Does Santa Wrap?

Santa used to wrap gifts at our house. But as time went on and Santas helper slept while Santa was up until 6 in the morning alone wrapping gifts, we had to come up with another plan. So now Santa leaves the gifts unwrapped but puts nice bows and name tags on them. Even those things that have to be assembled. Santa puts everything together and sticks a bow it. Now Santa can get back to the North Pole just a little bit earlier and enjoy being up when everybody in the house wakes up at 7 am to see what Santa brought.

1 mom found this helpful

Yep..he sure does. That is part of the fun..a lot of the mess and time, but it is so much fun to watch them unwrap! And I have 5 kids! Now..if we had given them something hard to wrap, like a bike or something, then we would likely just cover it..but that is only one or two things each year..at best! Santa uses a different wrapping paper, so it is easy to spot. Happy wrapping..I really do think it is more fun that way..the excitement holds out longer! ~A.~

1 mom found this helpful

santa...at our house went 'green' shortly after our fifth child was born (but before the twins!)

Santa wrote a note stating his 'position'...lol...and the kids were ALL in favor!

Presents from family were all wrapped...

enjoy the holidays whatever you decide!

michele/cat

1 mom found this helpful

We grew up with some items wrapped by Santa (including 1 clothing item such as pajamas) and then one "major" gift out and set up. It was good because if we woke up before our parents, we had something to play with until they got up. My husband and I continued this tradition for our children, and even though they are 14 and 20, we still do it! =) Merry Christmas!

Hi D.,
Santa does not wrap at our house. Also if the toy he brings has to be put together he puts it together. It's easier for our son to see that Santa came if he didn't wrap the gift because there are so many presents already under the tree.
Oh and Santa only leaves on gift at our house because he has to have enough room on the sleigh for toys for the other boys and girls too.
Merry Christmas!

Santa doesn't wrap at our house. I'm like you, I grew up with Santa's presents unwrapped under the tree on Christmas morning. There was nothing like going in and see all those goodies at once. My girls love it too.

Santa always wraps at my house, even when I was a kid too.
I've also noticed in most of the movies, Santa's gifts are wrapped.
We even went to a Holiday Ice Skating Show yesterday and Santa's gifts were wrapped there too.
I personally think it's fun to unwrap and find out what goodies Santa sent.
Good Luck!

When I was growing up Santa wrapped everything. Now, for my kiddos, we wrap most of the stuff but keep the bigger things unwrapped. They love tearing the paper off of a toy to see what is hidden inside! Of the things we did not wrap, there was a wagon, a kitchen play area, scooters and bikes. When we don't wrap an item, we assemble it before hand.

To each their own! Merry Christmas.

Santa does not wrap at our house. However, each child has a large fabric gift bag (embroidered with their name) that we leave by the fireplace so Santa can fill with their gifts. We used to have supersize stockings for this that worked great.

Santa didn't wrap when I was a kid so I started out not wrapping Santa gifts. But when my older son was about 4 he asked why Santa didn't wrap his presents. I think since we don't give much (most presents are from Santa) he wanted more to unwrap. The next year I put in a "special request" from Santa to wrap the presents, so now most of them are wrapped (with seperate Santa paper that the boys don't see!)

They are unwrapped at our house!

it's the same situation with us and we just had this discussion. santa never wrapped at my house and things were out of the box and assembled with batteries and ready to be played with. sometimes little things in the stocking might have a different wrapping paper. At DH's house santa wrapped everything.

Santa never wrapped in my house growing up and everything was assembled. My husband grew up with a single mother and stuff was wrapped and not assebled. We have argued about this before and came to a compromise. Big stuff is not wrapped and assembled (bikes, trampolines, etc), but stocking stuffers are wrapped (in a different paper than what we use for our presents)This way he can help me Christmas morning as he is not assebling stuff all day and we have a little date christmas eve.

we did both! one toy was always unwrapped the rest were wrapped

My husband and I encountered the same situation a few years ago with our own girls. My parents always wrapped (just me and my sister), but my husband's parents did not (there were five children in his family, so it would've been hard to wrap). My husband and I compromised. The really big gifts we leave out in the open with a tag stating who the gift is for. Sometimes really big gifts are to both from Santa, and we "tag" them accordingly. It has been a nice compromise and has worked well for us.

