a FUn , FREE thing to do for your kids this holiday season (name tag switcheroo)

[PinballFamily]

I've done the codes before - but I think my snoopers aren't snooping any more...

We do lots of free things with the kids in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The favorites are - dinner by candlelight (just at the kitchen table),....sleeping under the Christmas tree one night (usually on the 22nd or 23rd) - that's just after we put it up and decorate it, but no presents are under it...

HUGE, HUGE, hits! But the best...

And, on Christmas Eve night each year, DH and I (last thing before heading off to bed ourselves) put wrapping paper covering over the doorway leading into the living room where the tree and gifts are. Just use large rolls of wrapping paper cut to whatever size you need and some Scotch tape...seals off the room! After stockings are opened Christmas morning, the kids line up and have to break/burst through the wrapped doorway to get to everything. Costs nothing (I have an...ahem...large stash of wrapping paper!) and it has become one of the favorite traditions of Christmas morning. Try it - lots of fun!!! (And prevents middle-of-the-night-peeking attempts!!!)

 

[njcarita]

we also don't put anything under tree till christmas eve after the kids go to sleep... cause we don't get our kids anything for Christmas its ALL from Santa

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

we also don't put anything under tree till christmas eve after the kids go to sleep... cause we don't get our kids anything for Christmas its ALL from Santa

I never put who its from...but once my ds 5 asked why we didn't get him anything for Christmas, only Santa did. I told him some presents were from us and some from Santa, I'm afraid I will forget and say something like" I thought you would really like that" about something Santa got if I label them

 

[poohfriend77]

One year my brother-in-law's mother accidentally forgot to put tags on any of her gifts, so she just passed them out based on what she "thought" was inside. Like the OP, I don't remember what I actually got from her, but I remember my confusion after opening a 3XL sweatshirt (I was a size large and thought wow, does she think I'm that fat?) Turns out it was actually for BiL.

We took turns opening the gifts, then she would take them away and give them to the real recipient. She was so upset, so we tried really hard not to laugh... until she left (and every Christmas since then).

 

[hambirg]

One year my brother-in-law's mother accidentally forgot to put tags on any of her gifts, so she just passed them out based on what she "thought" was inside. Like the OP, I don't remember what I actually got from her, but I remember my confusion after opening a 3XL sweatshirt (I was a size large and thought wow, does she think I'm that fat?) Turns out it was actually for BiL.

We took turns opening the gifts, then she would take them away and give them to the real recipient. She was so upset, so we tried really hard not to laugh... until she left (and every Christmas since then).

This just made me because we go through this same thing every year! Sometimes my Mom forgets tags, but lots of times they are just simply missed tagged. It's always fun to see the look of confusion on people's faces! Gee, men's dress shirts. .thanks Mom. No. . no. . those are for your brother.

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

We also do the different wrapping paper for each kid. No names put on them. One year I clipped a piece of the paper out and put it in their stocking so that when they looked in their stockings, they would see which paper was theirs and then could open their presents. Now usually we have something in the stockings that goes along with presents, so presents have to go before stockings.

The trick to doing this is to not forget which paper goes with which kid. Sometimes I clip a piece of it and put their name on it (and hopefully remember where I put them!)

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

I've done the codes before - but I think my snoopers aren't snooping any more...

We do lots of free things with the kids in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The favorites are - dinner by candlelight (just at the kitchen table),....sleeping under the Christmas tree one night (usually on the 22nd or 23rd) - that's just after we put it up and decorate it, but no presents are under it...

HUGE, HUGE, hits! But the best...

And, on Christmas Eve night each year, DH and I (last thing before heading off to bed ourselves) put wrapping paper covering over the doorway leading into the living room where the tree and gifts are. Just use large rolls of wrapping paper cut to whatever size you need and some Scotch tape...seals off the room! After stockings are opened Christmas morning, the kids line up and have to break/burst through the wrapped doorway to get to everything. Costs nothing (I have an...ahem...large stash of wrapping paper!) and it has become one of the favorite traditions of Christmas morning. Try it - lots of fun!!! (And prevents middle-of-the-night-peeking attempts!!!)

LOVE that idea!! Unfortunately, doesn't work for us... we have a big open living room/dining room combo where the tree is... darnit!

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

all put gifts under the tree early? We don't have anything there until "Santa" (and yes they know) put them there Christmas Eve..

