Where do you hide the presents?

[winterhappiness]

Just wondering where you all hide Santa's presents before the big day? And how do you transport them to under the tree (or wherever it is you put them), and at what time do you do this? What time do you all get up and open presents?

The attic.
Dh takes kids out on Xmas eve and I bring them down and hide them somewhere more accessible.
Bigger items have stayed at a neighbours before.

On top of the top shelf of our walk in wardrobe, we cover them with a sheet or blanket but the kids don’t go in there anyway and if they did, they couldn’t reach

When kids were little, in the loft or gatage or occasionally boot of my car - but you've got to remember that they are there before you open boot in front of dc

Loft then on Christmas Eve the car or shed for a few hours. it used to be the utility room cupboard but ds1 has twigged to that one. He can't undo the loft hatch yet so we are safe again for a year or two.

Santa doesn't actually bring anything other than stocking tat anyhow so there's no awful mystery to be found out.

Around the house in Amazon boxes. We get cleaning stuff on subscribe and save so I tell the dcs it's cleaning stuff and they don't even notice them anymore

In a suitcase in the loft, always regret it when I have to go up and get them out again late Christmas Eve!

Attic and on top of wardrobe (smaller things)
Some in my boot for last minute things

In the suitcases on top of our wardrobe

The Attic and sometimes I would get them out during Christmas Eve and hide them in my room or other times we just get them down once they go to bed.

We do stockings which go on the bottom of the bed (including DH and I). We open them in bed and then once we are awake we start opening presents - in our pjs usually so we can use our new clothes, make up, smellies etc.

This is a question I have often asked myself on Christmas Eve...

I usually leave them in the boot of the car camouflaged by old blankets though also in closets (inside coats) and places like the cupboard over the fridge.

My MO for Santa Clausing when the DCs were young was to pack them off to bed and get started when I figured they were sleeping. This meant I was starting very late as they were determined to see Santa and really good at avoiding sleep. Now that they have all pretty much grown up they hit the bed with much less fuss. I still only get down to business about midnight or later however.

I normally wrack my brains trying to remember where all the stuff is even now, as I end to buy throughout the year. I once found a lovely Snow White porcelain doll under the basement couch in July.

When they were little I made sure never to leave anything upstairs of course, and also not to make too much noise with plastic bags. Nowadays nobody minds.

I never wrap anything, never have, but it still takes time, and one of the most time consuming parts of the job I find is picking off sticky price tags from things. Each person's stash goes under the tree in its own little pile. I have little 4 inch stockings, each with a DC's name embroidered onto it, that hang on the tree until Christmas Eve, and these I fill with chocolate coins and Santa figures from Aldi (yummy German choc). Before we had a fireplace I used to place each little stocking with the pile for whoever owned the stocking. Now we have a mantel and I do my best to stick the filled stockings to it at about 1-2 am.

In the past I would often be woken by scuffling sounds and 'ooooooh' and 'aaaaah' and loud 'sssshhhhhh' noises, it seemed to me about an hour after getting to bed. I once woke up at 8 to find three little DCs fast asleep on the cold, hard wood floor under the tree. These days, we all wake between 8 and 9.

I have sometimes hidden things (bought well in advance) so well, I either couldn't find them later, or forgot I had them at all.

A couple of really big presents once went to a very nice neighbour's house and dds were sent there on Christmas morning to see if there were any 'surprises'.

In early Feb last year I came across a stash of small boxes of chocs bought as little extras for relatives and evidently forgotten/duplicated. Since we'd long finished all the Christmas chocs it was like a mini lottery win - wonder if I can manage that again this year?

Thank you all for your replies

My parents once left the presents in the boot of the car, which was parked in town overnight (after the pub). My dad had to walk in to town and drive the car home after having a few !! He said it was the only way to get the presents back in time!

They never left the presents in the car again , and I don't intend to either

Locked suitcase. It's just in the corner of the bedroom so easy to access to add things or get them out for wrapping once DS is asleep. Santa only does the stockings and maybe one thing so other stuff can go under the tree once wrapped, although it might stay in the case to add to the suspense.

