When it comes to Christmas presents, kids have a sixth sense; they can smell presents the way a Mom can smell chocolate. You’ve worked so hard to find them the perfect gift, and then, they find the gifts and spoil the whole surprise.
With four curious boys in the house, I have researched the topic extensively. My results appeared in the newspaper for an article I wrote for the SNP. Here is the complete article:
If you have children in your house who can read, you might want to cut this article out of the paper and stash it in the trash as soon as these hiding places are safely tucked in your memory. The spots listed here are stealthy ingenious because they are, as Poe’s purloined letter, so obviously right in front of your nose, yet still concealed. For example, while you wouldn’t be the first parent to hide your child’s presents under your bed, nor would your child be the first to check there first. Today’s parent must be armed with new solutions to out-smart today’s child. For example, how many children would think to check under their own bed for those delightful gifts? Parents of dust bunnies everywhere can attest that the lost sock or the delinquent library book is usually always found there, even after the child guarantees you that he’s “looked everywhere.”
I once thought garbage bags would be clever — dark-colored garbage bags full of neatly wrapped presents, stored in the garage, right alongside the garbage cans. For an entire month, my boys were never asked to take out the garbage, “I’ll handle it,” I said. Still, I found the garbage bags had been untied and the smartly wrapped parents now sported torn edges where the scotch tape had been pulled off and re-affixed. I would have faired better if I had simply tucked the gifts into the attic, and put them into the plastic tubs labeled “Valentine’s Decorations” or “Summer Clothes.” Or why didn’t I take advantage of the empty storage containers that were tossed aside once our Christmas decorations were pulled out and displayed?
If you store the gifts out of your home, say, at your office, or at Grandma’s, for example, there is always the challenge of migrating the presents back into your home for Christmas morning — a large task to add to any Christmas Eve. Storing them in the trunk of the car runs its own risks, as sometimes those battery operated toys get jostled around, and the word’s “I’m Elmo” can reverberate through the car just when you have the kids packed in for a night-time cruise to look at the city’s Christmas lights display.
Of course, you could just leave the wrapped presents under the tree, and tell the kids the truth, while trusting them with the responsibility of doing the right thing. “Here are your presents. You can peek, but if you’ll do, you’ll ruin your own Christmas morning.” The year my parents left the presents out under the tree, I did sneak downstairs after they were asleep, and tore the corners off every present addressed to me. That was also the last year I tried to unlock the mystery of any surprise that passed through my life.
Today’s cyber market place delivers its own clandestine challenges. Your computer’s search history leaves a clear trail – that must be deleted from your browser, and your computer. Without this step, a quick glance at the search history will reveal your entire Christmas plan. That handy “memorize password” feature exposes the order history of every item you’ve ordered on amazon.com, along with their delivery dates. How will you know your security features have been breached? A sure sign is when your child looks at you and says, “Mom, that Xbox 360 your ordered is the wrong one. The 4G is the right one.”
Share your own best-kept parenting secrets, learn from other moms and connect with some of our great mom bloggers! Please list your meal-saving strategies for picky eaters in the comments below. Everyone who comments will be entered in a BlogHer giveaway for a $200 Visa gift card. Enter here.
I hide mine in plain sight. they never seem to notice.
We don’t have to deal with this right now, since the Little Mister is only six months old. But I would totally be the one to hide presents so well I forgot where I put them!!
I hide mine in the attic, for now. I know that hiding place won’t last forever because that kid of mine is into everything!
I don’t have little children any more, but it was always quite a feat to hide presents. And from ME when I was a child. (my mom always went for under her bed…) I’d peek but not too hard as I did want to be surprised..
Happy TT-13!
Smiles,
Holly
http://theabundanceplace.com/
I always go with the “Purloined Letter” approach. Plain site hiding always manages to fool my family. Happy TT. I’m giving away a calendar with my TT this week.
I used to hide them under my bed.
I usually hide them in my son’s room. LOL! He never finds them.
Just don’t forget where you hid them. My mom hid a bunch of things on year, and didn’t find them unti July. She let us open them still, though. LOL.
Another thing, my mom would get things for me and tell me they were for other people, and that worked until I was about 14. 
Happy TT!
My Mom used to put them under the tree, with no tags. We searched for codes on the back – sometimes we opened the wrong gifts, when she couldn’t remember who got the odds and who got the evens.
Then again, she always slaved away on the 24th, her birthday, making this delightful for us, so she gets a pass.
I hide things in my office, among the books. I’m lucky the family can find me in here (or am I? I sure get stuff done while they’re looking for me!), let alone anything that shouldn’t be.
Happy TT!
Love #9! Great, safe idea.
#12 is great. It wouldn’t work here as they house a lot of toys under their beds, but still, great!
Love your list!!
FABULOUS and timely! My oldest is 8 and he keeps ‘stumbling’ into my hiding spots. This post is perfect! You’ve given me some excellent ideas — THANKS!!
When you get to be the Grandma you don’t worry so much about them finding the gift…you worry about where you put them! LOL Great Ideas.
You must love those kids so much to work so very hard. It warms my heart. Thanks for sharing!