Our Santa wraps, and always has. : ) For both my DH and myself growing up so we've carried the tradition on to our kids as well. My kids absolutely LOVE unwrapping the presenst and seeing what's inside so we'll keep wrapping every year, unless it's just to big of course.

Merry Christmas to you!

In my house growing up Santa only left one gift and it was unwrapped everything else was from family and it was all wrapped under the tree. Santa also "helped" with our stockings. My mom would have filled them part of the way and Santa topped them off.

Santa doesn't wrap at our house, but everyone else does. Santa only brings a few things and usually one large item, but what Santa brings can be seen immediately. The after the initial excitement of those things passes we sit down to open presents from each other... It seems to make the magic and excitement last longer. And it's fun for my husband and I to get to help Santa think of "his list" and ours!

Santa wraps everything that comes in a box and uses those bike bags for bigger or odd shaped things.

Yes, always at my house. I always have a special roll of paper that has been hidden and not in the same collection with the other wrapping paper.

My daughter will be 15 on 12/27...I still wrap Santa and also wrap the goodies in her stocking.

Even though she is turning 15 this year, Santa still brings gifts and a stocking. It has been the tradition at our house.

Santa does not wrap here! That's one of the reasons he gives the gifts that are hard to wrap (too big, odd shaped, etc.).

Like the others have said, santa gifts at our house are wrapped in different paper from the mom and dad gifts (this year it's Cars and Wow Wow Wubzy LOL). Anyway, all presents from Santa will be wrapped except for the two 4-wheeler motorized vehicles (we have twin boys) which will be the first thing they should see when they come in the living room. I personally like the wrapping, it makes it all last longer :-)

No! Santa Doesn't Wrap! All the excitement is running out of bed and seeing what you got! I remember when I was a kid running in the living room and seeing an Atari with Space Invaders already going on the TV! I didn't even know what it was it was too cool!!!

If it can go in a box easily, Santa wrapped at our house. The big things that aren't wrapped are assumed from Santa.
My DH grew up with almost everything from Santa wrapped. Since I am the better wrapper, Santa does not wrap everything ;)

Isn't this time of year WONDERFUL???? I am such a kid at heart!

WRAP - BUT, I always buy a special roll of paper that is NOT used to wrap anything else. That way the kids did not recognize the wrapping paper as part of the presents they received from family on Christmas Eve.

That roll of paper was hidden away for two years and then put in with the regular wrapping paper. I think the kids had stopped believing in Santa before they realized what I had done.

I am doing the same things with my grandchildren and so far, they haven't caught on yet.

I grew up where Santa gave us 1 big present that was not wrapped, All the other presents were wrapped under the tree for weeks and they were from Mom and Dad. That is what we do for our kids. This allows for both traditions and as they get older they will realize that the gifts are not just from Santa. Good Luck

When we were younger, Santa didn't wrap anything. That was part of the magic for us - running out and seeing everything displayed in front of the tree. (All the family's wrapped gifts to eah other were under the tree). But when we got older and knew there wasn't really a Santa, my Mom kept the magic alive by wrapping "surprise" gifts that hadn't been under the tree before Christmas morning, and put "from Santa" on them. Of course we knew it was from our parents - but it just added to the fun. By the way, she has never admitted that they were really from her. lol

Santa has always wrapped in our home. His wrapping is different than the wrapping from Mom & Dad but is always the same for each kid. The kids love the actual opening of the gifts and it makes it that much more of a surprise!

Hi D.,

It looks like you've gotten a lot of responses! When I was growing up, Santa did wrap the little stuff. The only things that didn't get wrapped were the big items. However, my husband grew up in a household where they didn't wrap at all and everything was assumed to be from Santa! How sad was that... Anyway, my husband and I had the same debate, but after having purchased some hard to wrap items from Santa, it has become the tradition that family items are wrapped and Santa's are not.

