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View Full Version : Does Santa wrap at your house?



kristac
12-14-2007, 04:48 PM
Last year when DS was 2 Santa wrapped his gifts in special "Santa" paper. Fast forward to this year- the inlaws missed the memo and sent all thier gifts wrapped in- you guessed it- "Santa" paper. Since DS is too young to notice this snaffu we need a new tradition. I wanted to get the PBK personalized Santa bags but alas, I was too slow and they sold out. So now I'm thinking unwraped and set up... What do you do?

BeachBum
12-14-2007, 06:52 PM
Santa leaves the gifts unwrapped and "set up". They are all out of packaging and arranged.
Santa paper is too much work!

redhookmom
12-14-2007, 07:14 PM
Santa wraps every last gift at our house. Even the orange in the stocking. I guess he wraps because he wrapped for me and my dh when we were kids.

bubbaray
12-14-2007, 07:17 PM
Yes, gifts from Santa are wrapped, except the orange in the toe of the stocking

klc92201
12-14-2007, 07:35 PM
nope! He doesn't wrap anything. He lays out his spread and fills the stockings.

Heather

ThreeofUs
12-14-2007, 07:40 PM
Santa wraps little gifts, but bigger and oddly configured gifts are set up with a bow. Nothing in the stockings is wrapped, but be be-ribboned.

kijip
12-14-2007, 07:57 PM
Santa brings all the gifts around here. Some are wrapped (books, clothes, games etc) but big stuff (especially stuff that gets troublesome to remove from packaging and assemble) is pre-assembled and set out with a bow. When Toby was 2, the trains (several different cheap starter sets) were out and set up all through the presents and living room. When he was 3, the Ikea easel was set up and unwrapped with a message from Santa on the paper roll and this year, the bike and partially furnished doll house will be set out and waiting for him.

Jenn98
12-14-2007, 08:22 PM
I don't know - I'm torn on this. There's something special about waking up on Christmas morning and seeing all the wrapped gifts under the tree and being surprised as you open them up one by one. Santa always wrapped everything for me when I was little, but I'm thinking I may let him know that it may be too much for DD#1 to have all her stuff wrapped. We'll see!

elliput
12-15-2007, 12:33 AM
Santa doesn't wrap presents here until you are over 18, as he is a cheapstake who doesn't like to spend all that money on wrapping paper. Once you are 18, you aren't getting many Santa gifts anyway, so he feels better about wrapping them. Toys are assembled, unbox and displayed around the tree. If he brings clothes they are laid out on the sofa.

Fairy
12-15-2007, 02:43 AM
Sorry for the minor hijack, but does Santa eat a snack at your house? This is the first year we'll be leaving a snack for Santa, and I"m not sure what to do with the milk & cookies. Does Santa have a noticeable bite out of the cookie? Half the milk get drank? How hungry should Santa be?

s7714
12-15-2007, 03:07 AM
Sorry for the minor hijack, but does Santa eat a snack at your house? This is the first year we'll be leaving a snack for Santa, and I"m not sure what to do with the milk & cookies. Does Santa have a noticeable bite out of the cookie? Half the milk get drank? How hungry should Santa be?

We leave out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. The plate and cup are always empty come morning, but to be honest neither of my DDs has taken the time to observe how much is left. They're always too busy drooling over presents to care so far.

caheinz
12-15-2007, 03:23 AM
Sorry for the minor hijack, but does Santa eat a snack at your house? This is the first year we'll be leaving a snack for Santa, and I"m not sure what to do with the milk & cookies. Does Santa have a noticeable bite out of the cookie? Half the milk get drank? How hungry should Santa be?

Well, Santa has to try them, but he has a lot of kids' cookies to try, so he doesn't need to eat much. Of course, that depends on the what kind of cookies they are and how hungry Santa is after all that assembling and/or wrapping.

Of course, around here, DS has made it known that Santa can only have ONE cookie. :rolleyes:

annasmom
12-15-2007, 07:15 AM
Sorry for the minor hijack, but does Santa eat a snack at your house? This is the first year we'll be leaving a snack for Santa, and I"m not sure what to do with the milk & cookies. Does Santa have a noticeable bite out of the cookie? Half the milk get drank? How hungry should Santa be?


Santa has no self control in our house - I guess our cookies are just really yummy!

Like others have said - Santa wraps everything in our house except very large gifts, e.g., train table, easel, basketball hoop, etc. Those come with a bow. He uses a variety of wrapping paper, gift bags, etc.

BeachBum
12-15-2007, 07:34 AM
Sorry for the minor hijack, but does Santa eat a snack at your house? This is the first year we'll be leaving a snack for Santa, and I"m not sure what to do with the milk & cookies. Does Santa have a noticeable bite out of the cookie? Half the milk get drank? How hungry should Santa be?

