How do you open gifts? - Especially with multiple kids

luvmykids wrote: As a kid, we always did Christmas at my grandparents house and my grandpa was very strict about going around the room, one person at a time, and handing out one gift at a time. It took foreeeeeeever to finish but part of me thinks I really learned from that to enjoy watching other people receive and get joy just from seeing them happy, kwim?

I'm not sure how I want to go about it, I don't want to totally torture them by doing it one at a time but I also don't want to have some giant orgy of present opening and no one paying any attention, does that make sense? I hated that last year, they tore through them so fast and when it was all over they didn't even know who got what or from whom.

So I'm just looking for ideas on how to make it have some shred of order and meaning but without doing it in a way they're really too young to handle.

Kentuckychick replied: Well, I voted one gift at a time, one person at a time, but then I realized it's a wee bit different. My brothers and I always had it where our mom and dad would hand us each a present at the same time (one at a time) and we could all open those presents together and then show what we got. This way no one was tearing through their gifts, but no one had to wait forever while the pokey one picked at his wrapping paper. Now that we're older and not as impatient we open them one at a time, one person at a time

luvmykids replied: Thats a good idea, did you always have the same number of presents then? Each kid I mean, did you always each have three or five or whatever so there wasn't someone sitting there while someone had another gift or two to open?

CantWait replied: Your post really got me thinking. Usually we pull a couple from the tree and basically whoever gets pulled gets to open it, but we try and say ok you got one, try and find for so and so, so that both the kids can open one together. It's like diving though for Robbie, he just plows through his stuff, Anthony last year would try and play with things for a bit before he went to the next one, he just wasn't interested in getting to many gifts at once. This year Anthony is super excited about Santa coming out of the fireplace and leaving presents, so I think it might be a different story.



This got me thinking though, and I think I might try (I did say TRY) to slow the process down a little this year.

Kentuckychick replied:
We did, each of us had their own pile under the tree and each of us had the same amount of presents unless someone was getting a "Big" gift and then we just understood (usually we were too excited about the prospect of opening that gift to mind missing out on a turn or two).

I found it pretty funny though, my dad's pretty nuts when it comes to wrapping and the handing out so he'd choose different wraps for similar sized gifts, or if we each got a movie he'd wrap all the movies in the same wrap and hand those out at the same time. He had it all down to a science! Still does actually

luvmykids replied:
That sounds soooo like my dad! He'll get me and my mom slippers and wrap them both in the same paper, get us both a watch, wrap them in the same paper..so if we didn't open them at the same time we eventually learned that whatever I got, if she had matching paper, she knew what it was before she opened it

One year I decided I wasn't going to do gift tags, just wrap things so I'd remember what was for whom....all my moms had blue bows, dads had red bows, etc. All was well and good until the kids got under the tree and started switching bows around. Someone would be halfway through opening a gift and I'd start yelling "No, wait! Stop! That isn't for you!"

Nina J replied: Well, this is our first year with both of our girls. But, I think we'll do it the same as usual. The kids look at what Santa bought them first, then we get the presents from under the tree one at a time. Last year we found one for Emily first, then she gave each of us a present from her, then she got another present, DH and I exchanged our gifts, and so on until only Emily's presents were left.

sparkys2boys replied: I also said one at a time, but.. it's more like both kids get handed a gift to open at the same time, and then mom and dad open one(Logan hands out the gifts, and has just as much fun watching us open them as he does ripping thru his own). But as posted before I don't wrap santa gifts, so the kids see that stuff first and we let them play with things and we help them open packages and so on.. and then I make them eat some breakfast before we start opening gifts.. it gives them a chance to settle down a lil bit.

amynicole21 replied: We have been trying really hard to get Sophia to slow down and appreciate each gift. She gets pretty manic though We make them go one at a time and ooh and ahhh over each gift for a minute, then move on.

My mom used to make us stop and eat breakfast in the middle of presents!! Of course, we would each have 30 or 40 presents to open - no joke She was a complete Christmas nut who still shows her love by the pile under the tree We have decided to just get the kids a handful of things so that they don't get confused about what Christmas really is.

coasterqueen replied: It's a free-for-all in our house.

Donna027 replied:

skinkybaby replied: Growing up, we took turns and opened up our presents one at a time so the giver could see the givee's reaction when they opened their gift and the person giving the gift could properly thank them. We loved it. It made Christmas seem longer and it was nice to see someone get excited over something you gave them. I plan on doing the same with our girls.

BAC'sMom replied: It's a free-for-all in my house too.

Calimama replied: We always took turns. Took forever.. but who cares.

Brias3 replied: We rotate around the room too but only do one gift per person each rotation. That way, you aren't waiting FOREVER to open your gifts and each person's gift opening isn't over in a matter of minutes, kwim?

That's how we do Santa gifts in the morning too. They each take a turn and we rotate till everything is open.