How to put the presents out without getting 'caught'?

[Housethief]

DS is 6, first year of being a single parent and have anxiety about getting the gifts from the loft, shed and car without him waking up and hearing..everything is wrapped in bin liners (from last years experience, they sound so loud taking everything out from them when the house is silent). He has so many gifts, it wouldn't be so bad if he had a few but he has loads (only stocking and big gift come from Santa, as per family tradition 🤔.. Regretting that now).

Whatever you do don’t think “I’ll just lie down for 10 minutes on my bed and get up again to fill the stockings”.

The feeling on awaking at 5.00am to realize I has slept the whole night and the stockings were empty was not a relaxing way to start Christmas Day.

Ended up sprinting around the house and leaping back into bed. 5 minutes later DS2 woke up. He is a teen now but was small and a believer back then. The panic!!!!!!

Santa never brings the main gift, how else do you explain some kids getting expensive/amazing presents from Santa and others just getting a few LOL dolls or Lego mini figures.

Kids young enough to believe in Santa are generally still quite self absorbed and won't put a huge amount of though it to what others get whether that be more or less. They also by the the time their efforts gone back to school will have forgotten who got them what and will just talk about the favourite things 'they got' for Xmas. Often not their main gift anyway.

We have had presents in a box on the landing for a week or so now. Not the santa ones, but the ones from grandparents. I just told DD it was some stuff that we hadn't got round to putting in the loft yet. But if she did see them it wouldn't be the end of the world as they're not the santa presents so wouldn't spoil "the magic".

Is your son a light sleeper? If not it is doubtful he will wake up. Could you put on some music or the TV a bit louder than normal to disguise the noise. And next year dont use bin bags

I move mine into my car boot when they are in the bath on Christmas Eve. I explain the noise by saying I’m making sure there’s no blockages in the chimney for Santa - they think the black bags are rubbish from the chimney and I’m taking them out to the bin.

Unrelated to this thread but amazing - if you google reindeer ready there’s a website where you take a photo of your living room and it’s turned into a video for free where a reindeer comes in and eats carrots. My partners kids will be so excited to see the video so thought I would share it with others.

@Redwinestillfine

I pre pack pillow cases as stockings then give them the matching pair to put empty at the bottom of the bed. I am moving presents from the loft this year before they go to bed and hiding them under blankets to save on creaking. Good luck everyone 🤞

Genius!

I don't understand- if only the stocking and one gift come from Father Christmas, why do you need to get the rest out in secret? He knows they are from you/family. Ours were always under the tree for days before Christmas.

Oh and with the stockings, ours hang them up downstairs by the fireplace, so no sneaking into bedrooms!

I started with stockings by the fireplace in the living room rather than in their bedrooms. So much easier especially as they are light sleepers.

Same with the tooth fairy - we had a fairy door on the landing and a magic box to put the tooth in.

Still need to get the gifts downstairs though...the rustling is a challenge!

Mine are older now (teens) but we still do stockings on the bed, it's the most exciting part of Christmas for us, but that's just small bits which are hidden in our bedroom until it's time to pop them in the stockings. Bigger stuff used to be moved to the (locked) shed in boxes / bags in the days leading up to Christmas Eve and then put out on the living room hearth late on Christmas.

Only the stocking gifts in the room at ours, then everything else under the tree. From experience, take them out of the noisy bags and do multiple trips.

Also get outside this afternoon running off energy, im planning on taking mine to some local woods as we cant do any of our usual Christmas eve stuff. Getting them shattered is the key.

@SenoraSurf my daughter is deaf too so she gets the big bedroom with the loft hatch in it, and I’ll be crashing around her room later on!

Everything is left by the fire including the stockings. It's all wrapped and put into hessian sacks which are the put inside huge laundry bags which we keep in the conservatory. It's then just a case of lifting the bags out and popping a few small parcels in the stockings.

I bought two identical stockings, fill one pre Christmas eve and swap it for the empty one very quickly. I think I saw it as a tip on here and it changed our lives.

Also, get them to leave the empty stocking on the door handle, then you can just push the door ajar and pop the stocking in. They won't see you then.

Don’t do it when drunk as my dad tried to do when I was 7/8 😂

@lazylinguist

I don't understand- if only the stocking and one gift come from Father Christmas, why do you need to get the rest out in secret? He knows they are from you/family. Ours were always under the tree for days before Christmas.

I was thinking the same thing. Surely all the other gifts can be left out in advance?

I learnt over the years to have 2 identical stockings, one on the bed and the other pre packed whilst at school/out. and then it's just a simple swap.

I agree that you could change your "tradition". We bring out everything that isn't from Santa on Christmas Eve, the children help us to lay everything out under the tree. Stocking are hung on the fireplace so the only sneaking we have to do is to fill them once the kids are asleep. We have also done stockings on the end of the bed when we've been away with no fireplace in the house, so it's fine to change what and where as long as you spin the story that way!

We don't have space to leave them out in advance, and even though they aren't from Santa it's pretty magical when they all appear overnight.

But the stockings will always go on the beds, we don't have duplicate ones, I sneak in and get them, fill them and put them back, it's all part of the fun.

Although now they are teens we all put the main presents out together on Christmas Eve, sorted into piles for each person, just before they go to bed, I still do the stockings later.

We told DD last year that some things (her stocking iirc) was father Christmas and the rest were from us, but in her excitement everything became from father Christmas. I'm not sure I'll bother making any distinction this year. She won't be asleep until late but once she is she's generally a heavy sleeper. I just have to stay up later than her to move things downstairs and not worry too much about the noise.

My ds is pretty good when he’s put to bed, even though he doesn’t go straight to sleep he’s never come downstairs after we’ve said goodnight to him. He might go to the bathroom but otherwise I’m safe to do what I need to. Although he’s 9, I’m sure his belief in Santa is waivering and to be honest, he’s the youngest one I have now and I’d rather he just knew because I’ve had years and years of a stressy knot in my tummy come 11pm/midnight/1am/2am as I start the secret duties and I think it’s nearly the time I should just be able to relax about it all

Put some Christmas music on or the TV in the background. Just so the house isn't completely silent, it should help

Father Christmas only brings the stockings here and they are left downstairs. The presents are all wrapped and hidden in a box ready in the conservatory so will only take a few minutes to stuff the stockings before we go to bed.

@youvegottenminuteslynn

My mum did a GENIUS move - a letter from Santa outside my bedroom door saying "I didn't want to wake (my name) as she looked so comfy sleeping so please can you put her presents under the tree and give her a hug from me in the morning" so if I woke up, I would see that and then if I 'caught' her there was an excuse!

Wow, that's brilliant!

I don’t trust my DD to have a good prod of the main presents are out already. And there is no disguising the rattle of lego!

Also, like a PP I love them coming down in the morning and the pile has appeared under the tree