As a child, were you told to close your eyes for surprises?

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With one or two of the nostalgia threads lately, I've wondered about this. When you were a child, do you remember being told to close your eyes for a surprise, such as your birthday cake being brought in, and would you ask your DC to do so? I remember this happening in my childhood sometimes, such as before seeing the living room decorated for Christmas, complete with the tree.

Yes

Yes and hold out your hands for the surprise to be put into.

Yes so the moment can be orchestrated perfectly before the big reveal!

The giveaway was hearing the high-pitched whistle of the camera flash being switched on (does anyone remember that sound?), while standing there with eyes closed. It would be something big, then.

Yes big and little surprises 🎁

‘Open your hands and close your eyes, and I will give you a little surprise’ 🎁

Yes and we sometimes do this with our own kids, and they do it back to us!

What surprises do you remember this happening for? And it could be hard to resist cheating if you were told to keep your eyes closed for a long time.

My son does this to me! So I guess I guess I must have done this to him in the past 😂

Yes
best one was a Labrador puppy 😍

Yes, I was often told to ‘close my hands and put my hands out for a surprise’… and it would be my dad’s wet, used chewing gum. Not one time was it anything nice. No wonder I’ve been left anxious and cowering.

this is a lovely thread, I had forgotten all about this happening in my childhood. It’s a shame dc are teens so if I was to start doing it they’d be very distrustful.

Yes, sometimes. I have realised I do this for my son now, for big and small surprises, and apparently so now does my son. He told his dad to shut his eyes and led him to see the Christmas tree we’d decorated while his dad was at work just the other day 😭 so cute how they pick up on these things!

This thread has made me smile. As a child, every birthday I’d walk down the stairs and have to close my eyes as I entered the room. It would be full of banners and balloons that my dad had created at work. I felt so special.

I don’t remember doing it as a child but I do it for my own dc’s sometimes depending on what it is. One of my favourite memories is when we got dd a kitten for her birthday (which we’d managed to hide the evening before in our dressing room). We made her close her eyes after she’d opened all her other presents and put this tiny fluffball in her cupped hands. She was so surprised and overwhelmed and cried with happiness. We’ve had her for three years now and she’s so loved.

Yes 'close your eyes, open your hands and see what God sends you'. Did do with my children but without the God part.

Yeah, my grandparents & parents did this & we do it now.

Yes.

Not the birthday cake, as mum would wander in from the other room and I would be surprised, but for other things, yes!

As I got older, I still loved to receive surprises in this way, but I confessed that I had peeped on one or two previous occasions. So next time my family had a surprise for me, I was blindfolded for a few minutes. It was worth it, though: I was led inside the climbing frame which was all set up in the garden.

Is this no longer a thing now?

Yes. Open your hands and close your eyes and you will get a big surprise. (Even if it was often "just" a little random gift or freebie from my parents work).