Good luck with building your Christmas traditions!

M.

Nope, Santa didn't wrap at my house as a child or for my kids while they were growing up (both adults now). We loved running in Christmas morning seeing all the toys out and ready for us. And of course, we'd try to get up extra early to sneak a peek, but usually couldn't see well enough to tell what was really there. And we had a rule with my boys, no going to the living room before 6 am! Not that they didn't try to peek; I know they did, but it was all part of the fun and mystery. All gifts from family were wrapped and we'd open those at the family celebration, but Christmas morning was special, and we enjoyed the presents from Santa not being wrapped. Hope you enjoy a very Merry Christmas, whichever tradition you decide to follow!

Unwrapped here and as a kid. I think it's best for them to see their "special" santa gifts that look different out there beneath the stockings in all their Christmas glory! Sometimes we hide extra santa gifts in the tree that are wrapped, like an ornament or a small box of chocolates...

Hi D.,
My kids are older now, but Santa did not wrap when they were little. When I grew up, Santa did not wrap, either, and that made it so exciting! I hope your husband will be willing to try out your idea and make it more exciting for the kids.
Good luck, and Merry Christmas!
L.

We've got the same split in our house--Santa didn't wrap for me when I was a kid, did for DH. We've settled on not wrapping, probably mostly because I do almost all the wrapping of other gifts, and I just don't wrap Santa's! If DH insisted on stepping in and wrapping Santa's gifts himself, I probably wouldn't stand in his way! However,
Santa also often gives DD presents that would be difficult to wrap--e.g. a play tent last year, a table and chairs this year. I don't think there's any one right answer. You'll just have to figure out what works best for you!

Santa wraps at my house. That is the fun part of Christmas is to see them rip open the presents to see what Santa brought.

Nope, Santa doesn't wrap here...I'm amazed by the fact that he does at some houses. Seems so much less exciting...and so much more work :)

Santa does not wrap in our house but when I was growing up Santa did. I love seeing my little boy unwrap gifts so less comes from Santa and more comes from mommy and daddy.

santa wraps at our house in different paper of course..otherwise my kids would be up at 5 am playing with everything and i wouldnt get to see the look of surprise on their face the first time they laid eyes on it and in my opinion that look of sheer excitement and awe when they unwrap it ..it worth the extra effort to wrap them!

Wow! I never thought about that! My kids are mostly grown now, but I don't think we made a big deal about Santa - they kind of always knew he was a pretend kind of a guy. All the gifts were wrapped and hardly any of them came from "Santa" - only the ridiculous or funny ones. I like to throw in a few laughs on Christmas morning...

I agree completely with Jimren. Santa doesn't wrap. He leaves one or two presents (already assembled if needed) under the tree or by the fireplace. In our stocking we'd find one small wrapped gift (a ring, necklace, small toy, etc,) along with fruit and candy. There were always white footprints around the tree so we knew he'd really been there.

Santa doesn't wrap in our house either. I'm too afraid he'd see the Santa paper in the closet and put one and two together, so better to eliminate it all together imo. Santa does just one big-ish present and the stocking in our house. Not using paper also makes it easier to pick out the Santa presents vs the non-Santa. Also, once he reads, he's going to figure out whose hand writing is on the labels if we were to wrap. It might be cool though to have an anonymous present (where did this come from, there's no tag) under the tree from Santa. Your guy is only 2 so chances are, if you decide to try somethign different next year, he's not going to reallly remember.

Santa doesn't wrap the big things. It is nice to have the bigger toys put together so they are ready to be played with and the kids don't have to wait. It is also nice not to have to wrap something that is very large. Santa will wrap the smaller toys if he gets anything smaller. You can do a little of both. It depends on the age of the kids. Some kids aren't going to want to unwrap too many presents b/c they just want to play with the toys. As they get older they want to unwrap more gifts.

Santa does not wrap here. It's all about the "display" of what he left. (Of course, that's how I grew up with Santa too.)

