How do you open yours?

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Presents that is (sorry if it's been done before)

My children rip the paper of is hurry all excited while my cousins children have to remove the cellotape carefully so they don't rip the paper (she saves it) then they must play with said gift for 15 minute before moving onto the next.
They like to discuss each individual gift too.

She thinks we're weird and i think she is

I'm the same as you!mine rush down stairs, open the lot all at once and then choose to play with whatever they like. Its how we did it as kids and I can't imagine any other way!

I think a lot of people on here open stagger presents throughout the day or open after lunch but it must be a regional thing as I don't know anyone who does that!

How odd to force them to play with each toy one at a time! That would be pure torture for my kids!

We are roughly in the middle of you and your cousin ie we do it the proper way :o

Take turns opening (usually with someone handing them out from under the tree - probably DD now she can read) so only one present being opened at a time and we can all admire what each other has etc. That way we don't miss people's reactions to their gifts.

We don't enforce play with each item before the next though :o

Oh and this year my parents are coming so we will leave the presents 'from them' (which will already be here due to me choosing, ordering and wrapping them...) until they arrive

We stagger ours, some in the morning and some in the evening when we get back from lunch (always eat out somewhere).

Really love savouring them!

I know we are probably weird, I don't know anyone else who does this

we do the same as fuzzpig i get the most fun from watching them opening it and their reaction, we couldnt do if it was a mad for all.

but that its, theres no rule for playing with them straightaway, they can if thay want. they can also leave some for later if they want.. they havnt yet lol

We fall into the fuzzpig camp, too.

Another who follows the same pattern as fuzzpig

It's takes my cousins kids hours to open everything and my kids take 5 minutes lol

Yup we do same as Fuzzpig, too.

Same as Fuzzpig here too. Mad opening is very stressful (we did it a couple of years ago at PILs) and the children don't know who anything is from which makes me cross as they couldn't properly say thank you.

Kids opening stockings (in my bed) is a bit of a mad ripping things open in excitement.

We don't do gifts from other family until after lunch though and again its a bit like Fuzzpig's family, they are all handed out before we begin opening. Its not a rule, but it usual ends up that the kids open their presents first- probably because we want to see their reactions. I also expect my kids to thank the gift giver for the present, before opening the next one. Then can then choose what to play with (no time limits) while adults get on with opening their own.

Personally I always open presents carefully and slowly, but this is because I hate the noise of ripping and scrunching paper. i can cope with others doing it, just I'd rather not do it myself. I don't remove selotape or save the paper though.

We open stocking upstairs,the dd's play with them for half an hour or so whilst dh and I wake up, they then rip the paper off the presents under the tree, sometimes they will stop half way through and look at a few things before opening the rest but last year this didn't happen ( they seem to be getting faster at opening ). We always used to just rip them all open when we were kids, there was no waiting until after lunch or playing with each thing before opening the rest.

Stocking presents the children just open but not in a wild frenzy.

With bigger presents we take it in turns and watch each other opening.

Presents from other family members are spread out - sometimes over a couple of days.

Dh's family do it all in a kind of mad feeding frenzy and I find it awful. I never get a chance to see whether our nieces and nephews like their presents or anything.

Stockings in bed, then the children have breakfast. Then we get dressed then go to the living room and start opening. I think this year will take about 2 mins to open though

fuzzpig has it spot on, that's what we do too.

If dh had his way it would be a free for all
I grew up opening a few then going to church then opening a few more then lunch and the last of the presents

We normally go to the Inlaws but this year we're not so I'm aiming for something In-between the two methods

We do stockings in bed before we get up. Then we get dressed, have breakfast and have one present each (something small they can take out with them) before church. After church we do the tree presents one at a time so we can all see what everybody gets, you can play with it if you want or move on, it's up to you. Last year dd2 took til bedtime to open all of her presents, this year I think they might all be opened by lunchtime.

When I was young, I liked to slowly open all mine just because I didn't want the pile of presents to disappear really quickly!

Santa presents in the morning. Everything else left until after lunch. Dh writes down who gave dd what for thank you cards. Last year, it took a couple of days for her to get through all the presents. She kept stopping opening and playing with things instead.

Stockings upstairs on our bed, then downstairs we take it in turns to open.
Ds2 will open all his first as he's the youngest, we'll all watch and ooh for him!
Then Dd, Ds1, Dh and me last.

Carnage,complete carnage. Although the gift giving later in the day with grandparents and aunties etc is slightly more dignified and the dc make me proud by being well mannered and grateful. In the morning though the 5 of them are like Tasmanian devils. Our homevideos of each year are a hilarious mix of squeals and shouts

Stockings first thing, we used to talk turns as children to make it last longer, but DC can do what they want.

Last year I gave DC their main present each mid morning so they had something to play with before lunch.

Rest of the presents under the tree opened after lunch, people take turns to give a present and everyone else watches.

We are staying with in laws this year, and they open presents mid morning, everyone gets handed all their presents at once and then everyone opens simultaneously. I don't like it as I can't keep an eye on who gave what to DC, and then am left with all my presents still to open when everyone else has finished.

Another one in the fuzzpig camp.

Presents are opened throughout the day: FC presents in bed first thing, presents from us after breakfast, presents from parents around lunch, more after lunch, and a few in the evening. Other family members the next day.

We also take turns, because I like to see if the children like their present or not. I personally hate the whole frenzy thing (done it once), because then all the presents are done by 10am and then there's nothing else for the rest of the day, which was a bit of an anticlimax to say the least!

We have present carnage at the crack of dawn. It can take moments, and there is not the slimmest chance that any wrapping paper will be salvaged.

All presents under tree
Sit together (me, DH and DD) and take it in turns to open presents and see what each other gets. DD tends to dish them out - she likes to do so.
After me and DH have finished ours (as we always have far less than DD in terms of parcels) D goes and makes drinks and breakfast whilst DD enjoys some opened gifts. Then once he's back in the room we watch DD open the rest of her parcels.

I also tend to keep a note of who bought what, ready for thank you letters.