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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

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Original poster

When do you open presents?

71 replies

BrianMolkoismyPlacebo · 25/10/2016 18:07

My kids get up and rush in to living room to check if santa's been.
Dh puts the fire on and we open presents.
They're all stacked randomly under the tree so we have to search for our own, which is fun as you have no idea what's your when you're looking at the pile.
Once presents are open dh plays with kids and I make breakfast.
At the end of the day, early evening we will open stockings.

I was watching peppa pig the other day and they didn't open presents until after dinner. How common is this? We don't eat until 3ish. Making dc wait until after seems cruel

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IfartInYourGeneralDirection · 25/10/2016 18:56

Stockings are opened as soon as the kids wake while me or Dp take the dogs for a quick wee then feed the cat.
Presents in big random pile soon after that.
Then I make breakfast while they play and Dp takes the dogs for a hard run- miles and miles so they are tired for the rest of the day

garlicandsapphire · 25/10/2016 18:58

Teens but still - stockings when they get up and parent presents in the morning then family giving out presents after lunch.

ImperialBlether · 25/10/2016 19:02

Mine get up at about 9 and come into my room and sit on my bed to open their presents. Then we go down and open the rest under the tree. After lunch they give me and each other their presents.

They're 27 and 24

Ceaser1981 · 25/10/2016 19:04

We are all big kids so everything gets opened as soon as we are all out of bed and settled down with a cup of coffee. Even the dog gets his stocking straight away (well he has been giving us paws for them since they went out as he smells the goodies!). Then we get dressed, put some of pressies away then its time for visiting family where we have more to open. I like the idea of keeping a good gift for after dinner.

Mustangsallyis · 25/10/2016 19:21

Midnight on Christmas Day with my husband, brother and parents although the last couple of years we've started about 10pm and finished at midnight. My son is only one, so suspect we'll undergo some changes as he gets old enough to understand what's going on!

NotCitrus · 25/10/2016 19:26

Stockings opened in the morning - kids rush down to the fireplace but then usually come up and want company, so I wrap up on the sofa with tea.
If they are looking a bit bored before lunch, then will point out another that's likely to keep them out of my way, but then it's the law that they must eat lunch and go for a walk before Yule Log, Xmas Pud and more presents.
If ILs have delivered presents then definitely won't open them all that day (typically 25 to 30 items each...)

BaggyCheeks · 25/10/2016 19:27

We see both sides of the family on Christmas Day so:
Stockings in bed
Presents once we get up
My family come over late morning/early afternoon so exchange ours then
Christmas dinner at the PILs with all DP's siblings/their young children, presents after dinner so around 4-5pm.

vvviola · 25/10/2016 19:29

Stockings downstairs as soon as everyone is awake. Then breakfast. Then after we are dressed, Santa presents and presents from immediate family. Then we Skype whichever part of the family we are not near (DH is from NZ, so we are always on the wrong side of the planet for one set of grandparents) and open their presents on Skype.

When we were in NZ we would drive 2 hours to MIL's sister, have lunch and then go back to MIL's for presents at about 3pm.

Now we either collect my DPs and do presents with them, or go down to their house and do presents there (with turkey soup) around 1pm via drinks at a family friend's house

Friends of ours growing up were only allowed open one present each hour, on the hour. It seemed a bit mean to me...

SauvignonPlonker · 25/10/2016 19:38

2 young kids here. Stockings in bed, main presents downstairs - usually straight after. Then we have a leisurely breakfast, play with toys & have soup around lunchtime, main course throughout afternoon & pudding usually in evening.

With the inlaws, they all lay in bed till after 9, walk the dog, have breakfast & open presents around midday. Awful for the DC, who are up early to see if Santa has been & very excited. I avoid their's, but am happy enough to have them here so the DC can have their presents in the morning.

LynetteScavo · 25/10/2016 19:44

After breakfast.

My mother used to tell me it was a class thing, & Royal children had to wait until after dinner.

HungryHorace · 25/10/2016 19:46

Two toddlers here and we haven't had stockings yet, but will this year. They'll have those first thing then open everything else once the inlaws have arrived for breakfast / present-opening. I'm not a fan of waiting til after dinner!

