Does Santa Wrap Gifts?

[aprilgail2]

Unwrapping and the anticipation of what's under the wrapping paper is half the fun on Christmas morning. I wouldn't want to come to the tree to see stuff sitting there unwrapped, that would take away a lot of the fun. Plus, everything looks so pretty when it's wrapped and set up under/around the tree.

Plus then we have the whole morning to hang out out, open the boxes, assemble that needs to be assembled. Another reason why I like to just hang out at home on Christmas- we open gifts, leisurely assemble them and just have fun the whole day without having to go running from this house to that house!

 

[JoBird]

Nope- no wrapping.

Dh grew up with santa having his presents wrapped. I grew up coming downstairs to a magical toy land of presents unwrapped, sitting there, ready for playing.

There is something completely magical from a child's perspective of walking into the room and seeing all of those toys, sitting there, knowing that each one is for them alone. Kind of like having a small FAO Schwartz all to yourself.

Our mornings are not filled with ripping paper and having it over and done with in two minutes-- the "Hurry up and open this present, set it aside, grab another one, I don't care what it is, just give it to me."
The morning is actually very peaceful and they love it.

Of course, our kids always have so many presents to open from other people-- we actually stay up on Christmas Eve until around 1 am with my Inlaws opening present after present after present.

So they definitely are not lacking in the opening present department.

 

[mom2travel]

yes - Santa leaves 2 or 3 gifts and wraps them in his own special paper. Usually the large/more expensive stuff is from mom & dad; Santa couldn't do that for everyone and needs to be fair

 

[powellrj]

Until I started reading on the DIS, I never realized that parents also gave gifts. All of our gifts have always come from Santa with parents helping out to pay for them. That way it explained why we also picked a child from the Salvation Army tree.

We always wrapped all of the gifts. Each child had their own paper from Santa so I never used gift tags.

 

[happygirl]

No,Santa gets way to worn out by that time

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

No, lazy son of a gun!!!

Yes, mom and dad are thrilled that Santa and his elves also assemble everything and they can sit back and enjoy the day without major frustration. DH is an engineer and NEVER reads directions. No fussing on Christmas.

My mother wrapped everything not nailed down.

 

[Mermaid02]

Since different families like presents wrapped and some unwrapped- it is up to us the parents to leave out paper, scissors and tape if we want Santa to wrap the kids gifts.

 

[C.Ann]

Yes - in "special" paper.. The unwrapping is the best part of Christmas morning!!

 

[golfgal]

Yes and with special paper that has Santa all over it.

Same here. Santa likes to wrap presents and half the fun is unwrapping them and seeing what they are. Santa always gives the "big" presents and mom and dad give the other stuff.

Santa wraps everything- I would rather santa get all the credit for the short time they still believe. Soon enough she knew who really bought all the stuff all those years, I don't need "credit". Its the most fun for us getting up Christmas morning to a tree full of wrapped gifts and then each unwrapping them one by one! I think it would really suck for us to wake up and go in the living room and have all the toys sitting there unwrapped.

I agree. It is such a short time that they get to REALLY believe in the magic--why not let them have that fun.

 

[Minnie's Pal]

Yes he does. Each child's gifts are wrapped in different paper (for instance, DD has red, DS has green, etc.) & their stocking is laid on top (so they know which set is their's.)

My kids enjoy unwrapping presents almost as much as the gift inside.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Unwrapping and the anticipation of what's under the wrapping paper is half the fun on Christmas morning. I wouldn't want to come to the tree to see stuff sitting there unwrapped, that would take away a lot of the fun. Plus, everything looks so pretty when it's wrapped and set up under/around the tree.

Dh grew up with santa having his presents wrapped. I grew up coming downstairs to a magical toy land of presents unwrapped, sitting there, ready for playing.

There is something completely magical from a child's perspective of walking into the room and seeing all of those toys, sitting there, knowing that each one is for them alone. Kind of like having a small FAO Schwartz all to yourself.

Our mornings are not filled with ripping paper and having it over and done with in two minutes-- the "Hurry up and open this present, set it aside, grab another one, I don't care what it is, just give it to me."
The morning is actually very peaceful and they love it.

Of course, our kids always have so many presents to open from other people-- we actually stay up on Christmas Eve until around 1 am with my Inlaws opening present after present after present.

So they definitely are not lacking in the opening present department.

What a truly odd perception you have of what happens with wrapped presents vs unwrapped.

IMO, there's something magical about walking into the room and seeing all those presents wrapped in beautiful paper and wondering what's under the wrapping. We've never taken "two minutes" to unwrap presents (does it really take anyone TWO MINUTES??), nor have we had a "Hurry up and open this present, set it aside, grab another one, I don't care what it is, just give it to me." Yikes...how bizarre! That sounds more like a function of spoiled children than wrapped gifts. And a child can only walk into the room seeing all those toys and know that each one if for them alone (yikes) if they're an only child.

