Do you let your DC open holiday gifts sent from relatives early?

[Jenn98]

DD is only 16 months, so she still has no idea, but I was wondering if I should have her wait until Christmas to open gifts that out of town relatives have been sending. I'd like to have a "policy" on this kind of stuff. What do you do?

[JenDC]

We opened all of dd's Hannuka presents from my dad and stepmother yesterday. We just felt like it. Also, my mom will be here for the first part of Hannukah and it would be awkward to open presents from my dad while she is here.

Jen

mom to Shoshana 3.29.06

[jayali]

We decided to wait and have our son open all the presents at once (when possible). If a gift is sent, I will call to tell the person that it has arrived and explain that we are waiting until Christmas to open. Here is why we wait. It seems like my son has a hard time with the concept of time and when Christmas is. I was afraid that if we open gifts as they come he would start think that he gets presents every day. We do the same thing with his birthday and any other holiday that relatives send him gifts (Halloween and Easter). This way he can associate the present with the actual day and hopefully at some point not expect a present every day.

Of course, if someone brings us a gift while they are visiting then we let him open it in front of them.

[maestramommy]

When Dora got her birthday gift a week early I just opened it. But she got a gift from an exchange yesterday. Even though I already opened it, I put it away so she can open it herself on Christmas day. It's in a gift bag with crepe paper so no big deal. If she gets any other gifts in the mail we'll wait. She still has no concept of opening gifts, but it could be fun!

[SpaceGal]

We usually wait until Christmas. We did get some early gifts while we visited the family for Thanksgiving...and since we couldn't bring wrapped gifts on the plane, I let DS open them there so they could see his reaction too.

Unless a friend would like too see their reaction, we usually wait.

Anything in the mail, I usually call and let the personknow we've received it and thank you.

[JBaxter]

I make the kids wait but I always open them first just to make sure its an approved item and not something I already have purchased. Then I wrap them back up :)

[o_mom]

We open them as they come. At this age (3 and 18 months) they get overwhelmed so easily. Even with just 5-10 gifts they lose interest in opening and have no association of a specific gift coming from a certain person. Really, Christmas and Birthdays are the only times we get gifts in the mail, so having a gift a day for a week is not a huge deal. When they get older (I'm thinking 6 yo or so) we may wait until Christmas for everything, but right now it doesn't work well.

When we get them in the mail I let them open them that day if possible, take a picture and try and have DS1 make a thank you note right away or the next day. Then he does better at associating who gave him what. They also tend to spend more time playing with something if that is the only thing they get that day. If someone gives us a gift in person I usually have them open them right there if possible (obviously not in a group of toddlers or something, but if a person comes over or we are at their house, for example).

[LarsMal]

I voted for "depends". I was trying to keep all of DS's presents until Christmas, but my MIL bought him his winter coat. It got too cold for his fall coat over the weekend so we had to bust into that one. My parents brought some of his gifts to the house this past weekend. I trued to keep them hidden away, but DS found one of them and got so interested in it I just let him have it. I'll try to keep the rest for Christmas Day.

[Melanie]

It Depends. If it just shows up in the mail, then no. If the relative/friend comes over and we won't see them again anytime soon (or don't see them often) then yes we open.

[kransden]

At that age, I let dd open them as they came. It is too overwhelming on xmas to open all the presents. She stopped 1/2 way through last year too. This year dd is 4. I am thinking this year will be the first year she'll get them all at once.



Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[candybomiller]

Uh, I'm the one who is too impatient to wait. :) Actually, DS insists on opening anything that arrives and generally I give in.

[MartiesMom2B]

I let her open a few gifts from MIL for Hannukah. We celebrate Christmas though. She'll open the rest on Christmas.

-Sonia
Mommy to Martie
& Li'l Girl Bunny to come Feb. 2007
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