Do you put the 'big gift' together or wrap the box?

[SimplySusanna]

Dh and I are having a debate. Ds1 and ds2 have gaming chairs as their main gifts this year. They're in great huge boxes and need a bit of assembling. There's a nice picture on the outside of each box too.

We don't know whether to assemble them and wrap them 'done' or to wrap the boxes.

In the past, the main gift has been either a bike (always assembled with a big bow on!) or something like a TV or Xbox so just wrapped the box.

With the chairs, on the one hand it would be more 'wow' to see them done on Xmas morning and wrapped in a big, odd shape. On the other, the huge boxes would look pretty impressive wrapped anyway and then they would have the excitement of unpacking them, putting them together etc. Plus easier for us 😂

Total first world problem but would appreciate any points of view!

Is it really considered exciting to unpack and put together a chair? I must be really out of touch. Personally, I'd want to put them together myself and then wrap them.

I would have them ready with a nice bow on, then they can test them out straight away. x

Because I'm the person who assembles all of these things and I have enough to do Xmas morning/afternoon/evening already, I try to have everything assembled before hand. Otherwise you are trying to sort breakie/other gifts/dinner/guests (although none this year of course 🙄😭) etc etc whilst rummaging for screwdrivers and loosing screws amongst wrapping paper. Plus the gifts are ready to be used upon first sight. 👍

Assembled. Otherwise DC unwrap the box then have to sit and wait for ages while you build it. Best case scenario the excitement dissipates, worst case they’ll start crying.

@SimplySusanna I'd just consider how easy they will be to move from say a living room to a bedroom (if they are not staying in the same location as they are opened) my son has one and it is very heavy and would not have gone up the stairs in one piece. If easy to move or not needing moving then I'd make them up

We wrap it up

I always assemble big things if they're for a child apart from very occasionally tines when the gift would be too big when assembled to hide.
After assembling a GC's play kitchen on Christmas Eve last year, I'm so relieved we didn't leave it till the Day.
It should have stated on the box that an engineering degree was required.
All I had was a screwdriver and an increasingly grouchy attitude.

Assemble the chairs and hide them.

Then wrap the boxes.

They can have a note inside saying "assembled chair in xyz room."

• don't have to wrap awkwardly shaped item
• don't have to faff round assembling chairs on Christmas day

win/win

@August20

Genius !

I have the same problem. But for a birthday in January. For those that have done it how long do these things take to put together??

I would assemble them and leave them unwrapped. I would probably set all the other presents nicely on the chair itself

I wouldn't want to be spending much time on Christmas morning constructing anything so if it involves anything more than clicking two parts together I construct the night before.

After last year where two gifts had missing bits we will be assembling on Christmas eve (a dolls house and a pirate play set). Although our son is only 3 so less able to deal with the wait/disappointment!

If they will build them, leave them to do it. Good life skill and fun. If you will end up building them anyway, then maybe do it before and hide them in the garage with a blanket over. Then give a small envelope on Xmas day with a clue, have them run all over the house on a treasure hunt.

Op it depends on how much time you have and if you have a space to do it where you won’t be discovered. I can remember a very stressful Xmas eve where dd couldn’t go to sleep so I must’ve been making her present at 3am and I really found it stressful because there’s always a bit that doesn’t fit or you need to hammer in.

I would build them and wrap them otherwise someone has to spend time doing it Christmas Day with both children watching over them

We've got DS1 a chair and are planning to wrap the box. I don't think it will take long to put together and I can't imagine how we could wrap a chair - it would just have to be presented with a ribbon on or something.

August's idea surely only works if you have a gigantic house? I can't imagine any room that the children wouldn't have been in before opening presents on Christmas day. We'd have to hide them in the car boot.

I would assemble them and put a bow on each, save you the job of doing it on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

We put DSS’s together and then stacked his presents nicely on that. He had somewhere to sit in the wrapping paper mess then!