To think if family members / friends give your children presents before Christmas Day it’s fine to open them…

[ShirleyPhallus]

… instead of waiting for Christmas Day?

I thought this would be a unanimous opinion but I’ve seen another thread where lots of posters were saying they make their children wait and open all gifts on Christmas Day with the gift giver on FaceTime

id always let mine open them when they get them, if handed them personally by a family member or friend because:

1. it gives the gift giver the pleasure of watching the child open the present in person
2. it spreads things out a bit for the child so they don’t get completely overwhelmed by loads and loads of presents on Christmas Day

my husband and I both have quite large families so doing a “Christmas Day” celebration with part of the family where we exchange gifts and have a roast a week or two early is totally normal

obviously if someone is sending a gift and it arrives before Christmas it’d go under the tree to be opened on Christmas Day

YABU - all Christmas presents should be saved and opened on Christmas day
YANBU - it’s fine to open presents early if the child is with the gift giver

We open straight away for the reasons you say. When I give a gift, I like to see it be opened and see the joy from the child so we do the same for others.
I also think it's better for the child to have their gifts spread out. They can play with the toy as soon as they get it then and it not be forgotten about in the mad jumble of all the presents they get on Christmas day.

Santa brings all the gifts in our house. So all gifts are opened Christmas day.

YANBU. Not so much for the family getting to see it but because it does stop the overwhelming numbers on Christmas Day.

Mine get:
2 x from us (plus stocking)
1 x PIL
1 x my parents
1 x my brother and family
1 x SIL
1 x my oldest friend
3 x DD's godmother who always sends very generous boxes

This year they have already had the ones from my parents and my brother at our early Christmas. Means the 25th will be better all round with less to open the same day and to lose track of.

I enjoy seeing my nieces and nephews opening gifts if I'm there to hand it to them personally. But I follow the desires of the parents. If they want them all under the tree, then fair enough.
In that case though, I DO expect a decent "thank you" later on.

I do early Xmas with my dd every December. She comes with DH and dgc and I book for us to to do a nice Xmas activity. This year painting Xmas baubles. Then we go to coffee shop and have coffee and cake. Then go home and I cook nice meal. I put on a Xmas movie. Dgc open their stockings I make them and play with Lego from stockings whist I am cooking. DD comes into kitchen and drinks wine with me and helps me cook. DH plays with dgc and helps them build Lego. They play top trumps I always put in stocking. They eat meal they sleepover and we have a breakfast out before they set off home. Usually do this mid December every year. They will have plenty to open Xmas day and facetime me then. I know they also the same with SiL Mum and Step-Dad.

I think it’s nice to wait for Xmas day personally .
I do think it’s a bit selfish for gift givers to hand over gifts to children and expect them to open it before Xmas /or after just because they want to.
just my opinion though and people do things differently. It’s the way I was brought up and no way was I allowed anything before Xmas or birthdays despite being given early. I had to wait ,but I was always so excited and my family were never bothered at seeing me open it!
we have had. some family that have insisted on giving gifts and being there to see them opening their given gifts
I do think it’s slightly selfish of them, but I say nothing as clearly it means something to them and it’s important to them! Just because it’s not the way I’m used to ,or would like to do it, I haven’t made an issue or given it much thought either .I just except that people are different and do things differently.

YADBU - The clue is in the title "Christmas presents " - ie for Christmas Day not some arbitrary date in December!

I think it's up to the gift giver.

This actually sounds really nice caringcarer

But if you want to be really anal about it - Christmas Day (December 25th) really is just an arbitrary day in December, particularly if you’re not of the Christian faith.

Also, it’s only in the Western Christian tradition that presents are done on Christmas Day, others actually do gifts on Christmas Eve as standard!

I’d say it’s up to the gift giver. If they’re happy for the recipient to open it early then feel free but if they’d prefer they wait then do that. Some relatives like to watch the children open the gifts so my DC will open them early in front of them for that reason.

Presents for Christmas should be opened on Christmas Day.

Presents for birthday aren't opened before the big day so why is Christmas any different?

DD has her birthday on Friday but her party was last Saturday. She opened her presents from the party on Saturday and will open the rest on Friday.

We had an early family Christmas on 5 December so opened those presents then and will open the rest on Sunday.

I don't see any difference between these scenarios. But maybe people keep party presents till the birthday day too.

This

I've said it before on other threads but I hated it when we'd have to go to PIL the week before Xmas day and they'd give the kids presents to be opened there and then

To me it detracts from the magic of Xmas and makes it less believable for kids that Father Christmas delivers to your house on Xmas eve night - how do you explain he visited up the road a week ago 🤔 - I'm pretty sure that's why my eldest who is 7 I've felt for the last couple of years doesn't really believe in the whole thing

In the process of divorcing so with my youngest children at least I'll get to Install in them some Xmas magic as they don't see PIL until after Xmas if at all

Ok this is nuts, if I give a gift to my nieces I expect it to be from me, not from Santa!

I also wouldn’t have a problem with someone giving my child a birthday present a few days early when they see them and they open it then

the present is still for their birthday, why bother to make them wait to open it

My DS is a toddler so has no concept of Xmas. So I’d encourage him to open in front of the recipient so they can see him play with it.

And too many gifts on Xmas is just overwhelming for little ones.

I suppose for older DC it might be better to wait until Christmas Day so they don’t have the pressure of the “performance” element of opening the gift. Definitely wouldn’t FaceTime to gift giver though.

Surely if you have family celebrations in the lead up to Christmas you do present swapping etc on the day you meet up? We have two different friends and family groups that we see in December. We don't have a Christmas dinner but we have celebratory food and crackers etc.

Then do presents. Otherwise they'd be lost on the main day. Do people keep work presents or secret Santa's to open on the 25th?

I don't get the obsession with wanting a child to know who the present is from?? Before the age of say 8 why does it matter if they think they all come from Father Xmas - you've got their whole present receiving lives when they know Father Xmas doesn't exist to bask in the gratitude of your gift giving - let them have the magic of Xmas for a few years before turning it into performance gift giving

It is still from the family member. Santa just bring them all on Xmas eve. Nothing 'nuts' about it.

By the same token I don't get this obsession with Santa bringing everything. Was only ever stockings for us so same for our DC. Santa was neither the creator or deliverer of any other gifts so there's no issue for us with DC getting anything from relatives whenever they get it.

PIL put their presents under the tree yesterday so they have less to bring over on the day. Ours are there too. They had their ones from my parents on 5th December at our "Fakemas" celebration.

To me it detracts from the magic of Xmas and makes it less believable for kids that Father Christmas delivers to your house on Xmas eve night - how do you explain he visited up the road a week ago 🤔 - I'm pretty sure that's why my eldest who is 7 I've felt for the last couple of years doesn't really believe in the whole thing

We've never done the Santa is Evri model - he brings a stocking of stuff in the morning and presents from humans go under the tree for after lunch.

We don’t quite fit into your voting options.

generally, I tell the kids that presents are for Christmas Day and they wait.
The only exception to this is when we have an early “Christmas day” with DH side of the family - we have a meal, and all open our gifts from one another (usually on 23rd/24th).

This is why we arrange for family visits during the '12 days of Christmas' rather than in advance.

Generally we save but I don't mind them being opened if that's what the gift giver would prefer.