To wrap or not to wrap?

[Limpshade]

If you are required to, ahem, assist Father Christmas with his stocking fillers*, do you wrap them up or leave them unwrapped?

I grew up in a wrapped household but it seems like a bit of a waste of paper to me, especially since my suspected-ASD 3yo does not appreciate surprises (although my 1yo loves tearing it off!)

So, to wrap or not to wrap?

*not a euphemism

Nothing was wrapped in our house. I have dithered over wrapping for my own kids. I've never really committed to either. But the amount of time I spend, and the amount of wrapping being binned, makes me think I won't wrap going forward. It certainly didn't dampen my FC experience and it makes sense in this current climate not to be wasteful.

It doesn't really matter about what other people find enjoyable and what makes their Christmas. If your dd has asd you do what will make her enjoy the day rather than expect her to conform to society.

I'm sure you'll all have a more enjoyable day that way.

I wrap by scrunching tissue paper round the items. Fully recyclable. But we generally only have about 10 items as stocking is small.

I've got loads of Christmas paper left from last year so I'm using that up for most presents. Father Christmas however is going eco friendly this year. I do love all the shiny paper and pretty colours so it seems dull not to have them. I do think though that shiny will become passed over the next decade and we'll see more brown paper packages tied up with string. Or ribbon of course. I love the wax seals and festive stamps and ribbon can be reused. Wrapping presents is one of my favourite Christmas activities. I prefer them wrapped to unwrapped. I don't personally like unwrapping presents for me. Makes me very stressed. I'm weird apparently and was the same as a child. I like to open them in private. On the spectrum.

But back to stockings and assuming we are talking about actual stockings and not pillowcases or sacks filled with big presents, then unwrapped. Stockings tend to have sweets, chocolate coins, apple or satsuma, and a soft toy sticking out of the top with a candy cane hung over the edge.

@dontdoubtyourself you're totally right and of course it's not exactly the biggest issue of the day!

I didn't want to do DD1 and DD2's stockings differently as I thought that might bring up some awkward questions in the future And I'm loath not to wrap as I always enjoyed having wrapped presents and don't want to deprive DD1 of the joy! But it sounds as though people who didn't have theirs wrapped didn't miss it! And then there's the environment...

I think I have decided NOT to wrap. I'm sure you will all sleep soundly now

Santa always wraps his stocking presents but always leaves a little soft toy poking at the top that’s unwrapped so when the DD’s wake up they can see ‘he’s been’! Selfishly wrapped presents also give me time to wake up and a coffee before the day properly begins!

No wrapping here, I love to see their faces when they burst through the door and see everything

Doing them differently wouldn't necessarily be confusing? If Santa is capable of knowing what each child would like, he is easily capable of knowing which children like their stocking gifts wrapped and which unwrapped?

Nothing wrapped in the stocking

We wrap it all, ever last item. Its so much fun trying to guess what’s inside.

I don’t wrap stocking presents, my dad’s get fed up of unwrapping and stockings in our house are mainly very small items that are hard to wrap.

Wrapped apart from things like chocolate / satsumas.

Doing them differently wouldn't necessarily be confusing? If Santa is capable of knowing what each child would like, he is easily capable of knowing which children like their stocking gifts wrapped and which unwrapped?

I agree with this.

Unwrapped in stocking. This year I'm boycotting plastic tat and shovelling them full of sugar and making them into a giant bag of treats (some rice cakes, kiddilicious and Organix thrown in for good measure).

Always wrapped, but hastily - no fancy ribbon or bows - and (for children who still believe) definitely different paper from family presents. I always bought the cheapest - they tear it all off so fast, no point going to a lot of trouble.

Thanks all - pleasantly surprised by the variety here!

I wrap
3 kids each has different colored paper so I quick know which goes where and if they find the stash they won’t know who’s is who’s