What Do You Do with Presents from Santa?

The best part about Christmas is letting the children unwrap the presents. If they're unwrapped, then the fun's gone when they sneak down stairs and peek while trying real hard to guess what they got while Mom & Dad are still in bed sleeping. I like to make they wait til everyone's up and can open everything together.

Santa always wraps, it is more fun that way :) The only thing that he did not wrap this year was pillow pets. They had their cute little heads sticking out under the tree with bows.

Santa only brings presents Christmas Eve (think 10pm-12am) after the kids are asleep and there's little chance of them waking and seeing us. Most presents are wrapped, only exceptions being oversized gifts, that still get a bow, and small items in the stockings. Everything possible goes under the tree. Most stuff is in the boxes, but if we had a bicycle or wagon, we'd assemble it - so they can get what it really is and maybe play with it right away.

The grandparents bring gifts from them - Santa doesn't leave gifts at their house by mistake.

Always wrapped! with special Santa wrap... I love unwrapping presents and the anticipation. I loved to see the paper flying!

Unless of course it was oversized.. The rocking horse the Trampoline... Had giant bows on them..

I've done both.

I like wrapping them the most. I use paper with Santa on it & the kids have never seen that paper.

I think it depends on your families tradition of when you open gifts. we open them in the morning since the kids are all excited and stuff. But when the Santa gifts take over the morning and it's a hassle to get the kids away from them to open the other stuff then I say maybe wait and bring them in differently.

Last year and the year before Santa left his gifts in one of the kids bedrooms and that kid slept with a sibling or grandparent. I was up all night wrapping anyway. I closed the door and left them unwrapped. It was a Kangaroo Climber and a bike so it would be awkward to wrap. Last year it was a bike and tricycle.

This year Santa brought a trampoline and we tied huge jingle bells on the spring joints and big floaty ribbons all over too. The kids thought some gifts someone placed on our porch last night without labels telling who they were from were the gifts from Santa so they didn't even miss getting a gift. I even pointed out that Santa ate the cookies and drank some of the milk, still no "What did Santa leave for us". I finally had to go outside to do anything to draw their attention to the yard and they saw it and didn't figure it out until I said "Look what Santa brought to you guys". The temp was in the low 30s with a vicious wind chill so they didn't last long on it.

I'm the grammie now but after I talked to poppy (Grandpa) we decided that putting together big things like bikes or wagons or large doll houses and wrapping everything else. Kids like to unwrap, at least if my 3 (on Friday) y/o and 8 y/o grandchuildren are any example.

We also wrap in special Santa Wrap that no other present gets wrapped in. My kids are only 3 and 1 so they don't really notice those differences yet, but I figured I better have a plan for when they do! ;) Santa doesn't wrap stuff that goes in stockings and this year they each had a kid sized chair with a guitar (daughter) and big snoopy dog (son) waiting for them in that which was unwrapped. My son also got a Fisher Price stand and play garage from Santa which I did take out of the box and put together but then I wrapped it in the 'special' paper. All our presents go under the tree except what fits inside the stockings which stay in their place on the mantle. The only thing we open Christmas Eve is pajamas and the ocassional present from a family member.

Santa wraps presents here. Each kids has their own wrapping paper and their gifts are all put together on each side of the tree. Now, Santa normally puts one big gift together and doesn't wrap it. So, this year my 3 year old got a bike from Santa and that was not wrapped but sitting next to his gifts that were near the tree. I also thought it was fun unwrapping growing up and so did my husband so thankfully we agree!

Santa leaves presents for our kids under the tree and they get wrapped like any other.

IN our house
Family gifts are under the tree. They are opened Christmas Eve, those from mom and dad and the kids to each other.
Santa gifts are left near the stockings wrapped. So if my daugher chooses the rocking chair, her stocking and Santa gifts are on the chair.
We have to assemble the trampoline later it was wrapped and placed in the middle of the room.
I have in the past left one really nice gift,( Molly Doll, train set, kitchen set, rocking horse), open for them to see right away.

Ha! I had to respond because my hubby and I disagree too. My family's tradition was all presents were wrapped, and all were from Santa (delivered while we slept). My husband's family had 1 gift from Santa unwrapped, all other gifts were from Mom/Dad, which were wrapped and under the tree a week before Christmas. As a compromise, we do 1 gift from Santa unwrapped, but all gifts appear overnight. I still wish the gifts were from Santa, and maybe 1 gift from Mom/Dad (makes Santa more special, reduces the "I wants" because Santa's in charge, and lets us milk the "Santa's watching" routine). This was our 4th year with kids, and we're still figuring it out. I'm still hopeful I can change my husband's mind and get Santa a little more involved!

Santa wraps here, but big, "needs assembly" stuff is always better if it's together & ready to go first thing Christmas morning!

unwrapped cause theyare usually hard to wrap

Unwrapped, under stockings and the tree. This year Santa even set up an electric train set on the dining room table!

if it's a big thing it gets unboxed and assembled.
Santa leaves gifts by the fireplace where he comes in of course. Unless it's too big then he leaves gifts in the playroom.
Gifts are unwrapped.

At our house Santa's gifts (only 1 per child OR 1 big joint gift) is always un-wrapped, fully assembled with a big red velvet bow!

~Just like when I was a kid!

In our house, Santa leaves one large present and then small stuff in the kids stockings. Santa always leaves his gifts unwrapped and already assembled out of the box and ready to go, because "Santa doesn't box his gifts that they make at the north pole" This way there is no assembly Christmas morning and the kids can just start playing.