Saving a present until the afternoon

[Mallowmarshmallow]

We have decided not to mix with grandparents/my sibling and family this year so it'll be the first year just the four of us.

I was thinking of 'accidentally' leaving a present hidden away somewhere and bringing it out in the afternoon..... does anyone else do this?

Otherwise, I can imagine we're going to have a very early start then all the presents will be unwrapped by 8.00!!

Ours have never opened any presents, apart from stockings, until the afternoon.

Ours are the same as this. We no longer have church but cook the lunch and have a walk if time. Clear up and then sit down for presents.
(MIL thinks I'm nuts but has got used it over the years)

We can't do after lunch as I share the day with their DF so it would be a rush to try and open tree gifts before he arrived to pick them up, but we do save tree gifts until after we've showered and changed and popped into see my DM with pushes it to around midday. We then sit in a circle and open them one by one which takes an hour. That's my favourite part! We try and prolong santa gifts too by opening stocking gifts first thing in the morning together in my bedroom before heading downstairs to open anything else he's left for them.

Hoho yes we've always done similar ... the presents are unwrapped individually after lunch with everyone watching and commenting , and keeping a list for the thank you letters. It's almost a bit much now as my DF has mild dementia and opening a present and talking about who it's from can take about 30 minutes.... .

Ours are always opened in the morning. Stockings in our bed and then downstairs for breakfast. Tree presents are opened after that’s been cleared up and the kitchen is tidy again! It’s a good incentive to get all the dc helping
We do then usually have family round for the rest of the day. This year we have some friends joining us in the evening of Christmas which will be lovely. Different but I’m going to enjoy it anyway.
On Boxing Day we usually go to the inlaws for another big day. We get there for midday, eat, coffees etc and then go and do presents at about 4pm.
Each day is enjoyable, I will stick with opening everything in the morning.

[quote Furries]@Onedropbeat - why? That sounds like a lovely family Christmas Day.[/quote]
It does sound lovely

I’d love it

It’s very similar to a regal Christmas which is why I love it even more I think

We always spread out throughout the day, DDs would have been overwhelmed otherwise.

Stockings around 7/7:30

Then some presents 9ish or so

Then DDs watch a new DVD that fortuitously arrived in the first set of presents.

GPs arrive 11is usually (not this year), so settle them in, and some more presents.

Lunch, washing up, Queens speech, walk

Then relax with TV, and any remaining presents either before/after a light meal.

I couldn't be doing with a mass opening then nothing after 8am.

We spread it out throughout the day but dc’s are teens so it’s easier. We do stockings when we wake up, then we have breakfast, mess around with stocking presents and then we open gifts from me under the tree, then later in the day we open gifts from family/friends, it’s possible my dad will pop in during the afternoon with more presents for the dc.

My dc then go to there dads for Boxing Day so they get gifts from him. I like the fact Christmas last for 2 days for them. Usually the day after Boxing Day we would go shopping to spend Christmas money if there’s anything they want to go with items they have received (games for games console etc..) but this year we will probably skip the shopping trip due to covid.

I think saving a present for the afternoon is a great idea, or spread the present opening over the whole day.

I would love to spread it out over the day! Unfortunately DP is a massive child and likes seeing the kids getting ripped into a massive pile of presents early.

It's over too fast!!!

We open them all in the morning but I can see why it would be nice to open one in the afternoon. As a small child there’s no way I’d want to sit looking at the presents all day without opening them though. Perhaps that’s better for teens and adults.

As a small child there’s no way I’d want to sit looking at the presents all day without opening them though
Yes no way, that would be torture for me, never mind a child . I love that excited frenzy of present opening in the morning. We do keep 1 back for later though.

We have always done stockings in the morning, but not breakneck ‘rip and move on’ speed, plenty to entertain from the stocking through the morning, then lunch, Queen’s Speech and then presents from under the tree. We also have a family rule that unless everyone is in the room then nothing can be opened ( not tonnes of family, usually just us and Grandad) but it means I don’t miss everything whilst cooking lunch etc.

We have a mysterious extra gift (in Father Christmas wrapping paper) that appears under the tree during Christmas lunch (or sometimes on boxing day if the presents haven't all been opened by lunch time). It is generally a board game to play together.

We do stockings, then breakfast and dressed, then presents leisurely over a couple of hours. They often have something they want to try out immediately, so we break for stuff like that.

DDs are often still asleep at 8am!

We do a small 'tree present' in the late afternoon - DS is 13 now but still gets excited about it! It's traditionally a puzzle or something that will keep him quiet while we watch Doctor Who!

Another one who does stockings first thing. When the children were young I'd take them to church in the morning (a good walk there and back) and dh would have an early lunch ready when we got back. Now they're older it tends to be a lazy morning getting dressed, chatting sitting around socialising, dh still does the early lunch
Presents after lunch. Quite ceremoniously handed out and everyone watching everyone opening. Again when the children were little we would often out some of the gifts back for Boxing Day.

We'll have DFC presents at 8ish when we all wake, then family gifts round the tree after lunch. I'm saving DDs stocking for the later too (DFC brings the big pile/sack of presents and DD knows I do the stocking as she requested one from me ). Stocking will appear when things fall a bit flat or get too manic (we'll be three days in our new house on Christmas day, so all a bit of an unknown quantity!).

We do shies by the bedroom door and coins from st nick on the eve of st nicholas day, a christmas eve box, christmas day we have small stockings in bedroom with fruit and small presents, main ones by the fireplace. This year we are adding a small stocking on the epiphany too, so we have a start day and end day to the christmas season.

We've always done a table present (small).

Otherwise I think my DC would explode waiting. All ours are open by 6.30am. Suits me, there isn't enough time to get everything done on Xmas day!

Dress, dog walk, start cooking, parents arrive, canapés, lunch, quick second dog walk before it goes dark, fall asleep with exhaustion on the sofa.

If I had to drag out the presents I'd go mad with another step in the day!

But it is a lovely idea and if it works for you then start a tradition.

It's a good idea. We always stagger it throughout the day rather than one mad rush.

I always keep a few presents back, normally games for afternoon entertainment. This year it’ll be a scalextric. As a child we used to see grandparents on Boxing Day and always got another stocking with presents from them, it was my favourite day and I’m tempted to do it this year. I just like prolonging the excitement rather than it all being over in 30 minutes!

We do stockings when they wake up, then breakfast and getting dressed and then presents. All of you saying you need to save something for the afternoon, don't your children play with the new gifts in the afternoon? Our children absolutely love spreading out across the living room, building lego, playing board games. If we didn't do the presents until after lunch they wouldn't have time to do the things they wanted.
From presents being open until lunch they lounge around doing things like lego whilst I cook, then after lunch maybe a short movie and a walk and then it's back for more playing and board games.

We tend to open everything in the morning apart from any from family that we see later on. But as that isn’t happening this year I am going to do “tree presents” for later on.

I’ve never done tree presents before, for those that do - do they magically appear in the afternoon or are they there all along?

Stocking gifts in the morning. Tree gifts after the Queen.

We split it up - stockings before breakfast, main presents after lunch. Breaks it up nicely.