List of Ways to Hide Christmas Gifts from the Kiddos
Monday, December 1st, 2008 | holidays/occasions | 8 ResponsesGuest Blogger – Jessica Aryan
1. Have some unlabeled, moving or liquor boxes emptied and ready to be filled
2. Before shopping bring along some bags from OTHER stores… for example if you are planning a trip to Toys’R’Us bring along some bags from a grocery store or other store of non-interest
3. Swap bags with other shoppers at the mall… they may look at you as if you are crazy (and well you are!) but they may love the idea and share a good laugh!
4. Before you plan on doing your shopping figure out a good hiding spot for gifts – places where the children do not readily go such as in the basement (unless it is finished) or the attic
5. Ask a family member or close friends to host a present holding swap. Have them hold yours and you hold theirs.
6. Bring blankets with you while gift shopping to cover up bags in the back or the car or van or truck
7. DO NOT try to bring gifts inside when kids are home… send them to a neighbor’s, friend’s house or grandma’s for present-car-to-house-transfer and offer to do the same for them
8. Have gifts wrapped at store, if possible… do not include gift tags – bring along some paper (a small notebook) and pen and mark down paper type, gift recipient and gift… gift tags can be written in advance and put on last minute (in case of nosy children!)
9. Get a rental storage unit for the month – maybe share one with a friend or two!
10. Let Santa take care of everything!
Jessica Ryan is a List Loving Mom who is admittedly better at writing them than following them. A former Freelance Writer, she decided to put the professional world on hold to raise her three Entertaining Kids. (Jessica often wonders why the job of parenting isn’t a freelance one. Her hours are never-ending and she can’t collect overtime, or any pay at all for that matter!) Jessica was dubbed by some of her friends as the Fairy Godmother, as she seemed to have all their (child-rearing) questions answered for them – She thinks she has them all fooled! Jessica has been blogging for about a year now, about her family and her life, documenting the good, the bad, and the funny!
Visit her blog, The Entertaining House, at http://doodlebuglounge.blogspot.com/
Related posts:
- List of Ways to Save Money on Christmas Gifts
- List of Handmade Gifts to Give for Christmas
- List of items to Recycle (reuse, reduce, recycle!!) for your children’s play kitchen (real or imaginary!)
- List of People to Remember to Include on your Gift List
- List of Gifts to Collect for Mom’s Store
Diane says:
HA! Your list came 2 days too late! My 8 y/o has already found the stash. But she was quickly found out thankfully so we were able to relocate prior to her seeing too much.
I still have more shopping to do though so I’ll def take your advice!
(fairy) Godmother says:
Oh NO! That is my biggest fear! At the moment everything of ours is in the garage in a car we do not drive much. Since there is no room in my bay for my car (on another list to do at another time!) I don’t use the garage as a point of entry… need to get them in to the house though!
Lori Homeyer says:
We had a rule when the oldest kids lived at home, if you find the gifts, you can’t open them until New Year’s Day. I wasn’t serious about the rules, but they were pretty good about following it.
Jendi says:
I’ve heard that stored luggage makes a good hiding place.
Thankfully mine are a bit young to go searching.
listplanit says:
I read somewhere to put gifts in a big box and clearly label it “ironing”. NOONE will touch it then!
Anonymous says:
What about buying gifts online and just leaving them in the packaging until shortly before Christmas? There are tons of great online stores out there- I just bought a children’s books from http://www.seeitsmebooks.com
(fairy) Godmother says:
Love the luggage idea… don’t trust my nosy kids though… LMAO at the Ironing boxes!
Brethart77 says:
I have two ideas:
1. Don’t buy anything for your kids for Christmas and tell them it’s becuase they were naughty this year.
2. Buy everything online and leave them in the shipping boxes for the kids to “unwrap.”