Why do people wait until Christmas Eve night to do the wrapping?

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So many people talk about having to get excited kids to sleep so they can do the wrapping.

Why leave it til then?

I don't leave it that late but I've found the paper gets damaged if I do it too early.

@rslsys

Cos I don’t buy most of mine until Christmas Eve . . .

Yip!

Our tradition is to put the tree up on the first weekend in December and put the wrapped presents under it straight away (adding any that haven't arrived yet as we go along!), so on the one hand I have incomprehension about wrapping on Christmas Eve and on the other hand, I am often found wrapping at 1am on 4th December...

Oh god. I mean not to do this and every year I am up doing it (though last year I did the stocking presents a few days early and that really helped). Used to love doing it in front of a midnight service with a glass of brandy and a mince pie - lovely.

Nowadays DD tries to “stay up to see Santa” and I’m frazzled. The worst year was the year we finished wrapping at 3am, and woke up with the beginnings of noro at 4…DD opened her stocking to the sound of vomiting in stereo 😫🤦‍♀️

I always wrap on Christmas eve. DC go to bed and I get a bottle of baileys out, and wrap the presents next to the fire with Christmas music playing.

A tradition and absolute bliss!

Did it once or twice on Christmas eve as life got in the way. It was awful. Took much longer than expected and ended up in bed at 2.30am and up at 6. Now the DC are older try and do it on a day off when they are at school and I'm at home.

Yes my mum used to do that when we were little as she didn't have hiding places... she realised when she was about 75 and I was 40 that she should change her habits what with all her dc's having moved out 20 yrs earlier & all that

Work full time, 3 kids, work right up until Christmas Eve. Seems to be the first real chance I get to wrap! I like doing it on Christmas Eve though, I sit watching Christmas films, drinking Baileys and eating mince pies. It’s fun!

Oh and also presents are easier to hide when unwrapped.

You put the wrapped presents in a bag for life or storage box so the wrapping doesn’t get ripped, not shoved directly in the cupboard. ::bangs festive gavel::

IMO older people can do this.Not that their presents are meaningless, just that sometimes less thought has to go in... it’s fine if aunty gives you socks/ subscription every year.

Fair point.

@hotmeatymilk

You put the wrapped presents in a bag for life or storage box so the wrapping doesn’t get ripped, not shoved directly in the cupboard. ::bangs festive gavel::

I don't have space to put them somewhere where they definitely won't end up getting bashed around!

Because the ribbons get crushed if put away wrapped. Plus, I buy little gifts all year and would forget what I've bought if they were wrapped.

It says in a book my parents have that:
"One hour can be defined as 1/10 the time it takes to wrap the Christmas presents."
and
"One year can be defined as the time it takes to forget that wrapping all the Christmas presents on Christmas Eve is a really mad idea."

Well, I don’t tend to buy the gifts until Xmas eve! Bit hard to wrap what you don’t have. Mind you I also revised for exams on the bus on the way to the exam, so… #teamadhd

@hotmeatymilk

We have to fit each present in any little space we can find. That would be a lot of separate bags for life!

I ask myself the same question every year. While I'm wrapping. Like why do I do it to myself?!

It’s my Christmas tradition. Hour long fight to get the kids to sleep, followed by two hours of panic wrapping hell 😂

On that note, it’s my daughter’s birthday tomorrow so I’d better go and wrap her presents!

My parents used to do this, so I did too... until I realised it was madness and now I wrap in the couple of weeks before Christmas 😅

Is it even Christmas if you don't panic wrap all of your presents on Christmas Eve?

Did it one time thinking it might be nice to start a new tradition. Christmas movie, mulled wine, mince pies, kids happily sleeping and excited for morning. That kind of thing. Magical. Haha. No.

What actually happened was they were all restless so I kept having to break off to usher them back to bed, I ran out of tape so had to resort to masking tape, and I was still at it at 4am. Ended up with about an hours sleep before the DC started bouncing around. Never, ever did it again. I wrap throughout December.

I would have a nervous breakdown if I hadn't wrapped my presents by Christmas Eve! I get anxiety every time I read/hear someone talking about wrapping on Christmas Eve!

I love to relax on Christmas Eve. Once the DC are in bed I like to have a Bailey's coffee and listen to carols before filling their stockings. Then I like to have a good night's sleep before the excitement of Christmas day.

@sunshineandrain82

Every year we say we will wrap early. Every year come Christmas Eve it's a mad dash to wrap presents. We seem to always end up with something else to do.

This… and posting your neighbour’s Christmas cards through the doors at 10pm on Christmas Eve, after starting to write them in November and wondering why you bother anyway

Because I'm a disorganised idiot and procrastination til the last minute is the only thing I ever seem to end up being capable of.

This year I'm super determined it doesn't happen. Because it is absolutely exhausting. Between all of the other Xmas eve prep, the excitement and then the getting up in the night to put the presents out and of course the super early start, I can't spend another night up until like 1am wrapping. Especially as I still have my own Xmas eve night anticipation and find it hard to sleep!