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Original poster

What time does Santa put pressies under your tree?

53 replies

Blankiefan · 07/12/2014 08:56

DD still very little so not relevant this year but wondered how Santa fares in each of your homes? What time is safest for pressies to go under the tree when there's an excited child around?

Also - any near misses / Santa sightings by your dc and how did you explain them?

OP posts:
youbethemummylion · 07/12/2014 09:00

Around midnight when me and DH go to bed

AngelCauliflower · 07/12/2014 09:00

Santa arrives after midnight at our house. No sightings of him. Once my ds is asleep I know he is unlikely to wake.

LeBearPolar · 07/12/2014 09:05

Santa doesn't put pressies under the tree here: tree presents come from family and are labelled as such and go under the tree as soon as they're wrapped! Santa fills the stockings which happens after DS is asleep and just before DH and I go to bed on Christmas Eve.

DS doesn't believe in Santa any more (11!) but we all still keep up the pretence and all of us get very excited to check that "he" has been on Christmas morning. But even when DS was little, he was a good sleeper and would never sneak downstairs without us in the morning. He enjoys it being a family thing.

TheFallenMadonna · 07/12/2014 09:05

He doesn't. Only stockings from Father Christmas here, and presents are put under the tree when they are wrapped and ready. My children are older now, but have always been remarkably incurious about presents before the day itself.

KatieKaye · 07/12/2014 09:09

In our house, Santa gives stockings. Which magically appear after midnight.

All other presents are from the givers, who are thanked accordingly. They go under the tree as and when they arrive - but then the tree only goes up the weekend before Christmas so until then they are stored elsewhere

Seeing the presents under the tree is all part of the build up to Christmas Day.

LeBearPolar · 07/12/2014 09:13

Seeing the presents under the tree is all part of the build up to Christmas Day.

Absolutely! As a child I used to love that part of the build-up - looking at the labels, trying to work out what might be in them! Less magical, somehow, if you don't get that because they've appeared overnight and then been opened straight away.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 07/12/2014 09:13

No presents round the tree here (it's on a coffee table in a corner of a small room, so no space during the run-up to Christmas. Also it's in full view of the street so we really can't put them there. Presents from SC and between ourselves arrive in stockings/on the hearth once DCs are asleep which is getting harder now they are older and stay up later. Presents from extended family are kept in another room till later in the day otherwise we'd be totally out of space in the living room (it's tiny).

Wrapping takes place while DCs are at school, it all used to be stashed in the loft and garden shed but we now have a lift up divan bed and it's all under there.

Pelicangiraffe · 07/12/2014 09:16

We put the gifts under the tree throughout December as they look nice. Santa fills a stocking Xmas eve. No way is he taking credit for everyone else's hard work.

Original poster
Blankiefan · 07/12/2014 09:46

For those that put pressies out as they arrive:

  • does this include yours to dc?
  • what about big ones ( bikes, etc) that'd be obvious?
  • if / when you had little dc, was it a mare to stop them being all over everything in the run up
OP posts:
ThinkIveBeenHacked · 07/12/2014 09:49

We put gifts for other people under our tree on the 20th - the day after dds birthday (she doesnt touch them but her little friends that come for cake might!). Presents for dd stay in our room til Christmas Eve and come out after she has gone to bed. Santa fill the stocking and herother gifts are from us.

We see all my family christmas day and dhs family boxing day so she doesnt have many gifts under the tree from others, just a couple off my friends.

blibblibs · 07/12/2014 09:59

We put presents out as they arrive, but not before the end of school term. So once school has broken up for the holidays, presents go under the tree, this is due in part to the fact that my DM arrives then with lots of the family presents and she's in the house most of the time with the DC so no chance of them having a sneaky peak like I used to as a child Grin

Last year DC got bikes from GP and we hid them in the conservatory, so not under the tree but not in with the FC haul. And they got them after they'd open all the other family gifts - we do it in stages, FC presents first, before breakfast then tree presents later in the morning.

DM deals with the touching and feeling of presents but its not too bad and its part of the run up to christmas - although I have been known to put extra tape on some of the family gifts Smile

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 07/12/2014 10:00

I think it's the other way round, far more magical when they appear overnight (well, in stages over Christmas Day), rather than having been sat there for a week or two so people can poke / prod / try and guess what's in them.