Growing up - when I was very small, half the stuff was wrapped and half not. The bigger gifts didn't have the paper - like a doll or a tricycle. Then as we got older everything got wrapped. Now, I have been known to even wrap some of the stuff in the stockings. I love Christmas and I love buying and giving stuff - so we have "bins" now for stocking stuff as opposed to stockings for the adult "kids". And then presents! And I know I get much more excited then them. NOW we have two grandchildren - our first - and I am beside myself in joy. I plan to wrap everything except the babies' bigger gifts - just stick a bow on them to make them seem extra special. For me, the satisfaction of putting the last wrapped gift under the tree and seeing how the gifts are stacked high and tumbling out all over the living room is incredible. My husband told me that we need to pull back and let the kids develop their own traditions with their families and that we don't have to buy so much - their spouses do that. I suppose he's right. sigh. I guess he and I are going to need to make some new traditions for just the two of us. It will be hard to change and I hope I can do it a litle at a time. This is much more info than you asked for, sorry about that! :)

Santa doesn't wrap at our house - but he only brings 1 thing and then fills the stockings with treats. Usually the one Santa item is the one big thing my kids wish for (this year it is a bike for my youngest, a camcorder for my middle and a docking station for my oldest). Other gifts that are under the tree are always wrapped.

Santa does not wrap at our house.

We do the same as I did growing up. There was always a big gift unsually not able to be wrapped "from" Santa. So it had a bow then usually there was a smaller gift sometimes that went with it from Santa that is wrapped.

This year a bike for my daughter not wrapped of course and a helmet with pads (wrapped)

HTH

Santa wraps in my house....this way, the gifts aren't seen all in 1-2 minutes. The opening of each one is a surprise in itself and it makes it last longer. Even most of the stocking items are wrapped. I use different wrapping paper for each child (but each paper has pics of Santa on them). Each child recognizes their paper because it is in their stockings too. Even now that my son is 26 years old, he still gets a Santa stocking with items wrapped.

My ex-husband's family didn't wrap Santa gifts. My experience with their family Christmases was that the children all ran into the room, saw their gifts and in just a few minutes, they were done. In fact, there was such pandemonium that later they didn't realize that they even had some gifts. At least by opening one at a time, they see everything.

Santa never wrapped when I was a kid, and Santa doesn't wrap now :)

Santa does NOT wrap at our house, and Santa actually takes the toys out of the bags/boxes and get's them ready to play - that way we don't have to wait to undo twist ties, etc. I agree that it's fun to see these surprises laid out around the tree from Santa

We always had the big things that we ask santa for unwrapped but the little things from mom and dad were wrapped if that helps you at all I hope so. Merry Christmas.
P.

Yes and no.... Santa wraps some things in Santa printed paper, but some of the other items are opened and displayed for little ones to see the minute they run out! I love seeing their little face of the items already laid out, but what kid doesn't like ripping all the paper? Get the best of both worlds.... do both!!!
Hope this helps!
C.

In our family Santa wrapped, bow-ed, and scotch taped his way into oblivion...Had a Gramma that could use scotch tape to keep us out of Ft Knox. Go ahead, WRAP!! lol

Yes, Santa wraps at our house in Santa paper. Just wrapping paper that has Santa on it, other presents have different paper.

Not in this house. Like you, I grew up with Santa gifts unwrapped and tucked into the stockings - bigger gifts were on display (unwrapped). My husband, like yours grew up with some Santa gifts wrapped - my husband's would even be mixed in under the tree. As for our own family, we went the unwrapped route. I guess in my mind, I picture Santa's big bag of toys and they aren't wrapped in his big sack. Hee hee. Whatever you decide will be magical and wonderful. Have a blessed Christmas.

Santa wraps in our house, but in special Santa design paper used only on Santa gifts, and the kids never see me using it. :)

No!! Santa doesn't wrap! LOL

We wrap... my daughter's best friend's house does not wrap...

They both seem to their that their home's way is the best.

Do it 50/50! Wrap some, don't wrap the others!