Happy TT!
I remember one year when we had guests over a few weeks before Christmas. My brother excused himself to use the bathroom. Several minutes later he came running back into the living room proudly displaying his Ghostbusters toy my parents had hidden from him. At least he was shouting thanks as he started tearing open the package. My mom was not happy that night.
Great list, though. I’ll have to keep it in mind when I eventually have kids.
ha! My kids ALWAYS found their gifts. Oh well, they enjoyed the search. i guess it’s part of the tradition
Mom always uses her office… but lately she decided to just hand it over to me early. Hahaha. ‘Christmas’ could happen any day
If I hide in too many places, I would forget where they were all at. LOL- I am up too:
http://momtoanangel.blogspot.com/2007/11/tt-13.html
Great ideas. I’m with Michelle! My husband and I recently found one of last year’s gotta-haves in a storage tub in the cellar!
Great ideas! My kids were never that curious, and good thing– one year I bought all the Christmas gifts in summer. By Christmas I had forgotten what I’d bought, and where I put it, and ended up buying more!
My mother always hid things in the bathroom cupboards. We laughed about it growing up, but now that I’m a mother, I appreciate it! lol. Great ideas. Have a nice day.
Some great ideas here! My kids always used to sniff out my hiding places.
I always put them wrapped, under the tree. My other weapon is to tell the kids (and husband) where I am hiding them, but that I will know if they look for them/find them and I will give those presents away and they won’t get them for Christmas afterall.
I am so mean, but it totally works.
My parents used to wrap them and leave them under the tree too. We were so good at re-wrapping
I usually hide as much as I can in my bedroom closet, along the top shelf, inside bags and boxes.
Mine are still small enough to get away with hiding them in the attic, but I don’t want to go up there anymore than they do LOL
Fantastic ideas. I currently do most of my shopping online so I just leave them in the boxes as they arrive. This can come back to bite you though if something doesn’t come and you THINK it’s in the un opened box.
I imagine the key is REMEMBERING where you hid them! As for me, I like to use the secret compartment under the backseats in my SUV.
These are great! I’m one of those people who finds forgotten gifts sometime in February or March. The earlier I start shopping, the greater the potential for loss.
I love the one about hiding it under their beds. Oh my gosh! Too funny! My oldest is still too young to understand what’s going on. Her presents are in the basement and she thinks a monster lives down there so she’d not going there. LOL! But I will have to remember those in the future!
We’ve tried the back of our minivan before.. It really doesn’t work well, even with a blanket over them.
My mom used to put them in her closet and lock the door. We’d still get in while she was at work. I plan on telling my son I didn’t get him anything and hiding them in my husbands garage.
Thanks for the holla!!!
Interesting that we have similar backgrounds….if I could be so bold, could you expand on that a bit? (nervous giggle)
This year I had them hid where my husand told me to and my daughter was school so she had no idea!I had them hiiden the laundry room closet she is never in ther!The day I hid them she claims she was hiding my and her fathers gift when she found hers!If you try that be sure to have them in a storage tub thats always there and put a top on it!:)
I am 14 and i always find my gifts. I just cant help not looking. My mom never finds out. I always find them on the highest shefl in er closet or in suitcases. If your trying to find them look at stors they shop at online. This year i loked in there account on a website and found the one thing i wanted for Christmas. Other kids out there be careful to make sure your parents don’t find out because they will most likly return them. My mom told me if i find out what im geting she will return them. So know you have to be very sneaky.
okay so im 13, and ive found some presents that im getting this x-mas by doing this:
haha, okay u can also look at recipts to c what they bought after black friday, or in thee closet where you put all ur paper and plastic bags, some stores have bags unlike kmart which i could be anything , but something like….hot topic, you have a better chance of knowing what ur getting. also look (if u keep ur cupons in a box or whatev) look at the cupons before they shop and after they shop, so u know what they bought.
my mom always bought them and wrapped them straight away, so she never had the time to hide the bag she bought the present in or the coupon so i always found out. i mostly hide them in big folders in my husbands office. one year i hid them under my daughters be, and she never found out. this year i hid fake presents under the sofa, when my kids found them the thought they were the real presents so they stopped looking.
I thought I had the perfect hiding spot one year – my darkroom, the girls never liked to go in there cause they could smell the chemicals, so we put them in there and just in case locked the door. Well…..the oldest one picked the lock…….then left the door standing open!! Of course that year it was bigger, harder to wrap presents so they were not wrapped yet. She always did trip herself up and get caught, like the time she cut her bangs putting the hair in the toilet, not flushing it and leaving the lid open….”No, I did not cut my bangs”…..LOL
i have tried evry single one of these places and my kids all find them!! any idea how to skillfully hide them? in plain sight, preferably, after they are wrapped?i need a way to have them UNDER the tree, but not obviously certain gifts. I have a teenager who pesters me, but she never opens them.
Ha! I wish I could find a good place to keep our presents. Mom was always telling me to find great hiding places cause that’s what I’m good at. And it’s so fun to watch the kids strugle to find the presents and the fail and beg me to give them a hint. Yeah I am evil.(kidding)