Number the gifts under the tree to keep the kids guessing which ones are theirs

A little gift-giving mischief from Genie:

When I was a kid, my siblings and I would spend hours around the Christmas tree looking at the gifts. We, like most kids, would try to figure out what was in our boxes - much to the dispair of our mother. Finally, one year, she came up with an idea to fool us all, including Dad! Instead of writing our names on the to/from tags, she assigned each one of us a number and wrote that number on the tag. Of course, the only person who knew which number went with which family member was Mom (and she wrote down the list in a secret spot just in case she forgot on Christmas morning). So, we kids had no idea which box was for us and even less of an idea of what might be inside. It didn't lessen the looking at the pile of gifts, but it did limit the guessing.

Other parents I've heard of will wrap a jingle bell or something inside of a box with clothing... just to fool the kiddos.

Do you have any gift-anonymizing tricks up your sleeve?

Comments

[Rabia Lieber]

ACK! NO!!! This is what my mother did to us!! And then she forgot the numbers. hahaha
My favorite trick was the year that my brother bought me a new cassette tape I really wanted. He put several bricks in the box and underneath one of the bricks was a shredded cassette tape. I almost cried because I thought my new tape was broken. But it wasn't. Now I am feeling mischevious for this Christmas!!

[shirky]

um santa didn't show up until late xmas eve so the only thing under the tree was the wee village scene my mom put up. i never thought of putting the presents out before actual xmas. sounds too tempting!!

[Nicki]

Last year I bought an IPod for my hubby, but he's notoriously good at guessing his gifts, so I used a large box, put a hammer in the bottom, filled it with newspaper (along with all the ipod stuff) and wrote "please don't shake" on it, making it seem fragile. He completely fell for it ... so funny.

He also once hid pearls in the bottom of my stocking. We are sneaky people :)

[Lindsey]

I always wrap my kid's gifts in different paper. No tags to worry about falling off, and the kids have no idea which gift belongs to who.

[Sarah]

My aunt did a variation of the numbered gift hack. With seven kids, she assigned different colored dots to each of the kids and labeled the gifts that way. Then she made a key indicating which color was assigned to which kid. On Christmas eve, she hid the key. On Christmas morning, the kids couldn't wake her up to open gifts until they found the key. She was tricky with it too--one time the key was hidden on top of a fan blade. I've never thought to ask my cousins what they thought about it, but it bought my aunt some more sleep Christmas morning.

[Kate in Iowa]

When I was growing up, we didn't put presents under the tree until Christmas Eve (after church). When my dad was growing up, a neighbor of his had all their Christmas gifts stolen from under the tree while they were at church.
As for how to tell them apart, my mother wouldn't tag any of the gifts. Instead, she'd wrap each person's gifts in one paper. So she knew that the Santa paper went to my dad, etc.

[elizabeth]

My husband's family saves all their toilet paper rolls and other oddly shaped packing material in the last couple months before Xmas, and then tapes said items to the gifts to disguise their profiles. This sometimes requires a base level of paper as a taping surface. It's a particularly useful trick for those really obviously shaped presents, like books and video games.

[Shayna]

I think this idea was given above, but my mom assigned each of the four kids a different wrapping paper, but we did not know which wrapping paper was ours. I think it's a fab idea.

[Liss]

My mom didn't put the presents out, but she did do the numbering thing. And she didn't write down who was what, so I opened my oldest brother's gifts and my sister opened mine almost all night.
Every year my mom "remembers" gifts she stashed all over the house and brings them out after we've opened our gifts, unwrapped of course because she forgot them. We are all grown with children of our own, so it's not like she needs to hide anything!

[elizabetsy]

my MIL numbers, with some system only she knows. She still uses it. After more than 25 years, the kids never figure out their numbers.
My dad loved the year he his my mom's present in an antique milk jug we always use as a side table. She set her coffee on her present for a month and didn't know it. He wrapped a clue in an old ring box.
We like to do scavenger hunts! We also put bricks, silverware to throw off a light/quiet present.
My dad takes the presents out of their boxes and switches them all around, so, even after you unwrap, you don't know what it is.

