Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Christmas

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

Christmas wrapping and what does FC deliver?

71 replies

Smellybears · 07/10/2018 07:53

Just wondering what everyone does? I know families that FC leaves presents already unwrapped/FC only delivers one present and rest are from family and friends/FC delivered all the presents when I was little/FC only delivers a stocking/mother Christmas delivers a stocking/FC delivers presents wrapped in different paper.
So many different traditions regarding who delivers presents and also if presents are wrapped or not. I’d be interested in what happens in everyone else’s houses Grin 🎅🏻🤶🏻

OP posts:
Noboozeforme · 07/10/2018 11:37

Everything (from me) goes into the stocking (black sack sized) bar one main gift which goes under the tree with other people's gifts.
FC delivers them over night.

All wrapped.

My kids are 16 and 27 Grin

bananasandwicheseveryday · 07/10/2018 11:57

Stockings were from FC and included small, fun things for DCs to open as soon as they woke up. Under the tree gifts were also from FC - again, all the fun things though when our dcs were that age, we were on a very tight budget, so even their 'big'FC gift was never more than about £15. FC chose a different paper for each dc and all FC gifts were wrapped in that, including stocking gifts. Separately, each dc had gifts from Dh and I, usually consisting of things they needed rather than wanted, so new pjs, slippers etc. And usually a small fun item, maybe a book or board game.
Family gifts were given by family and
opened at that time with appropriate thanks expressed when the gift was opened.
Personally, I was more than happy for my DCs to believe that the best presents came from FC. It's only a few years and it didn't stop them appreciating them. They did not grow into ungrateful, entitled adults and they always said thank you for gifts. It is clear to me that our DCs loved the way we did FC and gifts as they have both said they will do the same with their own dcs because they want them to have the same magical experience that they had.

NoWordForFluffy · 07/10/2018 13:14

Stockings and the main gift are from Santa (he magics the stockings into their rooms as DD really wasn't keen on the idea of him in her room; I adapted the story as I was telling her as I could see the look on her face!). We / family get the rest.

We don't do the 'only if you're good' thing as sometimes kids misbehave and that's normal. I don't want them then worrying they'll be without presents. I do say it's only if you're asleep, however, to encourage that activity! Xmas Grin

UndertheCedartree · 07/10/2018 18:35

In our house Father Christmas fills the stocking and the presents under the tree are from us/other relatives. The stocking is filled with choc coins, socks, tangerine and a candy cane hangs on the outside. There are also 3 or 4 small gifts. They have never written to FC to ask for things - he just brings them some little suprises 🎅

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 07/10/2018 19:10

Stockings only from FC here and none of it is wrapped (based on my own childhood).

elQuintoConyo · 07/10/2018 19:18

Glorified postman here. And he leaves one present in the stocking, one under the tree. Could be anything, usually from Tiger Grin

So far the 7yo hasn't been into faddy things - ie 'this Christmas's must-have' toy lke Hatchimal. Lego, Playmobil, Broder trucks, electric trainset, science kit, microscope etc are all he asks for.

Gifts from friends/family are labelled by them so he knows who they are from and can thank them.

The 3 Kings bring ine toy and some sweets on the night of 5th January. DS goes to the parade with one of us, the other stays home and can get the present out. DS leaves breadcrumbs in a special shoe for the camels Grin

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 07/10/2018 20:06

When I was smal FC only brought little things in the stockings (but quite a few of them!) so we couldn't ask for/expect anything big or too expensive.
Did the same with dds - all other presents came from family. Didn't spoil the magic at all for any of us/them. Dd is doing the same with hers. Especially if money is tight I think it's sensible when they still believe - stops them asking for too much or things parents can't afford.

I always bought different, cheaper paper for the FC presents. Wrapped everything except the satsuma, though not as perfectly as the other presents! Was often last-minute wrapping at midnight on Chr. Eve.

elQuintoConyo · 07/10/2018 20:19

Nothing else to add but GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER i bloody love your name - and that fact it's capitalised, sounds exasperating Grin

LeMesmer · 07/10/2018 21:38

When DS was younger Father Christmas brought everything and everything was wrapped ( although he sometimes used a roll of red disposable paper table cloth due to the extortionate cost of wrapping paper in our country). Now DS is older everything is still wrapped, even the orange and the stick 😊. I hate wrapping everything, it really is the most boring thing to do, but it just isn’t the same on Christmas morning if you can’t tear into the wrapping paper.

MrsJonesAndMe · 07/10/2018 22:01

One big present from FC - based on the letter they wrote. Everything else from the people who gave them, so children can write thank you notes.

rosablue · 07/10/2018 23:25

Santa brings a stocking for everybody (mummy and daddy included, and any guests staying - albeit the grown up ones are much smaller and usually just have the satsuma, chocolate coins, choc brussels sprouts (ongoing family joke around these!), bar of luxury choc and a couple of poundland or ebay bargain gadgety bits).

