How to stop the guessing of wrapped Christmas presents

smilie

I've been unwonked!
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
My stepdaughter has become quite a pro at guessing what is wrapped in Christmas presents. This year we are getting her a tv as one of her gifts. Obviously she will guess what it is before Christmas gets here.

I need an idea of how to trick her.... ?? Either in the way we wrap it or should I wrap something else and trick her?
 
My stepdaughter has become quite a pro at guessing what is wrapped in Christmas presents. This year we are getting her a tv as one of her gifts. Obviously she will guess what it is before Christmas gets here.

I need an idea of how to trick her.... ?? Either in the way we wrap it or should I wrap something else and trick her?

I am a pro at wrapping presents. If I could find a way to make it a career, I would.

Since a tv is obvious, I’d wrap up a small box with raw macaroni in it (to confuse her when she shakes) and put a picture of a tv in the box as well.

In our house, the rule was always once it’s under the tree, no shaking. If you are caught shaking, all of your presents go away until Christmas morning.
 


My husband wrapped a note that said look in the closet in a bracelet box. When I looked in the closet I found my Steeler coat. He is an expert at doing stuff like that. He has sent our daughters on scavenger hunts to find their birthday presents. He snuck into our daughter's bedroom a couple years ago when she was in the bathroom and put her Slytherin comforter on her bed and never said a word. She didn't find it for hours.
 
Go to Best Buy, Lowes, or similar & pick up a preferably square box that's quite a bit bigger than the TV box. I've even cut two or three boxes & taped them together to make them the size I needed. Completely fill in the space with paper, bubble wrap, etc., so it won't move, in case she shakes it. You don't want her to know the gift isn't big enough to fill the box. When DS went through his guessing stage, I double or triple boxed everything. I put books, rocks, paper, etc. in them to add weight or fill space.
 
I have used a couple of techniques. For my mom one year, we bought her a computer. I found a computer charm, which we wrapped up in a small box. When she opened it, she couldn't figure out what it was, so we told her, "It's a computer!!!" She was puzzled for a moment until she realized what we had said. The computer was waiting for her at her home.

For our kids, we had bought one a bicycle and one a scooter for Christmas. We kept the actual gifts in the garage and wrapped up those mini "finger" bikes and scooters that were popular a number of years back (similar to the Tek Dek skateboards). When they opened the miniature versions, we asked them if they would like to exchange them for the real thing and sent them to the garage.

You could do a similar kind of bait and switch. Wrap up a movie and stick a photo of what you have purchased her on top of it, or whatever else you can come up with.
 


I think wrapping the remote in a shoebox or shirt box and storing the TV somewhere else would help.

One year when I was growing up a wrapped gift was shaken and it broke. So with my children nothing goes under the tree except gifts we are taking elsewhere (like to extended family on Christmas eve) and the kids help wrap those gift so they have no reason to shake. On Christmas Eve I put all their gifts under the tree (including stuff sent from extended family that we won't see for the holidays). Added to the big gift Santa brings it is really magical to go from nothing there to this rather impressive display of gifts.
 
Kinda takes the fun out of it for me ..... I wouldn't go to lots of work,
I just wouldn't put her gifts out until Christmas Day.
Nothing there, nothing to shake, rattle and figure out.
Then roll it all out for her to be surprised.
 
Just wrap the remote in a really fancy, think jewelry, package.
I like this!

Or attach a picture of the TV to a brick and wrap that.

Alternately, don't put names on presents. Instead, buy one roll of paper for each family member -- all different -- and only you know whose gifts are in snowman paper vs. whose gifts are in red-with-snowflakes.
 
Alternately, don't put names on presents. Instead, buy one roll of paper for each family member -- all different -- and only you know whose gifts are in snowman paper vs. whose gifts are in red-with-snowflakes.
I did this last year but apparently I wasn't sneaky enough with the wrapping. They all had wrapping paper that would interest them so I wouldn't get confused lol. My mom used to make a list of which gifts were ours.... red wrapping/gold bow is for this kid. One year she lost her list and it was a free for all, once it was opened she told us who it was for.
 
I wait until everyone goes to bed on Christmas Eve and then put the presents & stockings out.

Me too, I thought I was so sneaky until my kids recently told me they could hear me moving the presents downstairs after they went to bed. I thought I had fooled them all these years!
They did believe in you-know-who until embarrassingly old ages, lol, so it worked for a long time, at least.
 
I wait until everyone goes to bed on Christmas Eve and then put the presents & stockings out.

That is what we had growing up and continued until they were in their 20's.

Santa wrapped in white tissue, us in colored paper. Nothing went out until everyone except MOM was in bed. I then put out all the gifts and filled the stockings.
 
one year my brother who had grown tired of me guessing most gifts under the tree decided to put my skills to the test. he got a 50 pound lead weight to which he taped a piece of paper that said what my gift was, wrapped it and put it under the tree. i couldn't even pick up the freaking thing let alone try to shake it-it drove me NUTS.
 
Presents for the kids never come out until Christmas eve (after they go to bed). I still do it this way. Having a Lego-loving kid meant never being able to put his presents under the tree early (no matter how I wrapped or tried to insulate them) ;) Even now the tradition remains that they don't see theirs until Christmas morning.
 
Use the oldest trick in the book.

Did you get everything you wanted
Almost.
Well that's life. There is always next year.
Yeah.
Say wait a minute. What's that behind the desk/curtains/etc. Why don't you go check it out.
 
Me too, I thought I was so sneaky until my kids recently told me they could hear me moving the presents downstairs after they went to bed. I thought I had fooled them all these years!
They did believe in you-know-who until embarrassingly old ages, lol, so it worked for a long time, at least.
We have a tradition where Daddy takes the kids out to lunch and the park a few days before Christmas while Mama hustles all the wrapped presents downstairs to a locked closet. Of course they know what’s up now but they still keep the tradition.

one year my brother who had grown tired of me guessing most gifts under the tree decided to put my skills to the test. he got a 50 pound lead weight to which he taped a piece of paper that said what my gift was, wrapped it and put it under the tree. i couldn't even pick up the freaking thing let alone try to shake it-it drove me NUTS.
My brother was awful. Such a s sneak. He knew everything he was getting and what we were getting and would torture us for weeks trying to tell us. One year I went to the mall and had his gift canned, wrapped it in about ten layers of tape and covered it in zip ties. He was furious! :rotfl2:

As to the OP 80% of the gifts do not get put out until everyone is in bed Christmas Eve. People find it hard to believe but my kids aren’t peekers, they like the surprise. My solution would be not to put her gifts under the tree.
 

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