To think not wrapping Christmas presents is thoroughly bizarre

[Bearbehind]

I’ve literally never heard of this before being on MN.

I genuinely don’t understand the concept of giving a gift and it not being in some sort of wrapping.

It seems so clinical not to do so

It’s not recyclable with sellotape on it.

We just remove the bit with the sellotape on it. Maybe next year I'll look for an eco-friendly alternative to tape, too late for this year.

To the PP who said they were scarred for life by not having presents wrapped up as a child - were you being serious?

Just checked - washi tape is biodegradable and can be recycled. Happy days.

My in-laws send LOADS of stuff for my DC and just send it direct from Amazon or wherever, never wrap a thing. Properly grinds my gears, I've got enough to think about without wrapping presents that I haven't bought! Same for birthdays. I still wrap them though. But I moan a LOT!!

FleurNancy my IL’s do this too. Drive me insane. They ask me what the DC’s want, I send them a link, they order it and send it to me to wrap. So I do all the hard work!
One year I didn’t wrap theirs and gave it unwrapped, the DC were confused as to why they had presents that weren’t wrapped!

@DontbeaBabs - good for you, sound grim, might as well grab things in the shop!

Pretty nasty response for a light hearted thread. It must be very stressful living a life where you can't recognise that there are other equally valid approaches to things that just happen to be different to the way you do things.

I would find it pretty shit to receive an unwrapped present, if the giver can't even be arsed to wrap it, they shouldn't bother giving it in the first place. Just odd.

I guess this attitude explains your nastiness.

Santa doesn’t wrap presents.

Santa only brings ONE gift here. The others are bought by family and friends and labelled as such, and we don't do stockings. Those presents are wrapped.

Father Christmas's gift has never been wrapped here. It is assembled, ready and waiting to be used (or play with when dd was small) There is often traces of special magic glittery dust from the elves.

Completely bizarre and very sad for the kids.

I can assure you it's not at all sad for the kids. My kids love seeing everything set up and ready to play with, as did I as a child. I can't imagine unwrapping a load of presents from santa. It just seems to make the process much more disjointed.

In my house santa gives all the presents. And wraps the bigger ones. But he cba to wrap the stocking fillers as they are already concealed in the stocking

EVERYTHING is wrapped. Father Christmas just uses the same paper. All wrapped in stocking(s)
For us, the reason for the stocking was to keep us in bed, til a reasonable hour, not before 6am. It's usually filled with bits and bobs certainly in the past has included new toothbrush.
Not included anymore, because they're electric/in a box and too expensive to put in a stocking, usually something like nail varnish/face mask/small book/always socks/wallet/belt/smellies/chocs/Christmas mug/gloves. Split for son/daughter.
He even drops a pair of pyjamas off, thrown through the window, onto their beds, from the sleigh on his way to other children, always during bath time and always wrapped
AND... I BLOODY HATE WRAPPING, but it's worth it.

Nobody is wrong in their traditions and certainly nobody can change ours... our eldest is 25

Proper Sellotape is biodegradable!

I have 4 kids and am on the more generous side with presents (not like fb style a whole room per kid but closer to that than the mn 'you'll get an educational board game and a packet of knickers and be grateful' attitude) and still manage manage to wrap everything except the really big stuff like bikes or play kitchens.
Just wrap as you buy rather than all at once and don't worry about the kids stuff looking messy.

Santa only brings stockings here - those presents are unwrapped but you get fun of rooting around in your stocking.

Presents to/from family are wrapped (trying to go for brown paper now) unless they are just too big/awkward shaped when they go under a blanket to not waste loads of paper.

whyamidoingthis

not sure why you take a lighthearted thread so seriously, none of my reply was supposed to be anything than lighthearted.

If having an opinion that doesn't match yours is "nasty" you must be surrounded by a lot of unpleasantness 🤷

I had never heard of families where Santa didn't bring all the gifts - and it's seems a thing for many on this forum, so what?

