It is great to be organised and have the Christmas prezzies wrapped and under the tree early, but with kids this is riddled with spoiler alerts. They feel, they drop, they sneak a peek, and it all takes the fun out of the surprise.
Layby is great, but I do not want to be wrapping pressies all of Chrissy eve.
The alternative solution is, you must stash the pressies somewhere, but where? Kids know there are pressies somewhere, they will search. I know I did as a kid! So here are some suggestions as to where to hide the pressies to keep the kids guessing ….
- Laundry basket with a few clothes on top. It will look like you haven’t done the laundry for a while, but it’s not like anyone else will notice!
- Linen cupboard between the sheets and towels.
- Cleaning supply cupboard. Worst-case scenario: Your kids might find presents there, but they’d also find the cleani
- Worst-case scenario: Your kids might find presents there, but they’d also find the cleaning supplies, which mean they might actually clean something.
- The beauty of this one is that you can lock the suitcase as well.
- Empty freezer, esky or similar box like item, and place ‘things’ on top.
- Specific boxes – if you already have a selection of shoe or photo boxes add the presents inside some of these, they shouldn’t go through all of them. Otherwise a box that has been sitting around and designed for something else, such as an old television or the chrissy tree box.
- Kitchen stock pots are large and not used a lot in summer in Australia, so great to hide smaller presents in.
- In the kids own room, that’s right, it is the last place they will expect their own presents to be! It is also where they don’t put things away, so you are safe.
- Ceiling cavity if you can get to it readily without the kids walking past and asking why you are in the roof!
- If you have a caravan that is not being taken away for Christmas, it is lockable and out of the house.
- If you have the ability to hide presents at someone else’s house such as the grandparents then the kids can ransack your house as much as they like, they won’t find them.
As kids get older be careful, the clever ones will look for receipts not prezzies.
If you need to finish some Chrissy shopping without the kids, or go and wrap them at the grandparents’ house, give Cherished Cherubs Babysitting a call on 0417 927 525, happy stashing ☺
