Do you have a present opening routine?

[ThePlantKiller]

Growing up, DSis and I would find our presents all set out, unwrapped, on the sofa so there wasn't much in the way of actual present opening when I was a kid and our parents would still be lying in bed long after we had started playing with our new toys.

For several years now DH and I have the kids bring their stockings into our room and we watch them look through them, before we all go downstairs together and everyone takes a turn opening a present. I'd say I much prefer this to my own experience growing up.

What does everyone else do, I'd love to hear what your traditions are (if you have any - a paper ripping frenzy is possibly a tradition of sorts too!)

We wake up and everyone gathers at the stairs. We go down, me first check santa has nern and we are nit too early. Then I film the wee faces entering. Santa does not wrap presents here. They have sacks and stocking. Anything that does not fit sits out.

Then they play with that while we have some tea. Then I go and make breakfast. After that, we tackle under the tree.

Then dc play all day. Except for dinner time.

If we feel like it on Christmas Eve each person opens a small gift after dinner (always fish).

Then on the day, stockings but with everyone together. Then, the youngest person (sometimes me in my 30s lol) will distribute the rest, 1 to each person and opening them in rounds until done. Never a hot breakfast, but lots of coffee and scones/brioche.

When I was young stocking in the morning and then presents after lunch. This tradition continued when the DC were young the stockings would always be opened in bed with me then presents from under the tree opened after lunch.
Now as all adults no more stockings but no presents in this house until after lunch. There are 4 of us and one will give out the presents and we then take it in turns to open a present.

Both of ours 13 & 15 sleep in each others rooms for Christmas eve (I love it as they hardly allow the other into their room any other day of the year) have stockings in there and me and DH go and watch them opening everything. DD is takes ages opening everything and takes real care over looking at everything. DS is the total opposite.

Then it's downstairs for a cup of tea and we open presents from under the tree. Again DD takes ages and we all normally have a break and then they;ll open some later on in the day. They're more patient than I ever was as a kid!

Kids get stockings off their bedknobs, all clamber on to our bed where we drink coffee and peel our eyes open while they dump them out and eat their chocolate oranges, etc.
Then, down to the big tree, the kids sit around it in a semi-circle and dive into the pile. No separate piles around here. They dive in and redistribute. Youngest (3) gets handed the right gifts to open.

They always get one big present after lunch, to eek it out a bit and allow for seperate excitement. This year, it's a climbing frame.

Your current tradition sounds a bit like the one during my childhood. We waited until everyone was up and then just went to our pile of presents and opened them. I also think it's a bit weird to make children watch their siblings open their presents before they can open theirs. I remember my siblings and I opening our presents at our own pace and then sharing our excitement showing each other what we got. Knowing my brother he'd probably unwrap his presents really slowly if I couldn't open mine until he had.

As a child we had stockings in our bedrooms- Mum deliberately put things in to keep us quiet/amused until a reasonable hour! (I always had a book, amongst other things). Then whoever got up first would go round the house rounding everyone up. We each had a sack of gifts under the tree and it was a free-for-all (there are six of us though!)

So I've followed the same pattern with my two boys, although they have a stocking hung on their door handle and I think they open it just after I go to bed (because they're 16 and 27 and stay up later than I do!)

DS1 particularly hates being watched while opening gifts, so this way suits him very well. XH's family used to do the thing of handing out one gift at a time, with everyone watching, and it used to make him very uncomfortable.

Of course, with presents being bigger and more expensive and thus fewer, present-opening doesn't take very long, but that works for us.

My DD’s are older now (12, 15 & 16) however out Christmas morning/present opening has stayed the same for the last few years and is now quite a girls tradition…in fact due to circumstances this year (DH deployed) I did offer to mix it up a little and was met with a firm no!

Stockings are a downstairs affair for us, partly because middle DD was always terrified of Santa coming into her room while she was sleeping and partly because it’s what my parents did for me when I was little.

All 3 girls still sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve and though they aren’t allowed to come through before 7am, I secretly love to hear the giggling, clock watching and excitement building before they bound in at 7 on the dot.