Small bits are in the top of my wardrobe on the shelf and larger things on top of our wardrobe under a Gro Blind! We replace the presents with empty boxes when there's no birthday / Christmas presents under it.

Once the kids are in bed asleep we bring it all down. They're sternly told that Santa just won't come if they're awake so they do go to sleep!

We put them in various cupboards. Our children have never been the kind of kids to hunt them out.

To make it easier wrap each child's gifts in different coloured paper.

Use the suitcases and the Christmas tree box

I have a large cardboard box in the wardrobe all year so not 'new'

Also my kids have been known to check my purse for receipts and the Amazon account t for items - these kids are Savvy!

The Attic. I used to have a messy attic so another bin bag or box here or there blended in. But I cleared it out and organized everything with neatly labeled huge ikea boxes. Not even DH has realized that several of the more boringly labeled boxes are empty and used only for stashing Christmas gifts. It’s also very easy to stash a couple of bin bags behind the boxes where it’s dark.

On Christmas Eve afternoon he takes the dc off for an hour so I can pull everything out and hide it in the boot of my car. But before that I get the dc to help me bring in the groceries so they see the empty boot and know there’s nothing there. And in the evening I send them up to the attic to get something for the Christmas table so they know there’s nothing up there either.

I also have a number of little spots around the house for stashing something until I have time to put it away properly.

Everything is wrapped and assembled before Christmas Eve though because by the time the dc finally go to sleep I’m too shattered to do anything but fling stuff under the tree.

In suitcases under the bed.
With a lock on them.

In the Hostess Trolley (inherited from DM) - they would never think to look in there. And in the dog's cupboard!

Drawers in the base of my bed, I have 2 drawers on each side but one side is pressed up against the wall so I pull it out, hide the secret things and then push it back again!

Our tumble dryer broke and it took us about 2 years to fix it. It proved the most excellent place to hide presents!

Now, we hide them in various places upstairs and the get moved down into the utility room in the week leading up to Christmas and we lock the door, telling the children theres a leak so they mustn't go in until we have it fixed. I wonder when they will catch on that there's always a leak at Christmas?

I leave them all at my mums who lives about 5 mins away. I get all my online orders delivered there and spend an evening there close to Xmas wrapping everything. On Xmas eve, once the children are in bed I retrieve all the presents and bring them home.

In my wardrobe.
I usually go through things in mid Dec to work out what I have for which DC and try to make them fairly even.
Last year DD had a Beauty Gift left on her bed each night (instead of an Advent Calender) so I needed to find , hide and wrap 24 things before December

When she was little we got her the Sylvanian Family Regency Hotel (50% off in Argos sale) , I left the box wrapped in the Argos wrapper in our bedroom and told her it was a computer for DH. She never twigged

In the attic. I perpetually have a line of toys up there as I buy stuff on clearance for Christmas and birthdays. (If it's a really good bargain I'll buy it 5+ years in advance of it ever even being needed.) DS is getting very, very curious about the attic though, so this year, once the Christmas decorations are down, I'm going to reorganise everything up there. I have a huge box from my outdoor couch and I'm going to rebuild it behind the chimney stack and keep all the toys in there from now on.

During Christmas week I go into the attic at night and organise all DS's gifts. I keep a list of exactly what he is getting, so I go through it and check it all off. I make sure all pieces are together, group complementary toys, open annoying boxes, put on any (stupid) stickers, etc. And I bag/box up everything in the decoration containers by the attic entrance. I have followed the mumsnet tip of having two identical Christmas stockings. So one is left for DS to hang on Christmas eve and the other gets filled on the 22nd. (This is wonderful because I really, really enjoy taking my time over his stocking, which is v.big. Working out what order he should find things in, etc. But it's too stressful on the 24th, on the 22nd it's a dream. I have nothing else to do and can easily take an hour or so making it perfect.)

On Christmas eve once DS is asleep, I open the attic. Pull down the bags/boxes of toys. Swap his empty stocking for the full one, throw in a couple of clementines. Arrange his toys, eat cookie and milk. Fling bags/boxes/empty stocking back in attic and go to bed.

Spare room wardrobe in a bin bag with coats and stuff on top. The door of the spare room is also very hard to open and creaks SUUUUPER loudly so we would know if anyone went in!