Open all presents then play with them, or open, play, open play etc?

[RessicaJabbit]

What is the norm on your house?

We're a open and play house. Get it out of the packaging etc. have a good look/little play and when ready open the next. This is mostly because my DD5 can't handle any kind of "chaotic" present opening. This also helps me, so I can write down the sender and gift for later when DD sends.a video thank you or writes a letter of thanks 😅 but downside is, can take FOREVER and we all get a bit bored, so spread out, do some after dinner, some on boxing day etc.

Completely different at my sister's, they open everything up, have a little glance, place it in a pile and go for the next one.

Other sister...they have a mad scramble to open everything as fast as possible. She has 3 kids, and they love having a mound of wrapping paper and rummaging back through it for presents etc. I have no idea how, but sister knows who got what present and who gave it to them 😂

The kids play with the toys later on and I've the next few days.

Nobody I know does "one person opens, everyone watches".

No judgement here, just curious.

we let our daughter open presents, have a little look and encourage her to open another lol.
this year we have a 9 month old so one of will be helping him (meaning taking wrapping paper out of his mouth haha). Whilst the older one is having a tiny play me and husband will open one at the same time.
i do feel guilty though, my parents get us joint presents and some single ones but my mum always gets me more to unwrap, as do other family members, but my husbands parents are both dead so I find he doesn't have much to unwrap I find it so awkward (I've learnt though and got him a few small bits this year when we're not doing presents haha).
I come from family of me and my sister taking it in turns unwrapping one each! I think our parents used to unwrap at the end when we were done!

We sort of let it unfold organically. We only do one gift at a time - some naturally the kids want to spend a few minutes playing with, others are things for another time (craft kits or books for example) and are opened and put to the side, so we just let it proceed however it goes! It’s just us so we can take as long as we like.

We open a few at a time.

I'd hate to have all my carefully chosen gifts ripped through thoughtlessly!

We do one at a time. Each person takes a turn being postman, bringing a present to everybody else (can’t choose one you gave). We unwrap one at a time and explore each item before moving on to the next person. If it’s wearable you have to put it on. If it’s something you can use immediately (eg a musical instrument) you have to do so. We take breaks for meals, or films, or whatever. Sometimes even to play with the presents! Totally extends the pleasure both for recipients and for givers.

We did try the unwrapping free-for-all one year. Horrible. Ended up with overwhelmed children crying in a sea of wrapping paper 30 minutes later.

We open a couple at a time. Stockings first thing, main present reveal and then tree presents through the day. Sometimes the DC will stop to have a look at things, sometimes they put them in a pile and come back to them later. As long as they're not ripping things open without acknowledging them at all then I'm happy! There's only the two of them, me and DH (up until last year late DM too) so it's fairly chilled anyway.

When I was a child I opened my stocking first thing, then had my main present... but wasn't allowed to open anything else until my grandparents arrived and we'd had lunch. This meant we didn't start opening gifts until 4pm sometimes! It was pure torture when I was little. Plus I was an only child and an only grandchild so was quite spoiled, and it took hours and hours to finish!

Mg children have got quicker over the years. When they were younger it was open one, play and it would take ages to get through them. They’ve now gone into open them all and play mode.

Nobody I know does "one person opens, everyone watches".

DH used to want us to do this. He'd rummage under the tree and hand out gifts one at a time. It is cringeworthy, especially when it also requires performance gratitude from the recipient. Even more so when some people only have a few presents and others have more. Adults that is.