JulesJules · 25/10/2016 19:47

Stockings in the morning and main presents from under the tree after Christmas lunch and all the washing up has been done and we are sitting down with drinks and chocolates

Original poster

BrianMolkoismyPlacebo · 25/10/2016 19:52

love that does sound rubbish! I like the idea of stringing the presents out through the day but not witholding them for most of the day

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Original poster

BrianMolkoismyPlacebo · 25/10/2016 19:55

dalmation I am definately wrapping the lounge door

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CakeNinja · 26/10/2016 02:24

Stockings as they wake up, they drag them into our room, or call us to say santa has been, and we bring them through.
Then downstairs to open some presents. The presents from the maternal side are under there, they usually open some from us before family have arrived.
My family arrive at about 11, we open everything under the tree between them and dinner (5pm), there are a lot, we are usually 20 or so, which is a lot of presents to and from each other.
Quite a chilled out but fun affair, although its not one at a time, I find that excruciating!!!
Boxing Day is at MILs, and lunch is ready for about 1:30, we do presents afterwards (lunch again for about 20, dp and I are both from big families!), and I have to say, it's nice doing presents after food too.

NinjaLeprechaun · 26/10/2016 05:23

My mum's rule, and I continued it: Anything actually in your stocking can be opened as soon as you wake up, but you have to wait until it's getting light to wake up 'the grown-ups' in order to open the rest of them. Those get opened after the tea is made. None of us is a morning person.
Anything that is from somebody who'll be seen later in the day waits until they're there to see it opened.

Aebj · 26/10/2016 05:41

The boys hang their stockings in their rooms and bring them down no earlier 6 to open in bed .
Then we go into our main living space to open other presents. ( turn skype on so grandparents can watch the boys both open a pressie, we are 8 hours ahead by then!!)
We ️️then go to the beach for breakfast / swim / Walland then come home and veg in the pool

HairsprayBabe · 26/10/2016 09:35

Main presents first thing in the morning before church 7-9ish. We also have after dinner presents we call "tree" presents that are small or novelty things about 4pm.

Keeps the excitement around longer, and it's actually my favorite part of the day.

Last year on christmas day we were opening pressies for 4 hours!

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 26/10/2016 09:49

Stocking in the morning as soon as we get up and then tree presents after lunch. Santa only brings little bits and pieces for the stockings, plenty of things for DS to do. He is an avid reader so we have a box of books wrapped up and he can dip into that throughout the day. But the main presents from us and extended family are all after lunch. Mind you, we're not one of these families that has lunch at 4pm or whatever; we have it at normal time so we're not waiting all day for pressies!

We all love it our way - DS likes the fact that the excitement and anticipation is drawn out over the whole day (he gets a bedtime present too to make going to bed less painful). It also means that on Boxing Day, which can sometimes be a bit flat, his pressies haven't all really been explored yet.

torthecatlady · 26/10/2016 10:05

When I was a child, my brother and I would take amour stockings into parent's room and open them with them. We'd then go downstairs, light the fire and open a few presents. Then have a cooked breakfast, help wash up and open some more presents.

Then I helped mum to get lunch ready, while my brother would play backgammon with my dad.

After lunch and some washing up we'd open more presents and relax in the living room together.

There were usually some gifts left over for Boxing Day and we would get visitors and exchange gifts with them.

Now, dh and I have breakfast in bed (the only time of year), the. Go downstairs to open stockings and one gift.

Get lunch ready, eat, drink, tidy up. Own more gifts and relax!

Dss comes over on Boxing Day and we do it all again!

Shemozzle · 26/10/2016 10:07

If you open all presents as soon as you wake, isn't there a massive anti climax before noon?

We have stockings in our bed and then a big breakfast (used to be fry up as kids and now we have pancakes/bacon/eggs/blueberries and we like to draw that out as long as is possible before then opening tree presents. Think we might add in a wall around the lake in the park this year as we've just moved next door to it.

My brother takes his family to the gym after breakfast and they all choose and do sports challenges to determine who opens presents first!

TataEs · 26/10/2016 10:14

stockings in bed. (these, and one big gift, are the only gifts from santa in our house)
Presents between us (the majority of the gifts) as we eat breakfast. we try to take it slow, playing as we go along, taking turns.
then lunch.
presents from people who come to lunch and from those not present on the day after lunch.
so far (oldest is 4) it's taken all day!

Ginslinger · 26/10/2016 10:18

stockings in the morning and presents after lunch - usually about 4.00pm -

Kel1234 · 26/10/2016 11:10

We get up, make the coffees and teas and then the children open their stockings first, followed by the proper presents. The adults open theirs as and when, while the children open theirs.
That was when I lived at home. This will be my first Christmas just with my husband and our son in our own place. So presents will be when lo is ready. (On his 1st birthday he woke up, had his bottle then showed no interest for cards or presents til after his morning sleep. So Christmas presents may have to wait til after that. But we will see.
But certainly not after dinner.

Original poster

BrianMolkoismyPlacebo · 26/10/2016 13:03

Yes shemozle There are some great ways of doing things here. My eldest is only 7 so I'm going to change it and spread presents out throughout the day.

I lpve what your brother does! I might challenge everyone to a bike race outside.... ideally a snowball fight would be better, but I don't live in a fairytale

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