What are people doing with presents for folks that can no longer be there at xmas

[Imaginetoday]

So 2 DSs in their 20’s. Both living and working in london and Kent . We’re in north west. All set for our 3 household Xmas up here - presents they’d asked for wrapped and under tree already!
They’re obviously not coming now given tier 4 etc
What are other folks doing?

• put them all away into storage for full on Xmas family get together later next year- realistically may/ June or maybe even next Xmas?
• risk sending by post even though cost a fortune in postage ( one is a vinyl deck), won’t arrive by Xmas day now and possibly get stuck in royal mails brexit backlog and maybe disappear entirely
• give individually next time we see them hopefully in spring when we could met up outside for a quick visit and present handover but no real celebration which seems a bit deflating

Royal Mail have lost my last 2 orders so definitely avoid using them!

Keeping them until we can meet up and have Christmas. We did consider opening each others' presents on Skype ie. Opening the present for the person on screen, but decided it was better to wait.
So the garden fork lives on in the dining room...

I'll just wait until we see each other again.

Agh it’s a toughie I’d use couriers to deliver if you can, but when the time comes and it will ,it might be nice to exchange gifts at the big meet up. I think the gesture is about the sentiment as much as the occasion

I’d use a courier, but accept that they met not arrive until after Christmas now. We sent out all ours via Hermes a few weeks ago.

I just rebought some stuff on etsy. It daid delivered by 25th but if not they will.still be in! Will keep the other gifts until we see them.

Keeping them until we can deliver in person. Tier 4 here, so who knows when.

I went into Mailboxes Etc.

They had all the packing materials and packed everything up and got it where it needed to go the next day. It was less than I was expecting considering that I had a couple of big heavy books amongst the presents. £20 for a big box including the cost of the box and bubble wrap.

No queue, helpful people and a weight off my mind.

I sent gifts by DHL this weekend less than half the price of post office including insurance and is scheduled to be delivered Tuesday and can be fully tracked on their website.

We posted something first class on Friday and it arrived the next day so I don't think it's impossible but I guess it might be even busier now.

I'm kicking myself for not just sending it last week. Plan now is to wrap it and send by Hermes today.

Another vote for not using the post office, I've had to send a lot of parcels recently and courier was so much cheaper and got there far quicker than the few things I sent by Royal Mail.

We have agreed to keep our gifts for when we can eventually meet up and exchange them then.

I would keep them until Easter if it were me, but it depends on what they are and if it's something you want the recipient to have right away (eg if you've given them winter clothing).

I definitely wouldn't use Royal Mail at this point, they're already swamped.

I've used couriers for a couple of Christmas presents and it's been cheaper and quicker than RM, If you can drop your parcels at a collection point, it costs a lot less than having it picked up from home.

We sent ours via Hermes. Very little choice as we have to self isolate so can't even go to post office.
Not guaranteed to arrive by Christmas at this point they say but we are still hoping they do.

I’m just keeping my parents gifts until I can see them. A lot of couriers I’ve looked at the fine print has said basically most of the orders will be delivered on time but some may be delayed until after the Christmas holidays, even if you pay for expedited delivery. I don’t want to risk them going awol.

DiL (Tier 4) had couriered presents for DD and SiL (Tier 3) to us (Tier 1) as they were coming down. Now of course they're not - it's way too far for coming and going in a single day, a 10-12 hour round trip! - so I'm going to pack up all their presents including the ones we had ready for them and courier them on. Even if they arrive a day or two after Christmas Day it won't matter as it's a twelve-day festival after all!

I saw some of my family before Lockdown #2 early November. For some reason my spider senses started to tingle & it became incredibly important that I gave them their Xmas goodies as I'd already bought them. They all thought I was mad but it was very prescient of me!
Likewise when I saw my Mum, as usual, at the start of December in her care home, I again got the sense that I needed to get her pressies to her so I took them in with me.
My support bubble is in Tier 2 whereas I'm in Tier 4. Last week I gave them their pressies after the talks about London moving up a tier began.
Now everyone I know has got their pressies from me & I've got fuck all under the tree😢!

Whatever you do don’t use Royal Mail. I’ve had so many of my customers orders go missing or arrive damaged this year by them.
The parcel delivery companies are much more reliable

It's tricky but I don't think with the best will in the world that the Royal mail or the couriers will be able to cope with the increased demand caused by yesterday's change of plans. I would possibly still post some things in your shoes but warn the recipients it might not make it in time.

Royal Mail haven't been good for me either recently. Very slow and the queue at our new post office, which is about a tenth of the size of the old one, is ridiculous. .

Thanks for all the comments. I’ve Organised courier next day delivery for some “surprise” gifts...the larger/heavier more expensive ones that they asked for will be left till we meet up in 2021 ...feeling a bit miserable now as it’s sunk in having packed them all up. I haven’t seen both of DS together since this time last year.
I hope all of you in similar circumstances have a peaceful Christmas and a great fakemas eventually

Packed them up and sent by UPS. Cost about £7 for a medium (weight 5kg) package. (Saved £2 by dropping it off at a collection point) Will be delivered by 23rd.

Website was a bit of a nightmare though!

Do you need a printer for UPS? I am nearly all the way through with an estimated weight and sending it from and to local newsagents. But I don't have a printer.