[Rhonda]

I assign a different colored ribbon per kid and then I take a sample of each ribbon, with a name on it, and hide that. I only give clues (usually in the form of a silly rhyme) to where the "name ribbons" are hidden AFTER I have a cup of coffee in my hand! One year it was in a plastic ball ornament on the tree, another year they were wrapped around the wreath on the front door, this year they are taped under the nutcracker. I keep thinking I should start hiding them separately so each kid gets a chance to find their own ribbon, but then I'd have to make up more rhymes and it usually takes me a month for one!

[marci]

the only presents from parents under the tree were usually pretty practical (new socks or undies, books, book bags, those type things). santa came with the toys christmas night - we got up to everything displayed, unwrapped & batteried & ready to go. it sure looked lavish to us! so we didn't really snoop under the tree.

but my cousin sure would! her sis wrapped her new markers in a huge box with several bricks & made her mad that she wasn't getting the markers she asked for. ;)

[mik]

My wifes family has done a 'Christmas Code' since my mother-in-law was a child. Her mother would have a different code every year and if nobody solved it, would slowly hand out hints on Christmas until it was solved. My father-in-law took up the tradition, and has been doing it for his kids (and now grandkids) each year. Somehow, he continues to come up with something new every year and usually keeps us guessing until the Christmas hints. Not only is fun, but tends to create family time to try to figure out the code before we celebrate Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa.

[Heidi]

Growing up as an only child, I did give and receive gifts-in-disguise but never had the mystery of trying to figure out whose gifts were whose. These ideas are so funny and clever, I can't wait for my kids to be old enough to use them. I LOVE the one where the mom hides the key! (Anything to get a few extra Zs!) Thanks, ParentHackers! Can't wait to see the rest...

[chris]

We had a pull-down attic door in the ceiling growing up, but it would work in any closet or room too. We were probably 7, 8, & 9 years old and had been caught snooping the year prior. That year, and every year thereafter, my parents announced that all the toys were purchased, wrapped, and placed in the attic. The attic was also booby-trapped. If the door was opened even an inch, the whole pile of presents wold come crashing down and we'd never get it right again. Every day, after we went to bed they would check the booby-trap. If it had been tampered with, they would open every present and show up what was bought, then return every single one to the store, leaving us with nothing. In hindsight, I doubt there was a booby-trap at all, but the threat of losing every present was enough to keep three very nosy kids out of the attic right through college.

[Mieke]

Wonderful suggestions all. So far, haven't needed to hide the destination of the gifts. It probably helps that our family tradition is to open everything on Christmas eve (the 24th)...

As a side note - in The Netherlands there is a gift-giving holiday on December 5, called Sinterklaas. One of the things I love about it is that you are supposed to make a "surprise" wrapping of the present. Like the bricks and tape, or the hammer and newspaper mentioned above. Or a ziplock baggie with the gift in it on the bottom of a bowl of molasses. Or in a box wrapped inside another box inside another box. And then for the majority of the presents. So much fun!

[Julie]

HILARIOUS. I will have to remember this trick when my kiddies are older. My folks wrapped up HUGE boxes one year with one labeled for me and one for my brother. We slit the tape open with a knife and peeked at the computer box inside. we were disappointed because we wanted stereos. When we opened them Christmas morning, they had rocks in them and a note to find our real present in the basement. Yep, stereos! ha

[Gori Wife]

My mom used Reindeer names instead of numbers - much more festive!

And she had LOTS of gift wrapping techniques to throw us off. Once she safety-pinned new underwear together and stuffed them into an empty wrapping paper tube -I thought I was getting some kid of poster! That same year she pinned individual socks together and rolled them into a ball and put them in an empty coke 12-pack - so they even 'dispensed' properly.
And every year there was a little macaroni in some of the emptier boxes, or a brick in another box. She'd usually put the brick in one of the lighter boxes, and usually off center so they gift felt heavy on one side. It kept us guessing, that's for sure - and we were always really surprised!

[Dana]

My brother and I were the "unwrappers" of the family. We would spend an afternoon unwrapping all of the presents and then rewrapping them ourselves. We didn't even bother trying to save the orginal wrapping paper...sometimes we even wrapped things back up in completely different paper.

Eventually...my mom got wise and started to "sign" our names along the seams of the wrapping paper. There was no way to get the signature to line back up perfectly...so that was the end of our pre-Christmas openfest.

