapped as a child but we do now. The first year we didnt andd i thought the excitement was over too quick lol. We wrap all, sometimes remove cable ties etc if they look real fiddly and then put back in wrap. Bigger gifts have a big bow

 

[motherofboys]

I wrap everything (within reason) and only big toys that would take ages to put together get unboxed. Everything else is wrapped in the box

 

[Fruitmash]

Everything is wrapped right down to the selection pack. Large things might get built and then wrapped, like DD had a kitchen and we didn't want to spend all morning building it for her to have to leave it when we went out but I personally wouldn't leave anything unwrapped

 

[Bevziibubble]

I wrap everything but use different wrapping paper for Santa presents in case she guesses.

 

[rangersgirl69]

Everything is a santa present here and i wrap it all even the tubes of sweets. Main present will be unwrapped if it needs built tho so kitchen, bike, electric scooter that type of thing

 

[DCS]

We wrap, in the box. When I wrap them, I open them, undo all the screws, loosen the twist ties, put in batteries, etc. Then put back in the box. And wrap. I also keep a " tool kit" by the sofa, with all kinds of junk, batteries, screw drivers, scissors, bin bags etc. When I need something it's all to hand. Part of the fun is rushing round Christmas morning building stuff up while the kids scream , is it done yet? Every 10 seconds.

 

[motherofboys]

I find building it on the day helps spread things out. I don't know if it is just mine, but if it was all out they would flit from one thing to the next not really playing. But this way, as the day wears on and they start getting tired and silly from the early start we go "hey! Why don't we build the castle now?!" and it gives them something to focus on.

 

[Scout]

Thanks Ladies

We wrap, in the box. When I wrap them, I open them, undo all the screws, loosen the twist ties, put in batteries, etc. Then put back in the box. And wrap. I also keep a " tool kit" by the sofa, with all kinds of junk, batteries, screw drivers, scissors, bin bags etc. When I need something it's all to hand. Part of the fun is rushing round Christmas morning building stuff up while the kids scream , is it done yet? Every 10 seconds.

Thanks. That's exactly what I was looking for. The 'tool kit' is a great idea.

 

[Babybump87]

We wrap everything too within reason! .

DD has a big dolls house that we will put together then maybe wrap around it or place a big box that has been wrapped over it! . I wrap things in her stocking too !! I love seeing her face when she opens them!

I also love the tool kit idea ! x

 

[motherofboys]

We wrap everything too within reason! .

DD has a big dolls house that we will put together then maybe wrap around it or place a big box that has been wrapped over it! . I wrap things in her stocking too !! I love seeing her face when she opens them!

I also love the tool kit idea ! x

Wilkos do big gift bags. Think they are plastic with a christmas pattern on. They are intended for things like bikes but I'm sure they'd work for dolls houses, could be another option for you

 

[x_WelshGirl_x]

Growing up, our presents off Santa were unwrapped but in a sack, until we asked for them to be wrapped, my parents still put them in a sack though.
I now wrap everything (mainly because I love wrapping presents) and leave them in 2 seperate piles.

 

[pompeyvix]

We wrap everything, including all stocking fillers big and small. Everything is still boxed and unmade for the same reasons motherofboys stated. Last year we did build her play kitchen and leave it unwrapped purely because if we kept it boxed , LO wouldn't have know what it was as it was just a load of cardboard boxes and would have meant nothing to her. She isnt having any toys like that this year, so like I said above, everything is individually wrapped. Father Christmas presents are wrapped in different paper though.

 

[SpringerS]

I do unwrapped as I love that crazy 5-10 minutes of insane excitement of seeing everything all at once. What's really cool about it is that it's so revealing about what actually excites DS the most. He has a stocking too so there is another few minutes of unpacking that which is a nice wind-down from the initial frenzy of joy. After that he's ready to play and explore his new toys which is a lovely satisfyingly joy filled few hours with a break for a lovely breakfast once it's ready.

But I have no need to eke the morning out. I want him to have a good few hours of chilled out play time and we go out for a walk at noon and on to my parents' for dinner and my grandmother's for tea and he gets at least 4 more gifts in each house. So the whole day is busy and exciting and getting as much play time in the morning as possible is important to a smooth day. (And then more over the next few days when we visit my in laws.)

