Mumsnet Talk

DH and I can't agree - I say lets take them out of all the packaging before we wrap them, so that as soon as the DC open them they can start playing with the toys.

DH thinks that its easier to wrap when its in the cardboard and shows that its a new toy.

MN Jury - please decide - we will abide by your decision.

Just leave them in the boxes - easier to wrap and no risk of all the bits getting lost before they've even been played with.

leave in the boxes as

1) easier to wrap
2) dc would be slightly miffed if the boxes were missing

I have done both, it's easier to wrap boxed stuff, but christams morning is much more fun if the toys are unwrapped (especially if they need putting together) as they can play with then right away, without waiting for you to untwiddle all the bits of wire on the packet

Leave in box! Then some presents can be opened all through the Xmas holidays and not all on one day IYSWIM!

Depends on the gift. If it is going to need lots of putting together it is worth doing that in advance, but otherwise I would leave it in the box.

OK, DH is winning so far (and letting me know it!) Anyone else?

I prefer them in packaging but have been known to loosen some twiddlers and have wire cutters to hand.

I actually think it would be pretty chaotic if all the toys were out together straight away.

We too leave them in the box and have wire cutters out in the morning. I think there would be too much chaos here otherwise, with toys and paper all over. I think bits would get misplaced immediately.

I'm wrapping everything boxed except DDs garage and DS's tower of doom

hmmm i wrestle with this question every year. Usually end up with s mish mash of both. Onr half of mr thinks packaged stuff looks more "gimme, gimme" an dless likely to have been made by Santa's elves in the N Pole. Other half thinks in packaging looks better and is more likely to appeal to them as will look brand shiny new like what they have seen in the shops.

I think I have more or less settled on leaving in packaging anything going under the tree and taking out if going in stockings.

OK, DH 1 - bumptious 0!

out of the box in our house, infact I've already done it- soooo frustrating trying to open boxes on Christmas morning, the little wires, the boxes that are impossible to open without an extremely sharp knife, the wrappings/boxes/general debris that gets everywhere. It just puts me in a really bad mood!

what about a compromise, undo all the little wires etc for ease of extraction but but put item back inside the box before wrapping

I remove as much of the tape and ties as possible and put in the batteries and then repackage the toy in the box to make wrapping easier.

DD is getting a leapfrog Tag Junior this year and I've taken it out of the box, put the batteries in and uploaded the extra books before putting it back in the box to wrap so she can get going with minimum fuss on Christmas morning.

One year DS got the Happyland Starter kit and I went through the box and removed all of the ties and bags before we wrapped it to save hassle and mess on Christmas morning too.

Anything My Little Pony-ish with all the accessories will take until the New Year to remove from the packaging.Just so you know.

Had I known I would have unpackaged beforehand and saved spending hours battling with yet another invisible wire all of Christmas day.(and delaying unpackaging some simply because I could not face it).

But generally I wrap in the boxes.

somethings totally out of the box - all others int he box but opened (set up if needed, batteries in etc), all wires/ties etc cut - then back int he box to be wrapped

Depends whether they have come straight from the shop of if they have detoured via someone else's house for a few years!

I wrap them ready to play for the very small children, to a toddler a box is just a box and it takes a while before they realise it contains a bike/pram/trampoline/doll etc....once they understand the concept of packaging they are opened, batteries in, reboxed minus all the excess packaging and wrapped...ime stuff is more likely to get lost in all the cardboard/plastic rubbish on christmas day, AND if you have disposed of as much of this as possible in the weeks before christmas then your bins will cope better with all the bank holidays.

<wades in and votes for bumptious>

I think it depends on the toy and the age of the child, but we've taken some out of the packaging.

Happyland is really over packaged; I got DS (2) a few of the space themed things so I took them all out and wrapped them together. DD is getting a little wooden doll house, which came flat packed, so I built it <proud> before wrapping it. Wouldn't want to be doing all that on Xmas day

We take the packaging off the thing that go in ds's stocking so that he can open and play when he wakes up -last year it was 3am!

When ds was 2/3 I took them out the packaging but I don't now he's older - I will take his dsi out and charge it etc but then put it back in the box. Dd's stuff I all in boxes but she's only 15m and they're not things which have much twiddly wires or need putting together. Oh actually she's getting a kitchen - that will be put together when I can be arsed possibly after xmas

i open, add batteries, remove all those annoying tags and then re-box - that seems a fair compromise!

When DS was about 2 we bought him a train set, once he opened it he wouldnt open anything else till it was set up which took ages ! Really wished we'd done it the night before so he could play with it straight away.

It depends on the toy. Dd's b'day recently and got her the usual pink and plastic. It took 2.5hrs to put together and stick on the 100+ stickers and it was supposed to be quick! Fortunately it was a school day but would have been awful if she was here.

Look to see how ready they are and then decide. Awful to be doing that christmas morning.