Do you put your Christmas presents under the tree once they are wrapped?

[Christmasagain123]

This was always the tradition in my house growing up, presents were placed under the tree until Christmas Day.

Dh said you shouldn’t because if the house got broken into, they’d know where to find the presents.

I can’t get that thought out of my head now.

Do you?

When mine were young i used to wrap them and leave in my wardrobe until christmas eve. Not hiding just out of the way until the year ds14 opened an xbox game and it was empty. I started panicking until the little shit admitted he'd opened it, taken the game and wrapped it back up and had been playing it for weeks. After that i just put them under the tree.

I would like to, because it looks lovely, but can't with small children who still believe in Santa. Plus with their mountains in of stuff it wouldnt be quite so pretty, and would probably be a hazard.

There's a sad truth to this. That's basically what he said, they'd pick a street and the easiest houses with the presents on show were the first pickings. Showy people also tended to be the people who bought expensive status products for image so the house would be "fruitful."

What deterred him? Alarms. Glaring security lights. More so than dogs. Baseball bats near the door. If he thought he'd face an absolute pasting by the residents if they caught him, he'd look for an alternative. It's about speed and ease for burglars. Easy access back gardens were a plus for him.

He would scope houses for daily routines. Look to see where car keys were kept if visible from a window because his mate would take the car too if possible. Keys were often reliably on a ledge or rafter in the shed. I asked where he his his valuables. He said in a box of hoover bags in his cleaning cupboard. Burglars don't tend to go through cleaning cupboards.

I'm up til 1 on Christmas Eve and knackered always, we've got too many children and I'm always hosting. But the idea of waking up to their gifts gone is enough to make it worth it.

We always put them under the tree when wrapped but each one has a sequential number on it, the code for which child gets what being carefully guarded. Doesn't matter much now the kids are older but still something we do!

When the kids were little, presents would go in front of the fireplace (as Santa came down the chimney). Now they all just go under the tree as soon as I’ve wrapped them.
No tree up yet though!

Thanks, that's interesting. You mentioned patio doors being easy to get through - were they are particularly tempting target?

I have to say I have always assumed security lights mainly acted to make it easier for the burglar to see what they were burgling! I live on a main road and the whole place has LED streetlights 24-7 so I figure the front of the house is safe enough.

My car is parked away from my house and is ancient - I had friends who had burglars go along the whole street (I think, seems absurd in retrospect so maybe I misunderstood) breaking just into houses with new Audis/Mercs etc and basically shoving their arm through/round the front door, picking up the keys and driving off with the expensive ones.

I know it wouldn't quite be an AMA but I would certainly be interested in hearing more about this if you did a thread.

We put all presents out Christmas Eve. I think it’s lovely for the kids to come down to the lit tree with all the presents underneath on Christmas morning

His ideal house was an easily accessible back garden, dark, with patio doors. They literally pop out of their sliders. No need to break glass or anything. Suction pads to the glass and lift them out.

Locked car? Half a tennis ball to the lock. Pop. Open. Only for older cars that you open with a key though.

Anything that meant he was visible to be either accosted by a burly owner or spotted then reported to the police by anyone, was a deterrent. Lights and sounds were a big no to him.

Careful landlordhell will be over to scald you shortly

We don't its too warm in the living room by the tree and so I'd worry things like sweets or skincare stuff would spoil.

Couldn’t be less arsed, chocolate for breakfast with the TV on in our house 😂

Who made you the fucking Christmas police?

Why? Why are the presents not enough of a focus for his attention? Does he have special needs?

We always did, even after dh's parents were robbed. The thieves didn’t only take the presents and filled stockings they took all the stuff they could sell like electronics, cameras, gold

We didn't put the dc's presents out when the now adult dc were little. But there were "outgoing" presents for under the tree.

He does, yes.

But I also don’t think Christmas needs to be that prescriptive. They’re children. Let them be kids at Christmas.

Yes, and the smaller ones go into stockings

No because of fear burglar/ young kids opening them/ too many/ lab destroying them. It does look lovely though

We put ours under the tree as they’re wrapped - tree at back of the house and not visible from street and don’t put anything high value under there until Christmas Day. It’s been fine doing this with children of any age, dogs and cats - we must have been lucky with them all leaving the presents alone!

we all love seeing them wrapped and anticipating opening them! Stocking presents only get kept hidden until Christmas Eve.

Yes - youngest is nearly 22 and other 3 don't live at home. If a burglar takes ours, he'll find a couple of woks and frying pans/utensils, a weighted blanket and a couple of calendars at the moment! It looks very nice.

Yes, saves having a tree skirt! There's nothing that expensive, and tbh if they break in, they're probably going to find them wherever you put them.
If there was a gift like say a really expensive ring, I would probably put it somewhere different/hidden at least if the dog wasn't in the house.

Yes as gifts arrive from family they go under the tree and then as we get closer to christmas I will put a few out each day as I wrap them. I have a very fond memory of my mum doing the same.
It's lovely to see the present pile grow steadily and they look so nice and pretty under the tree.
My kids are teens, they might read the odd tag but they don't mess with the pile.