My DCs have always been remarkably uncurious about presents (they're 10 and 8). We stash big stuff in the loft, and have always used the garden shed, but they go in and out of the garden shed and have never taken any notice of all the extra brown boxes that appear in the autumn. I also quite often buy stuff and leave it in boxes / bags around the house till it's time to put it away. Same for presents from relatives, they aren't round the tree because of lack of space / visibility from the street, but they are in the other room, DCs see them there, but don't tend to interfere with them.

afreshstartplease · 07/12/2014 10:02

No presents under the tree before after dc are in bed on Xmas eve

Once they are all safely asleep presents come out

youarekiddingme · 07/12/2014 10:02

Santa does the stockings here too. He does them just before I go to bed Wink not very easy in this house when there's a child with a sleep disorder!

Tree presents are from me. They go under the tree Christmas Eve when DS is in bed as I love the look on his face when he sees them in the morning!

Presents from mum and dad and my aunties etc are all under my mums tree as we all gather there in the afternoon for Christmas dinner. (Me and my siblings and DCs, partners etc) everyone does their own thing around that and does Christmas their own way with ILs

Letthemtalk · 07/12/2014 10:09

The only presents we have under the tree are presents for other people which haven't been delivered yet. All other presents appear under the tree/ piles in living room just before dp and I go to bed.

BeyondRepair · 07/12/2014 10:54

I also think a few gifts under tree adds to excitement so will put a few from us out early but we have a toddler this year so will see how it goes....but they will be from us, not FC.

BeyondRepair · 07/12/2014 10:56

I think it's the other way round, far more magical when they appear overnight (well, in stages over Christmas Day), rather than having been sat there for a week or two so people can poke / prod / try and guess what's in them.

I think its the middle ground, nothing like a few gifts to look at and prod, but coming down on xmas morn to a huge yeild.....

AntiDistinctlyMinty · 07/12/2014 11:07

FC does the socking here too. They appear in the night (usually just before I go bed - DH has clompy feet).

Any presents the DC's get given themselves from friends etc go straight under tree, but the main family ones go under when I get in from Midnight Mass. We can't really do it before then as DH likes to wrap them all while I'm at chuch.

We've actually put the tree in the playpen this year to stop 15m DS2 eating tinsel/baubles so I think the presents will be safe this year Xmas Smile

AntiDistinctlyMinty · 07/12/2014 11:07

*socking = stockings. He doesn't sock anyone as far as I know...

Honeydragon · 07/12/2014 11:15

Santa puts the presents under the tree a battered broken being in the small hours of the morning once Santa is sure all the children are definitely asleep.

Santa has good company every year on the Christmas Eve Mnet, My Fucking Kids Are Still Awake WTF?! Thread that inevitably pops up about 9pm every year and goes on for hours

DaisyFlowerChain · 07/12/2014 11:23

Presents from relatives go under the tree as we get them as I always wanted DS to know they were from x and not Santa. I like a tree with presents underneath it as it looks less bare.

We put the presents out from us late Christmas Eve, when DS was younger we'd wrap the doorway in christmas paper so if he did wake up he couldn't peek Grin

Taffeta · 07/12/2014 11:28

All presents under tree as they are wrapped, as we don't pretend they are from Santa.

Stockings and one Santa gift put out usually around 11pm - midnight.

BedPig2013 · 07/12/2014 12:21

Santa does dd's stocking only, she's 22 mo though so has no idea, her stocking fillers are already in there and I'll put the stocking by my bed when I'm going up for her to find in the morning. Christmas tree presents are from me or other family, I won't put them under the tree until she's asleep this year because they would get fiddled with and probably opened!

AngelCauliflower · 07/12/2014 12:53

my ds likes to see all the presents under the tree. They all go under as they arrive/are wrapped. I tend to add presents from me a couple of days before christmas. Ds gets really excited seeing all the presents but not overly curious. He doesn't touch them too much.

When ds has got big presents, for example a bike, that has been from Santa.

Katieweasel · 07/12/2014 19:12

Only one present under our tree before Christmas Eve. It goes under as soon as the tree is up. DS can touch and shake it as much as he likes. He gets to ask one question every day and then can guess what it is. He can't open it until he gets it right. Last year it was January 6th. The tree was well gone by then. It was a snowball thrower by the way.