When do you wrap the presents?

[Marne]

Do you wrap your dc's presents as you get them or do you leave it till christmas eve? I'm thinking of doing mine on christmas eve this year (to keep me busy when dc's are in bed).

I wait until there's a couple of hours worth of wrapping then do it in front of a film. That way I enjoy doing it in a few bursts.

i buy pressies throughout the year, all finished by middle of October (have about 9 close family birthdays including me, DP and both DC's between end of Oct and xmas) so i get it all out of hiding before DD's birthday (22nd Oct) and wrap and put away everything, then get bits and pieces if i need anything else, and do them xmas eve :)

At the last minute, badly and in a foul mood because I hate it. every year I plan to do it as I buy the presents but it never works out that way.

i do the same as "waiting for me" - a few times in dec when no one is in the house. that only happens on a monday morning really when the 2 boys are in school and my little girl is in nursery.
its quite fun and christmassy - in the living room, near the tree and not last minute and stressful like christmas eve.
oh and youve got to have "this morning" on - god i sound like a saddo.
but its great.

I plan to start tonight. but only as I need to wrap them and hide them in the loft so DH can use the en suite with out dc's finding anything.

I like to do some early on so no mad panic but do save some until closer to the time when more in the christmas spirit.

I have however already wrapped over 80 presents as I'm helping organise DD's school christmas fayre and am in charge of santa's grotto. Don't want to leave that til the last minute

I used to have bursts of wrapping activity as and when I felt like it, now there are less things to wrap and I am less enthusiastic about fancy wrapping (no relatives to impress) so it's just over and done with.

planning on doing DC's on christmas eve with a nice glass of mulled wine or mead :)

will do other peoples before that as need to post some/hand some over before the big day

Usually on Xmas Eve with plenty of booze and chocolate to hand and a good Christmassy film on the telly.

I'm like clopper - Christmas eve, with wine and swearing. Last year I was in a rush and dropped and smashed a nice handcream I'd bought for my mum .

This year I really will do it earlier!

I do it as I buy them because I find it so tedious, doing it all at once is awful. The other advantage is that if your child finds one they won't know what it is.

I'm doing it on the 22nd dec. Very precise I know, but I want to wait tip I finish school ( I'm a TA not a child!) and on that day ds will be at his last day of nursery and dh will be at a conference so can't sit there doing nothing and whinge at my wrapping skills offer constructive criticism!

this week at some point, i need to right a list of what exactly i have for the dc's, i have got a little confused over what i have for dd1 so need to do this to work out what else to get her, so i will wrap at the same time, i hate wrapping presents, it drives me mad

lol, my mum is very neat at wrapping and if it goes wrong and does not look nice and neat, she will rewrap it, i am more a that will do, although this year i have packs of wrapping paper with matching bows and ribbon [got them in the sale at a bargain 75p a set and 3 for 2 ] so will try harder

Usually on Christmas Eve after DD has gone to bed, in front of the TV. Last year it took me through Uncle Buck 3 times thanks to ITV, +1 and +2 :o

This year I'm doing them asap due to Christmas baby.

Every year I hated wrapping the presents, it used to take me hours over several evenings, and it was the bane of my life every december. Then a couple of years ago (and why I never thought of it sooner I will never know!) it occurred to me to just stop doing it so I told the DCs all about how Santa was having a little walk in the North Pole one day when he met a poor little lost baby polar bear crying because he was lost, and went into great and lengthy detail about global warming and ended up by saying Santa wasn't going to wrap stuff up any more because wrapping paper is evil and killing the planet. Santa now leaves a bag of some kind for each DC with their presents inside except last year when santa was an arse and thought he had 8 bags in a roll but it turned out there was only two when he unrolled them so everything was just in piles on the floor and it was a bit crap and Santa had to have an extra drink and mince pie and another extra drink and a bit of a cry and may just get over it this year because this year Santa has got Christmas Pudding bin bags instead

i usually do a few a night during december. begin with family and friends presents, then do most of my kids stuff in the week before christmas, with the last few bits being done on christmas eve once they are asleep.

I usually have a couple of wrapping evenings around 20/21 Dec, with a crap film, dh to provide an occasional 'hold that bit there, pass me the tape' (he's useless at yer actual wrapping) and...crucial element, discovered 6 years ago and much missed the years I was pregnant at Christmas...Jamie Oliver's Christmas Margarita

A few days before Christmas with a glass of wine and a film but not 'the Eve'. Don't want to waste that doing horrible wrapping.

Last night

I have over 100 plus to wrap! ( still more to get)

I wrap everything up, even the smallest pencil sharpener for DD!

I know i've made a rod for my own back. , i do it every year and put them in everyones santa sacks!

I'm planning on getting it started sometime this week!

Early december.

It will involve vh1 christmas hits and a bottle of advocaat.

I do them a few weeks before Christmas so most of them ( apart from Santa's, natch ) can go under the tree and the DC can have a good old prod and poke.

I have very happy memories of prodding and poking and would hate to deprive the little dears.

I have Elf and slipper socks ready for them for Christmas Eve, and will let them stay up a little later in a vain attempt to delay the 5am excitement and shrieking. Once they're in bed, we'll wrap the Santa pressies ( and DH will disappear and ask me for wrapping paper so he can wrap the one thing he's bought - my present ) and drink some mulled wine and scoff Santa's mince pie, leaving a few crumbs....

I'm like you, muddysnowball - every last thing is wrapped, until my back is screaming, and my wrapping style gets more and more haphazard. I once saw a Countdown to Christmas type planner (on Martha Stewart's website !) which suggested creating a 'wrapping station' in your home, with all your scissors, wrapping paper and a selection of ribbons in one place so you can wrap as you buy. I aspire to this every year....

I will be doing them somewhere between 5th and 14th December. As I finish one big lot of work just before the former and then start the latter on the 15th (type of work that needs to be done once children are in bed and needs to be done by early January). There may be a slight bit of extra wrapping if I haven't bought everything by 14th of course....