DH will do a pony breakfast run, check Santa has filled their stockings and then back to light the fire, Christmas tree lights, carols on and make the tea and bucks-fizz etc and check “that he’s been!!”

All 3 girls still say this is her best bit, the excruciating wait before the magic…

Then we all go down together and I love the reactions to the full stockings, sacks and tree.

Stockings first which are a free for all, this is when 1st bit of chocolate is opened and a time for endless cups of tea. Quick paper scoop up and then onto sacks/piles…

We do have a take it in turns rule, which we didn’t have when they were little but definitely works for us now, Even as tweens/teenagers the best part of Christmas is the presents and I just feel when they are allowed to rip into everything all at once, not only is it over so quickly but with 3 DC I don’t get to see all the reactions so I’m glad we do it this way, this take us quite a while and normally lasts to mid morning.

Santa occasionally leaves a fly away present somewhere, normally a big one/surprise…sometimes it’s just out side the door, behind the curtain and one very funny year on the roof…

Then it’s a break, we start to prep the dinner, girls speak to friends, make their piles in their room off all their new stuff (vital important part apparently) and get dressed up.

Two eldest DD’s are then on charge of blinis, picky starters and once ready we open a really nice bottle of fizz and hand out the presents from under the tree from grandparents, family etc, this is known to take quite a while but so much fun and the girls and lucky to have really generous family.

Its then time for Christmas dinner and we all have a table present, sometimes this can be a big ticket present for DC and even other years just something nice ie this year phone upgrades and Dior Lip oil for all 3.

It’s very common in some areas. A lot of poorer families wouldn’t wrap presents.

From childhood until she moved in with her DP, DD would bring her stocking into my room and open the small presents. She would then get breakfast for us both (when she was old enough to do it unsupervised),to eat in bed and she would give me my birthday present then. After she would open her presents under the tree and I would wait until she had finished then open mine. Mid-morning we would walk to my parents house where the whole family would gather for the noisiest, most chaotic present opening ever known. Then back home

Now it's just DP and me (he moved in years after DD moved out), we open our presents on Christmas Eve. The only presents I open on Christmas day now are my birthday ones.

I suppose we do have a routine, details evolving as growning but still same sort of thing.

Christmas Eve open 1 gift from us from under the tree and it’s always new night / lounge wear. Plus nowadays we all have a little something to open - festive snacks, drink or bath stuff.

Christmas morning I’m up first to check he’s been (switch on twinklies etc) before everyone who wants to gathers in the kitchen diner. There used to be an overflow sack or small pile of gifts (annual, selection box, craft supplies etc) in this room to open in a frenzy of excitement whilst we gathered the breakfast together. Doors are opened to the lounge and we take breakfast through to eat whilst we open our stockings together which contain substantial gifts amongst the sweets and choc (we all have a stocking including the dog). Then those sat closest to the tree pass along gifts from underneath which are from family and friends and one or two “main” ones from Father Christmas. We don’t open them one by one. I think it would be nice to open the under the tree gifts later in the day we host so it wouldn’t work for us. Then there is the last present which is different every year, sometimes pillows at bedtime, sometimes outside, sometimes not “found” until Boxing Day.

My own childhood we opened and gave our gifts to and from family and friends on Christmas Eve. Us children always got some new nightwear. Woke up Christmas morning to a filled pillowcase downstairs from Father Christmas plus a bigger main present and sometimes he also left a family gift too. We’d exchange gifts with other family/friends right upto NY when we saw them if we didn’t see them Christmas Eve.

