Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Tree presents on Boxing Day?

85 replies

AnathemaPulsifer · 26/12/2020 19:16

What madness is this? I’ve seen two separate people on MN threads referring to opening tree presents on Boxing Day. Ours were all open by 9:30am on Christmas Day.

YABU = yes, we save presents for Boxing Day
YANBU = no, we open ours on Christmas Day or even Christmas Eve

Bonus points if you save ALL your tree presents for Boxing Day and can explain whyyyy.

OP posts:
IsadoraDuncanDonuts · 26/12/2020 20:29

YABU. My daughter is 2. She likes to open a present and then play with it. We did some yesterday and some today and there are still two or three left.

My mother keeps hers under the tree for days. She likes the anticipation more than the presents. I can see her point, to be honest.

DelurkingAJ · 26/12/2020 20:33

My DM does stocking-type presents for all of us (in addition to main presents) and we save those for Boxing Day so we opened those about 4pm today. DSs (7 and 4) like the idea of a second round of little things to lift the day.

GameSetMatch · 26/12/2020 20:41

We leave Auntie and uncle gifts until Boxing Day, my brother goes overboard so it’s too much in one day. Father Christmas gifts on Christmas morning, gifts from family in the afternoon and grandparents gifts in the evening and uncle and auntie gifts on Boxing Day early evening. It’s lovely for the children it spreads it out and it means they don’t get overwhelmed.

diamondpony80 · 26/12/2020 20:45

We open Santa presents on Christmas morning and keep all family presents for the afternoon (after Christmas dinner). No presents on Boxing Day. We did have presents on Boxing Day as kids though. We would have Christmas Day in my parents house (with presents) and then Boxing Day at my grandparents (which was like another Christmas Day as we used to get a whole other set of Christmas presents from them). We were a bit spoiled tbh but we loved it.

rc22 · 26/12/2020 21:18

We always spent Christmas day with my dad's family and then boxing day with my mum's. My gran, aunt and grown up cousins always used to bring our presents then.

NoKnit · 26/12/2020 21:50

Kids got about 8 presents each, any more would overwhelm them and drive me nuts where to store it all. We were done opening by 6:45am yesterday. But that was just the start we are still enjoying them and will for weeks and months. It isn't about loads of gifts. When he was a toddler my oldest still had gifts to open on Boxing day but I had to put a stop to the amount of gifts he received. This meant buying him nothing ourselves but it worked. My kids don't get overwhelmed and appreciate what they have received and we enjoy playing with them all over the holidays. That is the point of Christmas isn't it?

1Morewineplease · 26/12/2020 22:02

We've done tree presents for many years... it's just a way of extending the festivities. We don't buy tree presents as such, just hold a small gift back to open on Boxing Day before our beloved Boxing Day buffet.
Some folk do Christmas Eve boxes. I'd never heard of them before this year... each to their own .

hansgrueber · 26/12/2020 22:18

@Honeyroar

My mil used to do tree presents on twelfth night when the tree came down. A farewell present from the tree.
I think that's a lovely idea!
ChristmasinJune · 26/12/2020 22:19

This year we saw family on Christmas Day (opening a few presents along the way) then had today to open and have a good look at our "home" presents. It worked really well in the circumstances.

nosswith · 26/12/2020 22:21

Opening on Boxing Day maybe. Extra presents to enable this, just no.

When I was young and people such as godparents and great aunts bought me and siblings presents, some were saved until Boxing Day, but once we were a bit older and some had died, that ended.

MispyM · 26/12/2020 22:21

DS opened his gift (from underneath the Christmas tree) on Christmas Eve.

Then got his stocking on the 25th.

katy1213 · 26/12/2020 22:21

Who's even up at 9.30 on Christmas day? Apart from small children. And why would you want everything over so early in the day?
Still opening here presents here!

Icenii · 26/12/2020 22:28

We use to have tree presents as kids for Christmas evening or boxing day. Now we open it all in the morning. I like to keep it in the morning. I think I would find continual gift opening borning.

Logantrical · 26/12/2020 22:31

We've had tree presents since I was a child. It's not a new thing in our family. It's always been a very small present hung on the tree.

BessMarvin · 26/12/2020 22:33

What do you actually mean by tree presents? Curious as you're referring to saving all of them?

Growing up we did tree presents on boxing day. This was one small present for each of us that was literally on the tree.

Icenii · 26/12/2020 22:34

Yes ours use to be a small gift on the tree too.

Twobrews · 26/12/2020 22:46

Our tree presents are all the ones not from FC or the people spending Christmas Day with us. It's nice to spread out the presents.
One year PIL did a massive Christmas Day get together and we saw my parents before we went so there weren't many tree presents. It was a strange Boxing Day with no left overs and hardly any presents!

Tenyearsgone · 26/12/2020 22:48

I don't know what a tree present is.

Yeahnahmum · 26/12/2020 23:14

Who cares which day people celebrate and open presents. Entire cultures celebrate on the 24th. No biggie

Yeahnahmum · 26/12/2020 23:14

Part 2- so i wouldnt see a problem with people opening presents on the 26th.

Marmite27 · 26/12/2020 23:15

An aunt and uncle dropped off some presents today, but everything here was opened yesterday.

TimeToParty · 26/12/2020 23:18

I think for some people a Tree Present is not just a present in the pile under the tree, it’s a completely separate present in the tree.

So as kids we used to open all the presents under the tree on Xmas day and then on Boxing Day someone goes hunting in the tree and pulls out all the small hidden presents and passes them out. Things like socks or a little book. My mum used to say they were a gift from the tree and the tags all said “To Johnny, happy Christmas, from Tree” Grin

I’ve met a few people who do similar. Not sure where it’s a tradition from though.

TheFluffiestCat · 26/12/2020 23:20

We saved some. DD was getting a bit overwhelmed and silly, and it wasn't much fun for BIL watching us open ours once he'd finished his, so we stopped and DD played with the stuff she'd opened.

GrumpyHoonMain · 26/12/2020 23:23

We unwrap on christmas day and unbox on boxing day. Christmas day gets a bit overwhelming when we host so this way is best.

MondeoFan · 26/12/2020 23:31

We saved 4 presents per child to open after lunch today. It was great and will be doing it again in future.