To not wrap the DC’s presents...?

[mommathatwearspink]

We’ve always wrapped presents from Santa for our DC (5 & 2). This year has been a bit manic and I haven’t wrapped a thing yet. MIL suggested we not even bother wrapping them, just lay them out nicely as she did when my DP was a boy. We have friends who do the same. So, AIBU to not wrap this year...?

Ooh, I didn't know this was something I was so uptight about until I read this thread - I think of myself as pretty live and let live, but the thought of putting out a pile of unwrapped presents makes the 'wrong, wrong, wrong' alarm go off in my head! I thought that families where you all open your presents at once rather than take turns (I had an exbf whose family did this and j was horrified!) were the height of decadence!

Ooh in two minds about this... I think wrapping is so bad for the environment but also I remember the joy of staring at my presents under the tree/in my stocking. I still get excited by those fake presents in the supermarket 😂

Wrap them!

We wrap. I always snuck downstairs to take a peek at the presents Santa left. Even squeezed my stocking to try to guess what was inside. If they weren’t wrapped, that peek would have been a full reveal.

I assume dd who hardly ever sleeps a full night is also engages in some nighttime reconnaissance

I've been known to leave presents in the boxes they arrived in !

They get to open them but without me having to wrap them!

The kids are both adults now and I always wrapped when they were young.

Tissue paper is your friend...

You just scrunch round pressie then afd sello ..no stoopid folding etc

Or stick them in a sack with tissue paper covering

Put them in pillowcases. Use tissue paper or tinfoil for small items

Nothing wrong with not wrapping- it just gets torn off and wasted- I bought personalised santa sacks for my 3, that way things are hidden but no wrapping and losing my shit over sellotape. Can use them over and over. Giant gift bags could be a good idea for this year- and ignore anyone saying you are being unreasonable- this is your christmas, do it your way ❤

ignore anyone saying you are being unreasonable

But this is AIBU, OP has literally asked people if she is, why should she then ignore the answers?

I couldn't do unwrapped. Even when we have got them large, awkward things like a trampoline, water table or a slide, the presents have gone inside a king sized duvet cover or under a sheet/tablecloth so they can have a feel and wonder what they are while unwrapping them.

We try not to make it too much hard work, and DS1 can be a bit resistant to paper wrapping, so we do put multiple things in the same wrapping, like not individually wrapping presents that go in a stocking or putting a few books or related toys in a cloth bag, pillowcase or gift bag together for then to dip into.

Could you put their presents in paper bags with a bit of tape in the top? Basically wrapped without any actual effort, and they’d be recyclable.

DS has an activity cube that I can’t be bothered with wrapping because of the amount of paper it will use so I’m just going to throw a blanket over it but he’s one so i figure he won’t really understand wrapping anyway. (He also has a couple of presents where the wrapping doesn’t quite meet as I’ve used odds and ends 😂, everyone else has beautiful wrapping!)

My parents never wrapped our presents (environmentalists before it was mainstream). They would put all our toys books and clothes in a pillow case and we would take them out one by one.

I had incredibly magical Christmases as a child.

Wrapping is terrible for the environment and it also creates a lot of work (overwhelmingly done by women).

Find a pillow case and be done with it.

@NotYourHun a good idea but just want to add that tape cannot be recycled. One of the main reasons wrapping presents is a problem.

Stuff like bikes or big bulky items, don't wrap. Stocking fillers you don't need to wrap. Everything else either wrap or gift bags and tissue paper.

There's been a couple of years as a child where my Mam didn't wrap ours.

She wasn't miserable or mean, she was a loving and hardworking mum who was doing her best and it didn't make xmas any less magical at all. She just forgot the paper. The miserable and mean one was her husband who refused to lift a finger to help cos "its women's work"

Thirty years later and his son is the same. He has no idea what his children are getting because he opts out of the organising and planning but will sit and complain that the sprouts are overdone, the presents aren't wrapped nicely and the house hasn't been cleaned properly. 🙄

No offence, but if you didn't wrap my presents, there's going to be a problem I loved ripping that paper off to see what gift I had. I look back at old VHS home movies and my parents faces as my sister and I ripped the paper off was so lovely. I have a little boy, too young to open gifts, but I am looking forward to him getting excited to see what's in this parcel, and that parcel.

God, unwrapped Christmas gifts for kids is grim. Yabu.

We never had wrapped Santa presents. My parents arranged them all nicely in the living room. That’s just what we did. Not for a single second did we feel in any way bothered or deprived by this.

DH disagrees. They always had wrapped presents. This is weird to me. This year I have been so busy and overwhelmed that I told him I am not wrapping. He has done fuck all. He “can’t wrap”. Why the hell should I wrap two more piles of presents when I don’t even believe in it in the first place??

We have now compromised on a large fabric Santa sack for each of them.

We have large reusable sacks for as much as possible.
DH likes wrapping things but this year is just covering a few large boxes that dc will take in turns to pick stuff out of. I'm not buying anymore wrapping paper.

I wrap boxes or square things with brown paper and tie with string, no sellotape in sight! Any oddly shaped things get wrapped on tissue paper and popped all in one gift bag, which is then folded over and tied with string. Ds is only 2 so doesn't really get the whole unwrapping thing so it's a lot easier for him. It's better for the environment as everything can be reused or recycled. It saves my sanity and takes alot less time, surprisingly so!

I have an 8mo and a 2yo.
Weve got them things like a wooden activity cube. A wooden work bench. And a wooden table with train set.
We're just setting them up and leaving them in the living room.
It depends on what you've got them I think.
If we wrapped them up it's just a box to them, then I have to try and keep the kids away from the toys while their dad puts them together and I try and cook dinner.
To me it makes sense to just let them play straight away when they get up.

Please wrap whilst there young at least it doesn’t last long.

Wrap but make sure you use paper that can be recycled and strings or ribbons!

Another who doesn't wrap here (nor did my parents). The kids have a stocking each so smaller gifts go in there, alongside a pile of whatever is too big (books, jigsaws etc). I didn't know wrapping Santa gifts was a thing until my DH wrapped mine at Christmas! Plenty of wrapped gifts under the tree, so I am firmly in the camp that bit wrapping Santa gifts is less stressful, less wasteful and no less magical.

I wrap absolutely everything. The wrapping paper gets used to light the log burner.
I take friends and relatives wrapping paper for the same purpose.
I can't imagine not wrapping presents.