DH hands out the gifts, one at a time. We all look to see what a person gets. It's never been chaotic; always low-key.

How do you manage to keep your kids from "Hurry up and open this present, set it aside, grab another one, I don't care what it is, just give it to me." with their grandparents if they're wrapped gifts, since wrapped gifts apparently seem to bring out the worst in people?

 

[C.Ann]

What a truly odd perception you have of what happens with wrapped presents vs unwrapped.


DH hands out the gifts, one at a time. We all look to see what a person gets. It's never been chaotic; always low-key.

I agree - and since my DGD is an only child -as well as grandchild/neice on her dad's side and her dad is an only child, I'm kind of embarrassed to say how long it takes to unwrap, take photos, and "oooo" and "ahhh" over each gift.. I'll leave it at _____ hours.. Absolutely nothing even remotely "rushed" about Christmas morning..

 

[rie'smom]

Santa always wraps our gifts. It extends the magic a few more minutes.

 

[kilee]

Santa wraps at our house too right down to the gifts in the stocking. Even though our only child is almost 17, all the gifts Christmas morning are from santa no matter who they are for (ds, me, dh, and the dogs gifts).

Like C.ann our unwrapping goes a long time. We've been known to stop 1/2 way through....have breakfast and then return. Granted w/ ds getting older and the gifts getting pricier the pile has gone down a lot. Maybe the amount of gifts is overkill, but my memories of Christmas morning as an adult w/ ds are some of my favorite.

 

[JoBird]

What a truly odd perception you have of what happens with wrapped presents vs unwrapped.

IMO, there's something magical about walking into the room and seeing all those presents wrapped in beautiful paper and wondering what's under the wrapping. We've never taken "two minutes" to unwrap presents (does it really take anyone TWO MINUTES??), nor have we had a "Hurry up and open this present, set it aside, grab another one, I don't care what it is, just give it to me." Yikes...how bizarre! That sounds more like a function of spoiled children than wrapped gifts. And a child can only walk into the room seeing all those toys and know that each one if for them alone (yikes) if they're an only child.

DH hands out the gifts, one at a time. We all look to see what a person gets. It's never been chaotic; always low-key.

How do you manage to keep your kids from "Hurry up and open this present, set it aside, grab another one, I don't care what it is, just give it to me." with their grandparents if they're wrapped gifts, since wrapped gifts apparently seem to bring out the worst in people?

Wow- I'm so very sorry if my opinion stepped on your wrapped presents toes.

I was only saying that if you walked into a toy store as a child and saw all those toys sitting there, it would be---- in my opinion---completely magical. I'm sure your wrapped Christmas morning is no less magical. You shouldn't take things said on an internet forum so personal.

I said the "Hurry up" comment from my experience of watching tv (America's Funniest Home Videos comes to mind-) seeing other families do this sort of thing. If you do the one at a time thing, then good for you. I never dreamed by my comment that someone would be so offended. It's actually quite humorous to me.

I was, however, an only child and so therefore I suppose I am in the spoiled rotten category.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

You need an other choice for the poll. Yes & No

Sorry, I didn't think of that.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Mom and Dad wrap their gifts, Santa does not have time to. However, much to Mom and Dad's chagrin, Santa does have time to put together all "some assembly required" presents so that they are ready for play come Christmas morning.

 

[Stargazer]

No - Santa doesn't wrap presents ... when DD was 4, he left a Santa Bag personalized with DD's name. She puts it out with her stocking every year so Santa can put her presents in it.

It works out well for us and she loves diving into the bag and pulling everything out.

 

[LaraK]

Nope, Santa stays up until the wee hours of the morning fighting with those stupid plastic twisty ties pulling every present out, assembling it and leaving it beautifully posed and ready for playing.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Wow- I'm so very sorry if my opinion stepped on your wrapped presents toes.

I was only saying that if you walked into a toy store as a child and saw all those toys sitting there, it would be---- in my opinion---completely magical. I'm sure your wrapped Christmas morning is no less magical. You shouldn't take things said on an internet forum so personal.

I said the "Hurry up" comment from my experience of watching tv (America's Funniest Home Videos comes to mind-) seeing other families do this sort of thing. If you do the one at a time thing, then good for you. I never dreamed by my comment that someone would be so offended. It's actually quite humorous to me.

I was, however, an only child and so therefore I suppose I am in the spoiled rotten category.

I suppose.

Not offended, so much as stunned and confused. Just thought it was a very strange interpretation of the "wrapped gifts" scenario. But now that I know that your perception of what happens with wrapped gifts are from television, particularly America's Funniest Home Videos, a whole lot of your post makes a lot more sense. But just so you know...AFHV is where they often portray the unusual, which I *think* is where the "funny" comes in.

Walking into a toy store as a child and seeing all those toys could be completely magical I guess but I'm not sure what that has to do with wrapped gifts at home being the opposite. Store vs home...two different places, two completely different scenarios.

Whatever...your posts made my morning.