No stockings in room yet as only 2 and 3.5. May do pillowcase at bottom of bed from next year as I loved that tradition as a child.
As a child we all got stockings woke m and d up went down and just mad rip and tear dash , was great. Then always stayed home always had lots of people round for Xmas dinner and drinks through the day.
I lost my mum when I was pregnant with my first so Christmas has been dire for me the last 3 years but I need to start pulling my finger out and making memories for my girls it's what she would want I'm sure

Stockings are downstairs next to the fireplace. My almost 9 year old DD has complex needs and it isn't appropriate to have things in her room which are small/edible/have packaging etc (like a baby) my 7 year old DD is autistic and worried about santa in her room so this makes sense. We get up at the normal time and go the dining room for Stockings and breakfast. Then everyone gets dressed. Santa usually leaves a couple of unopened noisy or exciting presents within the presents under the tree so they can play with those while waiting for present opening. All presents mixed under the tree,no separate piles. I sit next to the tree when everyone is fed, dressed and ready around 10am and hand out presents one by one. We watch each other open things as much as possible and within reason. Sometimes one will still be looking at their present while the other is opening a new one but that's normal. We take ages because both girls are overwhelmed easily by too much at once. We usually stop around 11am after maybe they've had 4-5 presents each and leave the rest until later in the day and go for a walk. Then it's Christmas dinner at 1pm-I use the food to order at sainsburys or M&S so I don't cook and put turkey dinosaurs and smiley faces on for almost 9 year old and 7 year old usually has a different variation of Xmas Dinner too. Then it's a lazy afternoon with TV amd games and more presents around 3-4pm and a buffet tea at 5pm. My almost 9 year old is diabetic so there is no chocolate, sweets or pudding. I do a Xmas pudding because she won't eat it anyway but that's it so our Christmas tends to pretty toned down and the kids aren't hyper or overwhelmed. I enjoy it and the kids usually eat properly so bonus! They don't really have snacks except fruit, veg or fish crackers/breadsticks so the buffet tea with crisps and nibbles is a treat for them and it's the end of the day. They go to bed around 6-7pm. It feels really controlled when I write it down but it's messier than that of course in real life!

Never had stockings. Never did stockings.
Go downstairs, parents get a bru, children open presents in pillow cases under the tree together. Parents take one million photos.
Then parents open theirs.
Wider family presents later in the day.

Because its can be an unnecessary faff, an enviromental issue and more simply a culture thing.

Its quite common in some Northern areas, usually in more working class areas and where Christmas is saved up for year round and celebrated 'all out' as people do not have money at the drop of a hat the rest of the year.

Less common in the big cities or south in the middle class 'want, need, wear, read' circles where people can get whatever they want all year round.

There's zero way I'm attempting to wrap a vanity table, rocking horse, BBQ, large Imaginext, Skuttlebug etc... they will be out ready to play with with no wait time.

My toddler does not care about unwrapping a dozen things but she WILL want to play quickly with things that excite her.

Kids all gather in one of their bedrooms and do stockings - even now when they're 14, 16, and 21 😂 I find it very sweet now because in the last few years they've all bought for eachothers stockings rather than me filling them.

Tea and a mince pie, DH phones MIL (another carry over from the kids being little, she still asks "has he been?" and they all shout yes) then we've always done present opening taking turns.

We do stocking on the bed and then downstairs for the sack and presents under the tree, all in pyjamas and eating a shed load of chocolate along the way.

I remember one year my in laws insisting that everyone got showered, dressed, had a sit down breakfast before any unwrapping could take place.

Kids were going out of their mind!

Kids open stockings on our bed.

Then we go into the sitting room and open "Santa" (bigger) presents. DH and I will exchange our presents. I save one for each kid for later in the evening.

We see relatives on the day and exchange with them too.

Kids open stockings on our bed (kids are now 22, 19 and forever 10). Then we all have a quick wash and wee and go downstairs to open main presents where we all just dig in.

After present opening we text and phone family and friends to wish them happy Christmas.

Then it's cuppa time and breakfast where anything goes.

I carefully wrap and label the presents with meaningfully written tags, funny jokes etc. very specific to the gift-receiver. Then we take it in turns, reading the tags and opening the gifts and thanking each other. We drag it out with a Buck’s Fizz at breakfast time, because we don’t give much to each other, maybe 5-6 little presents.

I was quite upset when the present from my newborn, to her aunty to mark her first Christmas as an aunty, was ripped open by my mother in law - she hadn’t even bothered reading the tag. The in-laws just rip all their presents open in a couple of minutes, all at the same time, after dinner when everyone is half asleep, like an afterthought. ‘Spose we better open the presents’. As you can tell, they’re rich and ungrateful!