 

[jd83]

We wrap everything, and the Santa gifts get their own special wrapping paper that's different from everything else. Last year, it was covered in pics of Santa, so pretty obvious, lol. I like stuff being wrapped because it spreads the morning out longer, and makes it more exciting since they have to wait to open things to see what's behind the paper. I wouldn't want to miss their faces seeing things for the first time, which might happen if things were unwrapped and they snuck in to look before getting us up. As far as wrapping complicated things, I try to undo twist ties and things like that if possible before wrapping so its easier to get things out of packaging. Batteries are either put in before wrapping, or I keep a box full right beside us to install as needed. We also do the small toolkit thing someone else mentioned. Makes it a lot easier if you have it ready whenever something needs a screwdriver, a box cutter, or whatever it may be. We typically put things together on Christmas, and they play with other toys that are easier to open while we put together the harder ones. Wrapping the boxes is just way easier for me than wrapping weird shaped toys that are already put together.

 

[Bid]

Here santa only brings the stocking and three gifts, and I have personalised sacks for those to go in (big hessian sacks with old fashioned printing on). The previous years I haven't wrapped the things in the sack but this year I'm going to get special gold paper because we're having a gold theme (his Santa list consists of the gold power ranger suit, gun and sword lol).

The gifts from us are always wrapped but I sometimes take them out of the boxes and build them, then wrap them. Means everything is kept a surprise until it's opened but can still be played with straight away. Anything too big/awkward to wrap gets loosely 'wrapped' in paper xmas tablecloths. When I was little my mum used to wrap the empty boxes for awkward stuff and would then pull the ready-built toy out of the cupboard like "here's one I made earlier"

 

[Kay_Baby]

I wrap. I think a lot of the excitement is discovering what's inside. Like a lot of others have said we have built and then wrapped things (like a kitchen) or unwrapped ties and put batteries in before putting back in the box and wrapping. Also keep a little kit handy with everything you might need to get something set up.

I found it interesting that one of the things you said would be that you had been playing for hours sometimes before your parents get up. No one touches a present until the whole family are all there, even stockings that are left in bedrooms. The only time that was broken when we were growing up was once. My sister rolled in blind drunk at three am on Christmas Day, my parents decided to let her sleep rather than deal with it while my brothers were still so excited as they were still rather young.

 

[motherofboys]

I wrap. I think a lot of the excitement is discovering what's inside. Like a lot of others have said we have built and then wrapped things (like a kitchen) or unwrapped ties and put batteries in before putting back in the box and wrapping. Also keep a little kit handy with everything you might need to get something set up.

I found it interesting that one of the things you said would be that you had been playing for hours sometimes before your parents get up. No one touches a present until the whole family are all there, even stockings that are left in bedrooms. The only time that was broken when we were growing up was once. My sister rolled in blind drunk at three am on Christmas Day, my parents decided to let her sleep rather than deal with it while my brothers were still so excited as they were still rather young.

I hate the thought of not seeing the boys reactions to everything so like you, even the stockings are opened together.
I love wrapping and even stocking presents are wrapped.

 

[CaptainMummy]

I wrap. I think a lot of the excitement is discovering what's inside. Like a lot of others have said we have built and then wrapped things (like a kitchen) or unwrapped ties and put batteries in before putting back in the box and wrapping. Also keep a little kit handy with everything you might need to get something set up.

I found it interesting that one of the things you said would be that you had been playing for hours sometimes before your parents get up. No one touches a present until the whole family are all there, even stockings that are left in bedrooms. The only time that was broken when we were growing up was once. My sister rolled in blind drunk at three am on Christmas Day, my parents decided to let her sleep rather than deal with it while my brothers were still so excited as they were still rather young.

I hate the thought of not seeing the boys reactions to everything so like you, even the stockings are opened together.
I love wrapping and even stocking presents are wrapped.

I agree! One of my best memories is of my two sisters and I, standing at the top of the stairs, waiting for my parents to get up! They took FOREVER! (it seemed that way anyway) but we would never have gobe down until every one of us was there, ready to go down. And then we went really slowly, and opened the door very carefully! I love that I get to see my girls do the same