At our house we bake a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas eve and that is what we leave out to share with Santa.

As for the "bites", I think just have fun with it. It doesn't have to be the same every year. The fun will come depending on how observant/interested your kiddo is.

thomma
12-15-2007, 08:23 AM
Santa doesn't wrap at our house. Each kid picks out a cookie for him and we leave a glass of milk. He leaves only crumbs. We also sprinkle reindeer food around the house for the reindeer and leave them a few carrots.

Kim
ds&dd 5/03

SnuggleBuggles
12-15-2007, 11:21 AM
Santa does not wrap b/c I am afraid I will get careless with the paper and my bright little will figure it out. When I was little my wrapping adverse Santa would put things in a trash bag with a ribbon around them. I loved it b/c you never knew what you would pull out next. :) It used to be (still?) that if you ordered something oversized from Amazon to be wrapped it would come in a blue cloth bag with green satin closure. They work great for Christmas gifts.

ETA- Santa only bring 2-3 gifts. The rest come from mom and dad and are wrapped under the tree. Santa gifts are set up and ready to go though Santa is unsure about what to do with Lego sets.

Fairy- Santa doesn't like a cup of milk to sit out all night so that all gets finished. Cookies only get a bite or 2.

Beth

kijip
12-15-2007, 12:16 PM
WRT Fairy's question- Santa is hungry here since he has often skipped diner in a mad dash to finish up his job. Last year thankfully unprompted, Toby wanted to make sandwiches to leave for Santa. He left Santa coke, coffee, a couple of cookies and 2 sandwiches. I think Santa and Mrs. Claus really enjoyed all that at about 9PM to give them the energy to keep wrapping. :)

new_mommy25
12-15-2007, 01:22 PM
Santa never wraps. All the presents are laid out with a bow and the stockings are stuffed with unwrapped gifts. The kids play with their Santa loot right away but must wait until the whole extended family is at the house to unwrap the rest of the presents.

As for Santa, we always leave milk and cookies with a little note for Santa. Santa always eats the cookies and drinks the milk and then scribbles a little thank you on the note.

hez
12-15-2007, 03:57 PM
Santa wraps here (in special paper that isn't used on anything else).

Santa also eats his cookies & drinks his milk :) It was the first thing DS checked when he woke up on Christmas last year!

Sillygirl
12-15-2007, 04:06 PM
Santa eats everything because he needs to stay "jolly." The one who leaves leftovers is Rudolph, who takes a bite out of the carrot and leaves the rest. He's gotta stay light to fly.

This year, Santa's borrowing our wrapping paper. Perhaps by next year, Jonathan will be old enough and I will be organized enough to get separate paper for Santa.

mik8
12-15-2007, 04:11 PM
Santa eats a cookie at our house (yes, a noticeable bite on the cookie) with half-empty glass of milk. The reindeers get to eat their favorite carrots too :)

salsah
12-15-2007, 04:14 PM
At our house we bake a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas eve and that is what we leave out to share with Santa.



Love that idea! It is a nice way to remind the kids (and us too) why we celebrate Christmas.

brittone2
12-15-2007, 04:57 PM
nak-
big stuff (train table and playstands in the past, kitchen/fridge this year) is set up, ready to be played with, with a big bow on it. Smaller stuff is wrapped. Stockings may or may not have the stuff wrapped depending on my mood and time management :)

Carrots, cookies and milk are left for Santa. He'll probably eat all the cookies ;) DS (almost 4) has declared we will "make Santa a peppermint mocha this year."

Looking forward to the magic :)

CiderLogan
12-16-2007, 03:36 PM
Both DH and I always found the whole load displayed in front of the tree, no wrapping, so that's what we do. Although I guess it could make the whole thing last longer to have it all wrapped, I LOVE the whole boom-look-at-all-that-stuff-and-it's-all-for-me impact that not wrapping has. It's all out of the packaging too, so playtime is immediate!

Bonus #1: I have enough to wrap already, with the separate gifts we give the girls from 'us' and that we give to each other and to everyone else we know!
Bonus #2: We can unpackage ahead of time and dispose of everything, making the trash/recycling pile on Christmas smaller.

Jenn98
12-16-2007, 04:43 PM
This will be the first year leaving a snack for Santa and we will leave cookies and milk for Santa (maybe a baggie of cookies to take back to Mrs. Claus!) We also will leave carrots for the reindeer and DD#1 made "special reindeer food" in preschool that needs to be sprinkled on the lawn on Christmas Eve. It's a baggie with oatmeal, Cheerios and glitter.

hbridge
12-16-2007, 04:45 PM
Santa wraps most things. This year there will be a few larger things unwrapped and spilling out of a Santa Bag, but most are wrapped in white paper with special Santa "ribbon". We've used yarn, cord, this year is rick rack. Santa writes all To/From in very bad calligraphy in red and has a special stamp that he uses. This year the packages will also be adorned with gold stars.