Used to have santa wrapping paper that was different for both dc but now just have one santa paper (which I have to remember to hide well away both before and after christmas!) and for the stocking presents, a couple of years ago I bought a stash of cheap stripey/dotty green/red sweety bags in a couple of sizes to wrap the presents in instead. It's great - no faffing around with sellotape, you can just twist and scrunch the presents into the bags and they stay wrapped, dc haven't noticed and still need to tear off the paper as if wrapped normally. Takes significantly less time to wrap everything and hopefully it means that the paper recycles better due to the lack of sellotape. Occasionally there is a slightly bigger parcel that doesn't fit into a single bag but so far I have been able to wrap it suitably using two bags - although I might use a dab of sellotape on these to keep them together.

these are the sort of bags I've used (although it's worth doing a hunt on ebay and amazon if you do want to use them - prices seem to vary a lot depending on how many you want to buy at a time and colours etc - chances are you'll get a cheaper set than these with a little look but these are still reasonable and have plenty of colours)

he also brings a single present downstairs under the tree for each dc that's in his own paper - not the dc's main present but a reasonably nice one (one year they got a lego baseplate each and a big box of sharing lego, one year we got them a games console and they got a game each but a single controller to share (the games console came with one, wanted them to have one each, thought it easier that neither had claim to a particular controller!), and so on.

trancepants · 08/10/2018 00:11

Santa brings everything. DS is only allowed to ask for 1 or 2 items which Santa will definitely bring. He also fills a stocking and some bigger surprises. Santa is also a big environmentalist (as he does live on a pole) so he's really happy when a child is happy to receive pre-loved toys and those kids tend to get a bit more as Santa would rather give it to a child who loves it than waste it.

He doesn't wrap. Toys are unboxed (if new) and ready to play with. Usually Santa has a bit of a play with the toys himself and leaves things in a way designed to make DS laugh. Like when he set all his Star Wars toys up on a snowmat like a mini Battle of Hoth or when Starfire brought her pizza shooter around to share with the Ninja Turtles. I know that those little personal jokes from Santa are the most memorable moments of my childhood Christmas mornings and I felt so special that Santa had taken that little extra time to make me laugh.

PurpleMac · 08/10/2018 08:51

In our house FC brings one main present and stocking per child. This year he is bringing DSS(9) a Harry Potter Lego set and DS(2) a Woody figure with pullstring. They (and stocking fillers) will be wrapped in a special wrapping paper but haven't decided which one yet!

osa20 · 08/10/2018 09:02

Father Christmas brings most stuff, the big presents and lots of little presents. We will usually only give 1 or 2 and then other family members might drop off little ones. Although I understand the need for them to have a 'real person' to thank, this was how it was always done for me, and once I grew up and realised that it was my parents, I got a massive surge of gratitude for all of their effort over so many years thenBlush it's lovely for them to have the magical excitement for what Santa will bring and I think the memories and happiness of it stick forever Smile

BevBrook · 08/10/2018 09:07

Santa brings stocking presents and doesn’t wrap them.
All other presents under the tree as soon as they are wrapped. One present from each person to each person.

osa20 · 08/10/2018 09:09

We also wrap everything that we can - part of the magic to be able to rip open all the paper!

thaegumathteth · 08/10/2018 09:12

Presents from friends etc go under tree as received .

Santa brings one main present from list and stocking.

All other presents are from us.

Everything is wrapped but Santa uses different wrapping paper that’s cheap and tacky.

JurassicGirl · 08/10/2018 09:25

Father Christmas wraps his presents in shiny red paper with names written in gold. He fills the stockings & leaves 1 present under the tree.

The rest of the tree presents are from me & DH. They are wrapped in certain colours for each DC.

Any other presents from family are given in person later in the day.

Presents from friends are given on Boxing Day.

Rebecca36 · 08/10/2018 09:30

Never did the FC stuff, didn't see the point.

bellinisurge · 08/10/2018 09:30

Although Santa will be bringing some stuff this year, it is with a knowing wink because dd now "knows".
Anyway, a tip for anyone who puts Santa presents in a stocking or bag in their child's bedroom: buy two stockings/bags per child. One is laid out with great ceremony by the child and is hopefully in an accessible place in the room. The other is secreted about your room and contains the actual gifts. On the night, do a swift swap between the loaded one in your possession and the Santa one that is put out by the child.
Shhhh!

starfish8 · 09/10/2018 14:49

Ahh this is just the thread I was looking for as I need to work out what our set up will be!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page