Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

Do you wrap presents now and put them under the tree or wait until Christmas eve?

123 replies

McNuggetsAndMcFlurries · 04/12/2021 13:20

I have always wanted to have a Christmas Tree surrounded by Christmas presents but at my parents house we never brought them out until Christmas morning and then it was all over so quickly. This will be the first Christmas as a parent so I figure that after this year (he'll be just under 4 months old) I won't be able to do it for many years as kids can be sneaky and he'd probably find a way into opening them all before Christmas once he's mobile. Would it be weird to just do it for one year? 🤣🤣

OP posts:
TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 04/12/2021 13:22

I’ve always put them under the tree.

Looks nice having presents under the tree.

FlickerBeat · 04/12/2021 13:23

Christmas Eve. We have got two cats though, so I'm not sure the presents would stay wrapped if put out early Grin

Werehamster · 04/12/2021 13:24

As kids, we always had the presents under the tree before Christmas but for my kids I put them under on Christmas Eve. Mostly, because i think they will peek and also because we have a cat who just loves eating paper. Your baby is really young, so do as you like this year.

INeedSixEggs · 04/12/2021 13:24

We always wait until Christmas Eve. Even when we were older and living at home we didn't have presents under the tree until then.
It stops nosey buggers having a poke and prod if nothing else.

DramaAlpaca · 04/12/2021 13:25

Christmas Eve, to protect them from cats, dogs and inquisitive people!

dudsville · 04/12/2021 13:25

It's never weird to do what you want to do! We have a fake tree that goes up on december 1st and I like it with oresents under it so I get my chopping done in November so that I can see the under the tree. this has motivated my OH to follow suit, and any presents we have for friends coming over go under. I love it!

TurnUpTurnip · 04/12/2021 13:25

Xmas eve I have 4 kids so it would take up too much room having them all in before

Jumpingintochristmas · 04/12/2021 13:25

We have several trees and put a few wrapped gifts under the tree in the lounge to build excitement and add any gifts that come from others. The tree in the hallway has the gifts that are wrapped ready to go to others under it already.

Bratnews · 04/12/2021 13:26

Presents from friends and family always under the tree as they arrive. Parents from Santa on the sofa once kids in bed.

Thegreencup · 04/12/2021 13:31

In our house they go under the tree on Christmas eve. Otherwise they would be in the way.

This the Santa photo app picture we took last year to give you an idea of how many presents we would have cluttering up the living room.

Do you wrap presents now and put them under the tree or wait until Christmas eve?
Kitkat151 · 04/12/2021 13:31

@Bratnews

Presents from friends and family always under the tree as they arrive. Parents from Santa on the sofa once kids in bed.
This I love looking at the presents ....the tree looks unfinished without them there
Thegreencup · 04/12/2021 13:32

That also isn't all of the presents.

jocktamsonsbairn · 04/12/2021 13:34

Presents for family and friends under the tree as and when they are wrapped. Presents for my dc go out with the stockings on Christmas Eve once they've gone to bed even though they are young adults now!

SallyCinnamon3009 · 04/12/2021 13:34

Christmas Eve now as at four it would be torture for him looking at the presents

However, he was simillar age to your little one on his first christmas so the presents went under the tree

DentalWorries · 04/12/2021 13:34

Under the tree for us but we don’t have kids so they’re aren’t mountains. I’m also very into beautiful wrapping with ribbons and colour coordinated paper so the presents are part of the aesthetic of our home in the lead up to Christmas

SSOYS · 04/12/2021 13:34

Christmas Eve as we have a dog.

Bluntness100 · 04/12/2021 13:36

Christmas Eve. I think the excitement would wear off if they are under much before.

FedUpFelicia · 04/12/2021 13:37

Wrapping takes me ages so I wrap as I go! I love the pile under the tree growing throughout the month, I think the tree looks a bit empty without presents.

I remember I used to agonise over presents as a kid, desperate to peek but knowing that my mum would take presents away if I did Xmas Grin it's all part of the fun.

And anyway, I have no good hiding places in the house!

NoSexLoveorGoop · 04/12/2021 13:40

I'd love to put them under the tree early but worry from a security point of view. Our tree had to go in a bay as there's nowhere else to put it. I don't fancy keeping the blinds closed for weeks on end.

Very envious of anyone else who can do this. I love the look of a tree with presents underneath. Very Christmassy!

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 04/12/2021 13:40

This is where I admit to having "fake" presents under the tree, so the second the tree goes up there are colour co-ordinated presents under the tree. Just empty boxes in different shapes and sizes wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper. I wholly embrace poncetastic.

The real stuff is stashed upstairs until Christmas morning. We just take it down before the children (18 and 15) go downstairs. Stockings are filled on Christmas eve.

kavalkada · 04/12/2021 13:43

I put them under the tree, apart from the gift from santa that comes in a sack and is hidden until Christmas.

I wrap all presents and as the Christmas is near, there is less and less of them because I have to send them all around.

This year I'll wrap few empty boxes to keep them under the tree as decoration. I'll not throw them away after Christmas but keep for next year (and year after that, and after that...)

My son who is 7 likes to look at them and guess what is in the boxes. I'm not sure my two year old will be that calm. Well, we shall see...

SmallProvincial · 04/12/2021 13:43

Presents from friends and family members that arrive throughout December go under the tree when they arrive. Ditto presents for friends and family members that we're seeing before Christmas go under the tree when they're wrapped.

Presents between the three of us go under on Christmas Eve.

steppemum · 04/12/2021 13:46

everything went under the tree after the kids were in bed, both when I was growing up and now.

My own kids are teens, but we still do this.

But if anyone gives gifts ahead of time they go under the tree, so there are usually a few there.

I love coming down on Christmas morning to a tree laden with presents.
But we don't open straight away. We do stockings straight away, and then have breakfast, get the turkey in the oven and the coffee on, and then all sit down and do presents, the youngest kids act as postmen and give out all the presents until they are all distributed. Then we start opening.

So we get to enjoy the pile of presents and the suspense a little longer.
I hate the idea that they are all done and opened by 8 am!

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 04/12/2021 13:48

Christmas Eve (or whatever day we’re celebrating if the dc won’t be here on Christmas Day). My mum and dad never put them out earlier either, as apparently you weren’t meant to, because of the burglary risk. I also think it would be a nightmare spending the whole of December stopping a toddler opening them all! And not fair to anyone if it led to frustration and tantrums. I like the idea of doing fake / decorative presents though.

Retrievemysanity · 04/12/2021 13:54

We do the same as @SmallProvincial