Some stocking gifts are wrapped, but not all. Daddy doesn't wrap stocking gifts so this way it's less obvious... Also, every stocking gets a new ornament and a candy cane.

We're really trying to keep this going for as long as possible. My DC is VERY observant of details and remembers everything. At the moment she's upset that Santa didn't know her name at the mall and she had to tell him...

As for milk and cookies, all he leaves are crumbs...

Masik
12-16-2007, 04:48 PM
Santa used to bring everything in a big "Santa sack" for us. I'll probably do it for DS next year, wnen he's older as well. As much as I LOVE wrapping, I think Santa sac is more "magical" looking so to speak :D

Joolsplus2
12-16-2007, 05:00 PM
Some things wrapped, some things not... stocking not wrapped but you MUST reach in and pull out one thing at a time (I had neices who dumped them out, I was astonished they were allowed to do that!).

But here's a funny... my dd (8) just noted to me 'Daddy and Santa have the same handwriting!'...I said Santa magically makes his writing look like the parents' in all the houses he delivers to...she seemed satisfied...

We couldn't do special santa paper...if I tried to hide it, I would lose it :D

ajmom
12-16-2007, 06:08 PM
Santa wraps here, unless it's a gift that requires excessive assembly or is too large to wrap, like the train table the boys got a couple of years ago. He only brings 2 gifts for each child, so we still have lots wrapped under the tree.

Santa eats all the cookies and drinks all the milk at our house. I guess our cookies are better than everyone else's! J/K! We make a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas eve, and then bake Santa's cookies after dinner. We sprinkle reindeer food on the front lawn and then it's off to bed for the kids! Can't wait!!!

JBaxter
12-16-2007, 09:09 PM
Santa wraps here..... Logan's in red paper (w/ prints) Connor in green paper ( w/ prints) and Nathan is blue paper (w/prints) Mommy's and Daddy's are in white backgrounds or gift bags.

Why....
Cause I got tired of trying to read the names when Logan and Connor were little it was WAY to early and I hadnt had my coffee. It kid of stuck I dont even have to put tags on them so if I wrap early they dont know who's who's if they find my stash LOL. Ive been wraping them in the same colors since Logan was 3 but he cant seem to remember from year to year his is always in red.

overcome
12-16-2007, 09:51 PM
This is the first Christmas DD knows Santa is coming and all that jazz. I just assumed Santa gifts would be unwrapped, but when I asked DH he said "wrapped". Hmmm. should be interesting.

We will leave cookies and milk and something for the reindeer. Santa will eat all the cookies and most of the milk.

BTW..I believe Land's End sells Santa sacks for oversized gifts and they were reasonably priced. If not Land's End, it's LLBean.

HHCs Mom
12-16-2007, 10:23 PM
Santa's gifts are unwrapped just to differentiate them from the other gifts. Stockings are also unwrapped since they are also from Santa.

Santa eats cookies and milk and eats them all! :) Reindeer get carrots and I think we're going to sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn this time. Not sure what just yet. Someone told me about throwing a bell out in the yard after the kids are in bed to represent one of the jingle bells that have fallen off the reindeer while they're at the house. :) That will be fun, too!

DS1 just sat and stared at the stockings and empty plate of cookies last year. He was in AWE that Santa had really come! We had talked and talked about Santa and last year (age 2.5) was the first year he really experienced it. It was too much fun and we're looking forward to it again. :)

elaineandmichaelsmommy
12-17-2007, 03:32 AM
I think we had this discussion last year also. I love making the food for the reindeer, we leave out cookies and milk for santa (which all get eaten). We wrap all the presents and I do try to wrap them in paper differant from ours..I'll need to watch that this year since dd will notice.

But the coolest thing I read last year was wrapping things in plain muslin bags and tying them with bright red ribbon or fluffy yarn. It just seemed like something santa would do.

wendmatt
12-17-2007, 09:55 AM
Santa wraps everything in our house. The first year we were married DH didn't wrap stocking gifts and I told him he had to wrap them the next year! We always had everything wrapped when I was young.
Santa eats all the cookies and the milk and leaves a note for DD to say thankyou. Last year she left him a gift too, bless her. I felt awful putting it in the bottom of the garbage can and covering it up but didn't know what else to do. Santa left a note saying thankyou for the gift and the cookies were delicious. We also left out carrots for the reindeer that were nibbled on in the morning, I guess Santa has a bigger appetite than the reindeer!