To be tired of being expected to wrap everyone else's Christmas presents?

[Libra]

I probably am. Am prepared for a flaming. It is of course lovely that our relations want to send presents for DS1 and DS2, plus of course DS2's birthday a few days before Christmas. And we are very grateful for this.

The problem is that I am just exhausted by the thought of all the wrapping because all of them are just getting parcels delivered to our house 'and then can you just wrap it up for him please'? To say nothing of the fact that they all seem to have chosen Amazon and so all the boxes look exactly the same. Plus the fact that the presents for me and DH are also being sent this way but 'don't open those whatever you do!' Well how can I avoid doing that when I am surrounded by Amazon boxes of the same shape and size? How do I magically know which one I should open and wrap for the children and which one is for me and so should be left alone?

Oh, and it would be lovely if I could have a nicely wrapped present to open myself rather than just a small pile of Amazon boxes.

I did my present shopping earlier, thought about the fact that it would all need to be posted or carried on an airline, wrapped it all nicely and sent it like that. But it seems that no one is going to do that for me!

Yes, I am BU because it is nice that people are sending presents, but I really would like someone at least to do more than click on a link and put in my address and then expect me to do all the wrapping and writing of an address label and working out whose present is whose (there is some vagueness already about which book has been bought for which son...)

[DuchessFanny]

YANBU and I say this because I HATE wrapping !

I use amazon a lot as we live abroad, but always choose the gift wrap option, if it's not available then I choose something else or send a voucher.

It is lovely to receive presents though, so it's just something I put up with when I have to wrap them myself ( through gritted teeth !)

[Libra]

God yes! THere is a gift wrap option! I had forgotten that - because no one uses it in our family...

[Belugagrad]

This is not normal in my life - I order a present, get it delivered to me, wrap it and then sent it on - yes I'm paying postage twice but that is what comes with shopping online and I don't mind. I would never ask you to wrap a gift for me- just saying :-)

[Belugagrad]

sorry YANBU

[DuchessFanny]

The country I live in automatically wraps gifts for you when you but them too ( long queues at tills this time of year) do I now doubly hate having to wrap anything ... Am starting to already get a stress on at the next lot I have to do ( not bought or wrapped here unfortunately !!)

[DidoTheDodo]

Just give the kids an amazon box with no wrapping. Absolutely not your problem.

[Callani]

I think that's very cheeky of them - you can even pay for items to be gift wrapped.

YANBU

[StickyProblem]

I wrap 4 or so a day starting end Nov, otherwise I'm up till 3am on Christmas Eve!

I feel your pain re Amazon. I would just open all the boxes and wrap the ones for the DCs, and tell your family "I can't tell which are for the kids so I opened it, you could always use the Amazon gift wrap option for the ones for me".

[Libra]

Well maybe I am not BU!

Dido - I couldn't do that. I like the magic of a Christmas tree in the morning with lots of wrapped presents under it. If I didn't wrap all these parcels it would look more like a sorting office!!

[HermioneWeasley]

I can wrap a conventional shaped gift (box, book, bottle etc) in under a minute. I don't see what the big deal is?

[PenelopeChipShop]

Yanbu! First thing I thought was why don't they use the gift wrap option and address the packages to the right person, then all you have to do is take it out of the box and put under the tree. This is creating extra work you don't need just so they don't have to pay the two quid or whatever it is.

[Belugagrad]

I think wrap ones from you and DH, other ones just check what it is and shove it in an xmas gift bag? then sent the gift bag bill to relatives?! :-D

[Libra]

Well I don't really have that many minutes Hermione!

But I suppose it is more a sense of disappointment that I spend time choosing wrapping paper and writing a nice message on the label and then going to the post office, etc. But they just point and click and expect me to do everything else.

And also a desire for a few surprises on Christmas Day. It would be lovely not to know what was in some of the presents!

[Poosnu]

YANBU - my ILs do this and I really hate it. They should either pay for gift wrap or wrap and post on themselves.

[AnnabelleLee]

YABU. And you really do have enough minutes. nobody is that busy. Really bad form to complain about the way people send presents to your children, when they don't have to at all.

[DidoTheDodo]

If you really want the "pretty Christmas tree" effect than that is your choice. In which case you can't be U about it!

Sorting Office sounds fine to me. I used to love playing at Post Offices when I was a tot!

Alternatively, get your offspring to moan at the ILs after Christmas "shame your presents were all in Amazon boxes. Mum said it spoiled the look of the house for days!"

[girlywhirly]

Why don't you tell the relatives that it is impossible to keep presents a surprise because they are all packed similarly, so unless the rellies get Amazon to gift wrap them before boxing them up to deliver you can't help knowing what the gift is. Plus they presumably address them to you or DH but there is no internal label stating who the gift is for, so mix-ups will be inevitable working out who's is who's. YANBU, they need to know this.

It really sounds as though they see the convenience of the delivery service but have no clue how it works at the recipient's end, the mix-ups, the extra work for you and so on. But I'd go down the route of not being able to keep your gifts a surprise as this seems important to them, and perhaps they will do things a bit differently.

My DH hates wrapping gifts, so to make it easier for him (and a hell of a lot quicker) I have bought an assortment of gift bags all different sizes. He just puts a bit of tissue paper around the item and into the bag. Would this be an option for you? You can re-use the bags next year too, less wasteful than paper.

[Libra]

I am toying with the gift bag idea, and that might be a compromise between a tree with lots of unwrapped parcels underneath it and me having to fight with sellotape for hours (not a good or happy packer at the best of times).

I don't want to moan at family about the situation because obviously we are not ungrateful for the presents.

Alternatively, I could use their approach next year and just Amazon stuff to them - maybe that would make them understand the situation a little better!!!

[Vatta]

Just to mention in my family if we're sending gifts from amazon, we address them as, eg "Mr James Christmas Smith". That way the recipient knows this is a Christmas gift for them and they shouldn't open it until the big day. Alternatively "Mr James FOR YOUR SON Smith" so they know it's for their kid and they can open it in advance if they want to wrap it.

[Libra]

That is a good idea Vatta. I think that my family (and DH's family now I think of it) just sends everything addressed to me.

[GhoulWithADragonTattoo]

The amazon gift wrap option is very boring and very expensive though. And wrapping and posting would cost a lot more than direct delivery from Amazon. Probably therefore your kids have had a bit extra spend on their present. The payback for this is that you have to wrap a few more parcels. Or leave them in the Amazon boxes - kids love opening exciting parcels :)

[girlywhirly]

Gift bags look very attractive under the tree, if you want to pick a colour scheme or theme to match your decs, or different ones for each person if you are particular. Call it a perk of having to wrap your own presents.

[Procrastreation]

I order gift bags with my order - so hope my rellies are happier with me!

Otherwise - I've been known to do a Christmas morning bran tub.....

[magentastardust]

YANBU. You are disappointed because you have put in effort to wrapping and labelling the presents that others have not.

Your relatives time isn't more precious than yours -one of the nice bits about giving a receiving is the effort that someone has gone to wrap the gift for you or your children.

Maybe just do the same next year and just post their presents without wrapping and labelling too so that you are all in the same boat-then that way you won't feel miffed that they haven't bothered as much as you have.

[CaptainTripps]

Yanbu. I think this is too cheeky and too big of an ask. Not so bad as a one off but if it's year-in-year-out then it's too much.

Time to swallow that great British reserve and ask them to choose the gift wrap option or wrap it themselves.