Wrapping Gifts

I am off tomorrow (but the boys aren't) so we'll be doing it tomorrow morning. If I have to wrap something while they are home I lock myself into the kitchen, but of course then they know I am up to something,

 

Every time you go to the bathroom, take a gift to be wrapped.

I have 2 to wrap... but my kids are older and the gifts for them are done. I have 2 more packages coming tomorrow, and one is DH's... I hope he doesn't see his, and it's not out in the open. He has one gift, though mainly since it's a huge one.

 

I’m done except a couple things I bought today. I wrap presents in my bedroom with a locked door.

 

I seriously just finished. But I only had 16 to do. I sent boys to library on bikes. Daughter is job searching, and I wrapped at table. I usually wrap late Christmas eve. Now to roll 1000 cake balls. Dipping them tomorrow. Then I am done.

 

I just wrapped all the grandkids (except for 1 who I still need to buy her a gift - I wrap by child so I know they are done). I still have to buy my daughter-in-law and then wrap her's and my daughter/son-in-law (but they have big boxes so I may have to get hubby to wrap them).

 

I'm finished wrapping gifts. Thankfully hubby was off yesterday and he helped me finish up the shopping and wrapping because today was the last day of school before winter break. I've locked myself in my bedroom and put a movie on for the kids in the family room. Some years I've had my hubby take them driving around to see Christmas lights and other years when they were little I traded babysitting with another mom so we could both get shopping and wrapping done. Either way it's always a struggle when they're young and you're trying to keep things a secret. My DD 17 pretty much knows everything she's getting for Christmas. She was home when the boxes came and of course she peeked! Both girls know what clothes they're getting because they tried them on or put them in the online cart. I don't think they know what their BIG gift is, but I could be wrong. I was too tired to care much about hiding stuff this year and put most of it in a rubbermaid tote in my closet and wrapped everything on the kitchen table while they were at school.

 

I finished over the weekend. That was my goal. I wanted to be done before the Christmas break started so that I could just relax and enjoy. I did have one gift come today that I still need to do, but that's it

I got up really early in the morning and did it while everyone was still sleeping.

 

I just wrapped ours this afternoon, but then I don't have any kids around so its easy now. When they were little, I wrapped when they napped or were at preschool, then at school or late at night.

 

I'm a late night wrapper & a procrastinator - so I'm usually up late Christmas Eve doing it all!

 

Last year: I put on a movie upstairs then shoved everything in the hall closet downstairs (prior to this it was upstairs hidden). Since I could hear him come downstairs before he could see in the kitchen, I wrapped on the counter. He came down once, and I hid the gift in the cupboard. Luckily, it was almost the last one! If he'd known I was wrapping earlier, he would have come up and down more. I believe I told him he needed to clean his room? That is a surefire way to keep him away from me so he can avoid chores!

This year: I put him to bed. DH is going to bed. I'm going upstairs to wrap. Luckily, it's only 9:20pm here. I would have started at 9pm, but I've been chatting here instead.

 

I used to wrap during naptime and while the kids were in preschool. Or at night cuz we are very strict about bedtimes, so I knew I'd have 2 uninterrupted hours to wrap at night before passing out myself lol.

Otherwise I turned on a movie and went to my room, saying I was going to clean. I even took the vacuum with me and ran it for a second before wrapping. I did this for birthday presents too, since my kids usually got more at bdays than Christmas.

I haven't wrapped anything yet and I'm kind of freaking out. Usually I do it the early (so I can double-check present counts, etc) but a friend invited me to a wrapping party at her house and it's tmw, "the last day our kids are in school," as if that's the best time to realize I'm missing a present or something.

DH is taking tmw off, so the party works out cuz I can wrap his one little gift and he can go grocery shopping and then come home to wrap my gifts lol! And it'll be nice to hang out with my friends. I don't have a ton to wrap this year...tbh, IDK if I'd bring everything to the party if I had a lot simply cuz i feel like Friday is last minute to wrap lol.

 

I didn't have a lot to buy this year ... but considering I just started shopping Monday (of this week) ... no, I haven't wrapped anything yet. Fingers crossed the stuff I ordered online this week arrives by Sat.

I'm in denial Christmas is a few days away.

 

I have all my wrapping done! Yay! I don't enjoy wrapping gifts at all. My Honey is good to help with it though so that is nice. And I also have the stockings stuffed! We are ready!!

When I was growing up my parents never wrapped our Christmas gifts. They always arranged a nice "pile" of gifts for each of us kids and we'd just go thru our piles. We did this with our kids for years. But our daughter likes hers wrapped. Since she is the only one at home now we wrap. And she always guesses what is in each package...EVERY TIME!!

 

I am think I am done with wrapping. This year was a lot easier because my boys didn't really want much, so the number of presents is pretty small. I left everything on our dining room table (in the Amazon boxes) and then wrapped a little at a time about three different times. Usually when the boys were either at a basketball practice, or engrossed in their video gaming. lol. My hubby is the harder one because he has a knack for sniffing out when I'm planning to wrap his stuff and he'll just appear. lol!

 

We have wrapped everything that has been purchased. I still need to get a few things but am short on ideas. They might just get money...

In other news, we are wrapping, wrapping other people's gifts like crazy at the Girl Scout fundraiser. We did take two bags of our gifts to the wrapping booth yesterday since we needed boxes for things.

FYI - Your PSA - That glitter paper that looks sooo pretty? Tape won't stick to it. We bought a roll last year and this year I tried to use it up. I ended up stapling the paper shut. We had someone bring some glitter paper to our wrapping booth for their gifts and it was a nightmare. Double sided tape might have worked to tape the non-glitter sides together, but regular tape and packing tape would not stick.

 

No, nothing started here. I did get gifts off to my family earlier in the year when I saw them, but I'm not counting those! I'm guessing there'll be a marathon gift wrapping session here sometime tomorrow or Saturday, and I'll stuff most everything into gift bags. I used to love spending time getting each package wrapped just so, but that was way before having a family. I'm hoping next year won't be so hectic and I'll be able to enjoy doing all these Christmas activities without stress.

 

Wrapping was officially done this past Sunday. DH is home all day, retired, so he wrapped and then it is up to me to pretty it up with ribbon and bows and gift tags. I finished that part of it then. Yes! Although I was bringing in the Christmas cards to work this week so that I could address them during breaks and lunches. No time at home in the evening, or I'm just too tired...

 

One year: We didn't wrap presents at all. We just stuck the Amazon boxes as they showed up under the tree! And they stayed like that until the 24th. Then DH insisted we should make them prettier and wrap them. So he did.