How do you open presents on Christmas morning?

[pinkfluffybunny]

We have 4 children. Christmas morning is a blur of wrapping paper and excitement and joy.

However, I obviously miss some of my children opening special presents which I know they will love and their reactions to them, as I am watching others opening theirs.

I had a thought of one child opening their presents, and then the next child, but that wouldn't be much fun for my other children who would no doubt be itching to open their own presents.

How do you all do it? Do I just have to accept that I will miss some children's reactions, and be content with knowing they will love whatever they receive? After all, it's not about me.....

Stockings in the morning. Special presents from family in turns after the now Kings Speech.

It's always open stocking gifts in bed first, we all sit on my bed opening the little gifts andshowing eac other, and then it's a free for all with gifts from santa and afterwards we sit around the christmas tree and the DC usually takes turns choosing a gift and handing it to the recipient to open and we continue like so until all tree gifts have been opened

@Sushi7 the children open them one each at a time, not one child opens all of theirs then another child.
Spreading out is because they get overwhelmed with too much at once and want to play with a new toy not open something else.

I've found my people!

We would have stockings when we woke up - at the end of our beds, nothing in them wrapped, contents to follow a formula e.g. there would always be something to read, something to write on & with, chocolate, puzzle, bath thing, satsuma & coin in the bottom, then other bits including something special like a soft toy sticking out of the top. In our own room, so we didn't wake the parents too early! In theory, the contents should be enough to keep us occupied for a while in the mornings.

We could choose ONE wrapped present from under the tree after breakfast. Then any visiting of relatives, followed by Queen's speech THEN dinner. Then we would settle down with one designated "elf" and unwrap each gift as it came into the room (tree was in hallway), making sure we wrote down each gift & giver so we could thank them properly. Made the entire day last as special.

I know so many people who do the mad unwrapping frenzy as soon as they wake up, then by lunchtime they have overtired squabbling kids.

Nowadays just me here alone XMas day, so I open somethin every few hours then DSis & nephew no.4 come round Boxing day pm & we exchange ours & open then.

I honestly dont see the point of waiting until after dinner when everyone is full and tired and most of the day has gone (virtually no time left to get the stuff set up for the kids to even play with).

Those that open in the morning aren't sat bored all day it takes a fair while to open nearly 50 gifts (approximate amount between us all) and then after that we spend the day enjoying our presents many of which take ages to open and set up or play.

Definately no overtired squabbling kids here just lots of games, playing, excited children and fun all day long with a quick break in the middle for food (which STILL includes games).

I agree. What’s the point opening a present after dinner only for it to need some kind of set up to play with it. Part of the fun is myself and DH helping the DCs unpackaged gifts and setting them up to play with.

I really don’t understand making children wait all day for gifts.

We open after dinner these days, since the children were about 10. They get their first present at about 1am after church (pj's) then around 3pm Christmas Day.

I also think it's a shame to wait all day to open children's presents. They want to play with them, look through books, wear new clothes etc. I remember grandparents making us wait all day as children, whilst leaving us bored in an adult environment.

Totally agree with this. Christmas Day for a child is about playing with new toys, riding your new bike/scooter, reading the joke book you were gifted and building Lego. I would feel mean making them wait until after lunch to open gifts. My dc go to their dads Boxing Day so Christmas Day is the only day they really get to relax at home and play with their gifts so they wouldn’t be happy if they only got a few hours with their gifts. When I was a child we got up early and unwrapped gifts, later grandparents would come and we would open their gifts, we would then play and set up play sets etc with grandparents whilst my DM cooked dinner. I had friends that were not allowed to open gifts until the afternoon, I felt really sorry for them.

As a dc we were pretty busy all day and opening gifts from family after lunch worked absolutely fine.
My dc don't go to church so have a couple of gifts prior to lunch which is earlier. But they also seem to cope fine with waiting a few hours for most of the family gifts.
The adults couldn't cook and open gifts at the same time.