[Leighann]

One year my little brother was just learning to read. He opening every box whose tag started with "C." Problem is that our sister's name also starts with "C." He wasn't too thrilled with her new underwear.

The next few years, my parents chose a solid color for each kid and wrapped all their presents in that color. No tags needed.

I usually buy snowmen paper for my daughter (her stocking has a snowman) and reindeer paper for my son (his stocking has a reindeer). And only the presents from Santa get this paper.

[Daffodil]

These are such cool ideas! We have one son, so it's kind of obvious who gets the bulk of the presents around here. And when I was growing up, I never, ever shook a present. Not once. I mean, not even a little bit. I was a VERY good kid. (Don't worry. I made up for it in college.) My sister shook presents, but we never snooped and we never unwrapped and my mom wrote our regular names on the presents. These stories make me wish we'd been "snoopier!"

One year, quite by accident, we did come across a pair of nightgowns Mom had gotten for us. She lied and told us that she was hiding them for the mom of our friends (two sisters exactly our ages). We bought it, and when we opened our nightgowns, we said, "Oh hey! Tobey and Kelly are getting the SAME nightgowns! How neat!" Poor Mom had to explain that wasn't the case.

I did think about getting some different wrapping paper that comes "from Santa" -- so the "from Mommy and Daddy" paper doesn't give away the surprise. Now I think I will do that -- just to make myself smile!

[Rob Gaskill]

We chose a different wrapping paper for each child and wrap all their gifts in that paper. We don't reveal the "key" that is which paper represents which child until Christmas morning.

[Parent Hacks Editor]

My husband is the king of "Just give me one hint." So one year I wrapped up a box of Velveeta Cheese, and when he asked for a hint, I said "It's orange." "Okay, that didn't count. Give me one more hint." "It's edible." Etc. Until he practically tore his hair out trying to figure out his gift. Imagine his delight when he unwrapped the box of Velveeta. (Makes me laugh just recalling the look on his face.) I then produced his REAL gift from under the bed. He's never asked for a hint since then.

[Melissa Gutierrez]

I think that is the funnest idea! I would love to do this with my adult friends too now. We could keep all the gifts in a communal, or agreed upon space. Numbering them or making the gifts mysteries would be cool in itself. Brings back memories of being a snooping kid around the tree.

[Anita]

My favorite memory of Christmas is wrapping presents with the older siblings and my mom on Christmas eve. She would number the boxes 1-5 and we would wrap away. When we opened presents on Christmas morning, we would delight to see who wrapped what and it was especially entertaining when we had actually wrapped our own gifts! I loved this time because it was finally a time where it was MY day. (I was born on Christmas and everyone would stop what they were doing on midnight and sing Happy Birthday)

[Ki]

It started with my youngest boy who was a curious vandal. We knew if we put out the gifts, he'd rip open all the paper and then lose the toys if I turned my head for two minutes.

So we didn't put them out. They stayed wrapped up and ready in our closet until Christmas Eve.

The tree did look a little lonely, but it really punched up the magic of Christmas Day when all the presents were suddenly there.

[Starr]

I tried that one time, and being the monther of five children, ONE of them figured it out. I even tried a color-coded thing---I forgot which was which. I finally gave up, and just went with the flow of things.....

[Lisa]

When my step-kids were younger, my SS in particular was horribly obsessed with shaking presents, trying to guess, etc. So one year, I gave all the presents to the cats. They didn't find out until Christmas morning who was which cat. It was interesting and fun for all of us.

[elsimom]

My dad's family was allowed to "shake" the gifts to try to guess. He became a really good guesser. BUT - because they were allowed to shake, my grandma always put weird stuff in to make them noisier. Then there was the ol' disguise the record album trick (much easier now with CDs!). My mom likes to do "mystery boxes" for some of the big things - so you don't know who is getting the great big box.
My son is getting a lot of legos this year. I've been thinking of how to "unshake" those so it is less obvious. . . .we'll see!

[magpie]

That's funny. Apparently my mother's mother did the same thing.

[Jennifer]

My mom wrapped all of our presents in colored tissue paper, then put all of the presents for one person inside of one large box. It looked as though my brother and I were each getting only one large gift, and if we peeked all we could see was colored paper. Of course we were so excited to see the many gifts once we were able to open the big box!