I think all the Lego that goes thre would be way to easy to detect.

at least 3 out of our 4 kids don't believe in Santa. (not sure about the last one - she's 8, almost 9, so if she still believes, it won't be much longer.) We still put all the presents out on Christmas Eve after everyone has gone to bed. Even after the last one stops believing, we will probably still do this. I like the element of surprise as much as possible. It's bad enough my 16-yo is NEVER surprised with anything (she HATES surprises and it's so much easier to just get her exactly what she asks for!)

 

[DisneyScraps]

And, on Christmas Eve night each year, DH and I (last thing before heading off to bed ourselves) put wrapping paper covering over the doorway leading into the living room where the tree and gifts are. Just use large rolls of wrapping paper cut to whatever size you need and some Scotch tape...seals off the room! After stockings are opened Christmas morning, the kids line up and have to break/burst through the wrapped doorway to get to everything. Costs nothing (I have an...ahem...large stash of wrapping paper!) and it has become one of the favorite traditions of Christmas morning. Try it - lots of fun!!! (And prevents middle-of-the-night-peeking attempts!!!)

Ohhh THANK YOU...we just moved from a house with a grand staircase and my daughter was stressing that just walking into the living room wouldn't be as much fun. She said her favorite part of the morning was slowlywalking down the stairs to see everything. The wrapping paper thing will work out perfectly. I have tears in my eyes....thanks for such a great idea!

Lisa

 

[Amii]

When we wrap presents we don't put the actual present in the boxes. We wrap several boxes for each present with clues that lead family members on a treasure hunt. The first box goes under the tree and we follow the clues in the boxes until we find the presents. My kids are 14 and 20 and the whole family still loves finding the presents on Christmas morning.

My family also draws names out of a hat each year. Each person makes a game for the person that is draw from the hat. It has to be a game that the whole family can play but is something that the recipient has interest in. It also has to be made from items around the house. My kids still also look forward to this each year.

There is a house not far from us that decorates their whole yard with really cool Christmas decorations and lets the public walk through their yard. We go there several times a year. We also drive around and look at lights.

 

[mnasf]

I just love this! So funny! My parent did this number thing once, but I love this idea!!! I might steal it for my three kids.

I know money is tight for a lot of people right now. So I'm going to tell you something my mom did for us one year at Christmas. It's FUN, it's FREE and some thirty years later, we are all still talking about how much fun it was.

Remember the year that mom....... yep -- it comes up all the time during the holiday season. We have such fun memories of that year based on this one thing she did.

My sister could NOT keep her hands off the gifts. Every year when wrapped gifts started going under the tree, she'd have to feel and shake each one and try to figure out what was in them. It drove her CRAZY not to know. (She's still that way, by the way.)

Ok - we all sat down to open gifts on Christmas morning. All of us kids had a gift in their hands to open and my mom yells WAIT! Then she says:

All of the gift tags that says Michael, really go to Sarah.

All of the gift tags that says Sarah, really go to Becky.

All of the gift tags that says Becky, really go to Michael.

We had so much fun digging out the gifts from under the tree and then determining who they really went to.

To this day, I can't tell you a single gift that was received but every year it comes up about how much fun we had that year. As kids, it seemed like our mom was never very much fun and way too serious but that year, I found out that my mom did have some fun personality in her.

Maybe that's something you can do with your kids.

 

[PinballFamily]

Ohhh THANK YOU...we just moved from a house with a grand staircase and my daughter was stressing that just walking into the living room wouldn't be as much fun. She said her favorite part of the morning was slowlywalking down the stairs to see everything. The wrapping paper thing will work out perfectly. I have tears in my eyes....thanks for such a great idea!

Lisa

I'm so glad you can use this idea! If you get a chance, report back after Christmas and let us know how it worked out for you...

A few extra tips: we usually tape the wrapping paper around the doorway onto the wood mouldings (with that clear/frosty "magic" Scotch tape, in the green box, as it releases without pulling varnish). Depending upon the height of the wrapping paper roll, we typically need two or three strips high across to cover the entry. We usually just stick a strip or two of tape to secure these layers to each other somewhere in the middle, in addition to on the side mouldings but don't go crazy here. In some years, we stick bows, etc. on the paper to jazz it up a bit, and other times, it is just the paper-covered doorway. Depends on our energy level and how late on Christmas Eve it is...! Last, if you *truly* will not be able to get back into the room before the paper is broken, be sure the tree lights are lit, lamps are on, and any stereo on for Christmas music, etc. before sealing the room so that you're ready for the morning. (In our house, we can usually slip in via a secret way to do that just prior to letting the kids break in.) And yes, each year, we get the "breakthrough" on video!

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

now that christmas is over, I'd love to hear what all you guys did and how it turned out!