Even in a grotto the gift is wrapped when given to the child! I didn't invent the concept of wrapping paper

Not sure why that makes you upset, but if I was to receive an unwrapped gift, it would feel like a last minute thought when someone grabbed the first thing they found in a petrol station shop, so what?

You don't wrap birthday presents either then? So when your kids go to a party, they all hand unwrapped gifts?

To re-iterate for those not getting it- Santa does not wrap presents!

Other presents (from parents and to family members) are wrapped. As are birthday presents, christening presents etc.

Father Christmas doesn’t have time to wrap presents!

He leaves a stocking at the end of the bed and a Christmas sack of gifts each downstairs. After breakfast we open the tree presents which are from family.

Agree with a pp, it’s not at all sad!

and still manage manage to wrap everything except the really big stuff like bikes or play kitchens.

I even wrapped those

I would stop if I ever buy a car to my kids though! That would be pushing it...

Mummyshark201

but all the presents on Christmas Day come from Santa in my house....

To re-iterate for those not getting it- Santa does not wrap presents!

No, his elves do . Obviously!

I had never heard of families where Santa didn't bring all the gifts - and it's seems a thing for many on this forum, so what?

The reason why Santa does not bring all the gifts in our house is because I don't like the thought of some children getting one present and another getting 20 if they think they all came from Santa. When I worked in schools (pre dc) I would often hear children being upset that their friend got a Nintendo, bike, pram etc and they got a board game. What sort of message is that to send to children- you weren't good enough to get bigger/ expensive/ more than one presents.

In our house we buy our dc the big present (wrapped!) and Santa leaves a range of smaller presents (unwrapped).

What sort of message is that to send to children- you weren't good enough to get bigger/ expensive/ more than one presents

When they are still little enough to believe in Father Christmas, they don't "boast" or need the value of gifts.

But by your reasoning, some children deserve more from their own parents than others, that's just as bad.

We are a "all from Santa"'s family, and no one gets hurts.

Good point about the wrapping being done by the elves it's true as well

Last year we did everything from Santa without really thinking about it, and DD said (after she’d gone back to school) ‘why did x and y get presents from their mummy and daddy and we didn’t?’. Figured this year it’s easier to do the stocking and one main gift (which they’ve asked Santa for in their letter) from Santa and the other bits from us.

@MaryShelley1818 my DH does all the wrapping too, I buy he wraps. He loves doing it and is really good at it, I’m, on the other hand, shit. I can’t even get a square box to to look neat.

Re toothbrushes in the stocking my DD’s love them and get over excited about a new toothbrush for some reason. When they got their electric toothbrushes they asked if they would still get one on their stockings they are 7 and 10 at Christmas. I started putting them in their stockings as me and DH always had a new toothbrush at Christmas and we’re in our early 40’s.

I can't think of a single representation of Santa anywhere (films, books, illustrations, grottos etc) where the presents he has with him AREN'T WRAPPED. The sack is always overflowing with beautifully wrapped gifts.

But by your reasoning, some children deserve more from their own parents than others, that's just as bad.

No of course they don't 'deserve' more but as a parent you give what you can/ want to afford- that's life. No way is at as bad. One is a fantastical person who should in theory treat all children the same and not discriminate. Children accept more easily the fact that individual families are different. Some children don't go on a summer holiday, some have trips to Disneyland. At least other children know that parents paid for those trips- Santa didn't give it for free because they were more worthy.

Unless one of the child decides to do a 'show and tell' at school dragging a bag of all the presents received, no one needs to know what they got anyway. They stop believing so young, there's no bragging at that age - at least not about the value!

We wrap everything although I've taken to also getting a giant sack per child so that they don't throw the other DC's presents across the room to get to their own. And different wrapping paper for each child and from Santa.

My new tradition is having a massive bonfire on Christmas night. Me, the incinerator, the wrapping paper, a stick and a large glass of something having 30 mins peace and quiet in the garden