If you have little impatient gift-peepers at your house who can't stay away from their gift under the tree, here's what I do:
Pick a number you associate with each particular child: how many home runs he hit in Little league, how many months old she was when she said "Mama", etc. Then instead of writing their names,write : TO:#3, FROM: (Mom,Dad,Aunt Susie,Grandma. whoever sent the gift). If you have to,make yourself a reminder note and tuck it away somewhere.
They won't know which gift to peep at, and after opening Uncle George's new pipe and Grandpa's foot massager, etc., and down the line, they will give up. Even if they get to theirs, they won't know for sure if it is theirs or someone else's!
Then Christmas morning, tell everyone their number and let them dig in and pass the numbered gifts around to each other. There is always confusion at some point, like when Great Aunt Nellie opens the newlywed wife's frilly nightie, thinking it was for her. The expressions are priceless, and the day starts of with the whole family roaring with laughter!
Next year, assign each one a new number.
Merry Christmas, and may God richly Bless You!
Source: I am a mother of six and grandmother of more
By Gloria Hayes from Darien, GA
This page contains the following solutions.
To keep the children out of the presents under the tree, my mother would make up a code for each person. She would put the code on the package instead of the name on the tag.
Around October, I start buying gifts to avoid the December price crunch. It is difficult to hide presents from snooping children.
If you have snoopy kids (or husband) who search and find the Christmas presents you've bought, wrap and code them i.e. a number, letter, color or symbol for each family member.
If your kids peek at gifts under the tree or search throughout the house for presents, wrap them immediately upon bringing them in. Mark them with a code only YOU know!
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How do you tell someone not to buy something because you already bought it for them without them knowing that you bought it for them? This is for a Christmas present for my sister and I don't want her know what it is. It is a movie by the way in case you ask.
Tell her they are coming out with an enhanced version in February and she should wait because it will be better.
We had a family rule that you couldn't buy anything for yourself before the holidays after one year where practically every present given was something the other person ended up buying for themselves before gift giving time. This was when we were all living together though so it made it easier to uphold.
Awesome idea Jen! Keep the ideas coming though.
In our family when someone is wanting to buy something we have bought them for Christmas, we would say "Better wait, you might be getting it for Christmas." But then I guess they would probably figure it out. Then we would say " Maybe just have to wait and see."
My sister is 17 and is sneaky about finding a way to find out what she is getting for Christmas or birthdays or what ever. It is easier to hide gifts from her now because I don't live at home anymore but I also can watch what she buys anymore.
Jen's idea sounds good, I also would mention to hold up on buying for self until AFTER holiday so you can get best deals and more for your $$$.
Tips for hiding gifts from pesky and curious family members. Post your ideas.
I keep all of my bought gifts (Christmas & other) in the attic. The problem is, every time I pull down the attic stairs, it's like a magnet for my daughter to follow me up there. To be sure that she doesn't accidentally see any gifts, I hide them in suitcases, until they're ready for wrapping and giving.
By S. Dixon
Car trunk. The only problem is when it is time for "Santa" to leave these, it is usually very cold outside and you have to go out to get them!
I also hide some in my closet which is pretty inaccessible.
I think disguising them until wrapping time is a good idea.
My all time hit was the box the artificial Christmas tree came in. Of course, it also helped that the box was over the washer and dryer... like anyone would go near there. hee hee!!
I have found that stashing things in our coolers that we use during the summer for camping is a great place. They are on a shelf in the garage that the kids can't easily get to and there is quite a lot of room in each of them, as long as you aren't trying to hide a bike or something.
The rolling laundry sorter works incredibly well. I use the laundry sorter for matching socks and sorting seasonal clothes. To make things neater, around Halloween, I move the sorter to my room. As ordered gifts arrive, they go into a bin designated for each person. I cover the top with unfinished sorting, folded sheet, etc to create a total lack of curiosity.
This works very well for wrapping presents as well. It is easy to see if one person needs more attention. The cart minimizes lifting and falling items and keeps everything together.
When our children were small, we would hide all their Santa gifts in our travel trailer we would have them in the compartments inside the trailer where if the children went into the trailer they would not see anything. I would make a list of the Santa gifts that were stored in the travel trailer so when my husband and I would retrieve them on Christmas Eve to put them under the tree Kama I would know that I had all the gifts that were stored in the trailer.