Stockings in our bedroom - each child takes it in turn to pull out a present.
Breakfast
Family exchanges gifts - children to each other, parents to children, children to parents. Everyone opens each gift in turn. They are taken from under the tree. One to each person from each person.
Travel to extended family or extended family arrive.
Christmas dinner.
Extended family exchange gifts - aunts and uncles to nieces and nephews, grown-up siblings to each other, grandparents to grandchildren, grandparents to their grown up children and their partners, grown up siblings to each other and in laws. This did used to be taking it in turns but now the family is large enough that that would take a ridiculous amount of time, so it tends to be family A distributing all their gifts, and everyone opening theirs at once, then family B, then family C, etc.
Any other presents still under the tree - perhaps from the other side of the family, or friends - may get opened in the evening or saved until Boxing Day.

After lunch always worked well for us- stockings first thing, then a walk and a light lunch, then presents (we have our Christmas meal in the evening). Having a walk first was a good way for excited children to let off steam so that it didn’t all get too much. Now they’re teenagers it works because they don’t get up until midday 😂

See I didn't GET bored before dinner. There would be the stocking stuff, then there would be a long family cooked breakfast. Then visits to relatives or friends with father while mother started dinner, then home & help prep dinner. We always ate formally for XMas dinner, so there was the ritual of getting the posh tablecloth & napkins out, laying the table with the silver from the cutlery canteen that had been parents wedding present, getting the decent glasses out, candles in the ancient once-a-year-only silver candlesticks.

When we did open the presents, it didn't matter that we didn't have time to set up multiple toys and play with them that evening as we knew they would be waiting for us after our Boxing Day walk (weather permitting), so that would keep us happy that afternoon & evening.

I think the trick was having a ritual so everything was leading up to the end of the day. Delicious anticipation of the joys to come, every step slowly leading us to the next, more exciting one.

Waiting until later isn't a problem if you're not leaving the children to be bored and they at least have something to open in stockings in the morning and maybe some tree presents like we do, there isn't much time to be bored for us because we go to FIL's for lunch (and open some presents there), watch The Snowman when we get home (DD insists its not Christmas without it, which was the same for me as a child), then dinner. Though if my children complain I can always remind them that we're actually opening them at least 12 hours earlier than British children because we celebrate on Christmas Eve

Our child is very young so we don't have a way yet but I think we'll do it how we did in my childhood- stockings opened on mum and dad's bed, then downstairs to open the main ones (all opened at once). My dad used to film it- its lovely to watch back now (especially as dad is no longer with us) so that's another way you can see each reaction if it's missed at the time.

My family, one present at a time with everyone watching. Sounds boring but we are chatting and laughing the whole time. Takes ages though and I'd prefer it to be faster.

DH's family; FIL throws presents at everyone, I miss everything everybody gets, it's manic. I don't see a single thing I've spent a lot of time and effort buying, being opened. I hate it.

Somewhere in the middle would be lovely.

Stockings are from Father Christmas and those presents get unwrapped in our bed as soon as I've made a cup of tea. How we open tree presents from family depends on which side of the family we have over.

DH's side does a free-for-all where everyone opens everything all at once, so that's what we do when spending Xmas with his parents. My side sit in a circle and take turns. Both of us think our family's way of doing it is best so this seems like the fairest solution 😆

To be fair to DH, my family's method takes bloody hours, especially as someone gets up to make more tea/pour drinks constantly. We timed it one year and it took 4.5 hours- and there weren't THAT many presents. And everything has to be discussed- smellies or candles passed round and sniffed and remarked upon by everything, new hats tried on and modelled etc, and it takes even longer now the toddler wants to unbox and examine everything thoroughly as soon as it's opened. So I have some sympathy with him thinking it's absolutely bonkers

*remarked upon by everyone, not everything.

Should have said, we begin this lengthy process after Christmas lunch, breaking in the middle for Christmas pudding. It really does take for bloody ever 😆 but I prefer it to DH family's way because I don't see anything I've chosen being opened. And then I end up having to check with each person that they did actually have our present and it hasn't been left in the car/under the tree etc.

Another thing I really like about the one at a time method is I think it makes it more digestible for my 3-year-old, he got overwhelmed last time when he opened them all at once and just didn't know what to play with first. I also think it's nice for him to see what other people get.

One at a time! Also sometimes we get kids (and adults!) the same gift so they then open those at the same time, but always one at a time. I love seeing the reactions 🥰

My dc are so young so I don't thinking waiting will be an option, they'll just be far too excited to see what Santa has brought. When they get older I'd imagine we'd take turns.

One at a time. Taking time means more appreciation and surely there is some pleasure in seeing others get nice things? I’d hop it isn’t just about self.