Yes Santa wrapped but if there was a puppy or huge wagon that was not wrapped.I wrapped the stocking stuffers too. But I usually let them open one gift the night before Christmas and it was usually pj's I made and wanted them to wear the next day for pictures. G. W

Santa sorta wrapped in my house. We had a tradition of opening up family gifts on Christmas Eve. Whatever Santa brought would be in our stockings (they were the most gigantic stockings ever) Christmas morning. My parents would also save that one extra special gift to us for that morning as well. Hope that helps you guys come to a common ground and a great tradition!

What would Christmas be without mounds of wrapping paper and ribbons? Santa did not wrap the "big gift". Like the bike. It came with a big ribbon but everything else was wrapped. That is at least half the fun, the excitement of NOT knowing what is in the box.

Wrap the gifts. One year we were running late and placed the gifts under the tree unwrapped. Later that day I overheard my son say to my daughter that he wished Santa had wrapped the gifts. I guess they like to tear/rip the paper off. I also printed a note to them that Santa was in a hurry to get back to the North Pole. Anyway to make a long story short we wrapped the gifts and watched the joy of them discovering what they got because they never knew what it would be (we did catalog shopping while overseas and they were assigned a colored crayon to mark what they wanted). Good luck and enjoy whatever you do as a tradition. The other S.

When my hubby and I first got married we had the same debate! However, ours is opposite. Santa wrapped in my house but not in his. Also, they do their family gift exchange on C-Eve and mine on C-morning. That part has worked out great, though. His family on the Eve and mine on the Day. I personally think having the gifts wrapped adds to the excitement immensley! But, always in different paper of course! You see all the gifts from Santa but have no idea what they are and you can't wait to tear into them. But, I can see the benefits of the other way, too. Now, large gifts like a bike or scooter I can totally see having sitting out unwrapped with just a big bow. I don't think there is any right or wrong here. It's just whatever you guys feel best doing. Have a Merry Christmas!!

I grew up in a house where Santa didn't wrap. However, I started wrapping when I had my children. We use paper different from the rest of the gifts. I love seeing the excitement and prolonging the suspense.

We always left Santas' present unwrapped. That way when my children would ask why some children only get one or a few presents for Christmas we could explain to them that Santa only brings one gift. The parents can not always give so much because of various reasons that had nothing to do with them. My girls new that and also new to be gracious to those that gave them beyound what Santa brought.

I do a little of both. I wrap the really small items and place a huge bow on the larger gifts. I use Santa paper to decipher the difference between regular Christmas gift for the morning and Santa gifts, too. We do our gift giving on Christmas Eve and I save one gift for the morning along with all the Santa gifts.

I wrap everything. Big small, Candy canes EVERYTHING!
I love seeing the kids unwrap and be surprised one thing at a time.
My mom did it this way. I've heard that those that don't wrap anything are just being lazy.

My family always wrapped. Except for the big stuff like wagon, easel, doll house... My hubby says he doesn't remember (I know he was lucky to get anyting at all).
I have wrapped for my kids. My oldest is four, this is our secound Christmas w/santa (they remember him). I will have to hide the paper better next year, and maybe just use one roll for both kids from santa.
I was thingking when they get older (maybe next year) that we would start seperating santa's from the rest.
It is fun to watch them open it, even when they get older.

The gifts from Mom and Dad were wrapped. The gifts from Santa were not. That way we could tell the difference and have fun with both.

Santa never wrapped when I was a kid. I asked my mom about it recently. She said she just ran out of time! And she was glad she never had to worry about hiding the paper that Santa used!

We are the opposite. Santa wrapped at our house. Since we spend Christmas Eve at my sister's house the presents Christmas morning are wrapped. When we get home, Santa has managed to leave a couple more there, unwrapped. WorKs out well for us. Maybe you could do a little of both.

My husband and I were in the same situation. He wrapped and I didnt. Once I explained how neat it wa sto be able to see the gifts and they were out of boxes and had batteries in them and I could play with instantly. We went my way.

We do not wrap gifts from Santa