ProudGrandma Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 every year (for the last 5-6), I have had some sort of creative, yet systematic way of opening gifts...so the 3 kids would open certain ones together (on purpose)....but this year, I am just not that creative and my kids are getting older. HOWEVER, there are several gifts that my 2 boys are getting that are the same....for example, they are both getting a pair of walkie-talkies and they are both getting bow and arrows. Should I still try to orchastrate it so they open those together...or at the age of 8 and 10, should it not matter if one opens one before the other kid. My thought for opening gifts this year was to have the kids take turns handing out any gift from under the tree for someone else in the family. So that can mean that the one son would open the bow and arrow while the other one opens a fleece top. Am I over thinking this way too much and worrying about silly things.... How do you go about opening gifts at your home....maybe I can learn from your traditions?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 When my sons were younger and those kinds of gifts you are discribing were happening, I would orchestrate it so they opened them together. Mark them or tie them together, or put them in one big box with both their names, whatever works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Just let them tear into the gifts willy-nilly, that's half the fun of opening gifts. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the chaos! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 A carry-over tradition from dh's youth: gifts are opened one-at-a-time. The oldest chooses a gift from under the tree then hands it to whoever it's for. That person opens the gift. Then next oldest chooses and so on. It allows us to all enjoy the gifts together. It slows down the pace so that even a few gifts seem like a lot because it takes longer to open gifts this way. Some surprises are given away. Like the year we got a Wii. It was the big box at the back of the pile. But in a couple of little boxes the dc opened Wii games so they knew a Wii was in the big box but it was still saved until the end and it was still fun to open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 We do like Cinder....take turns opening gifts. It works pretty well most years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 My kids tear into their Christmas morning gifts as they wish for the most part. I do intervene sometimes, like if they are about to open a Wii game before they know they have a Wii, because that would make me crazy, lol. If you want gifts to be handed out, why not just do it yourself? I would have have them open duplicate gifts at the same time, and I would 'match' the style of gifts they opened after each other (ie, I wouldn't hand A a pair of socks and B a remote control car). Edited to add that my kids generally have a lot of gifts to open, so we are not looking to make it last longer, lol. Less so now that they are older, but if we took turns when they were 8 & 10, Christmas dinner would be mighty late. If we were a "few gifts" family, I probably would have had more of a ritual to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Could you tie the similar gifts together with a ribbon, so they are linked - but wrapped separately with the kids names? Funny, I was just pondering this. I grew up taking turns opening, so we could each see the gifts that others received, and talk about who gave the gift, say thank you if the giver is present... DH grew up with a family that rips into gifts, and all the resulting chaos. I don't really care one way or another for the kids, as long as I can figure out thank you notes at the end! But it does make me feel a bit sad, when DH's parents or siblings are visiting, not to see them open their gifts because I'm busy helping a kiddo or refilling coffee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Just let them tear into the gifts willy-nilly, that's half the fun of opening gifts. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the chaos! And it is fun with kittens and puppies hunting in all that paper tossed about everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 We do the one at a time gig. Otherwise, things get missed. There are usually one or two things that the kids have been *begging* for for ages, and we don't want to miss their reactions when they open them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 We do the one at a time gig. Otherwise, things get missed. There are usually one or two things that the kids have been *begging* for for ages, and we don't want to miss their reactions when they open them. This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 We do one gift at a time too, our oldest usually passes them out. I mark tags if something needs to be opened together, first, last, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 We do our gift opening to focus on giving. So , starting with the youngest son, each ds hands around the gifts he has bought for others. When the boys are all done, then dh and I give out the ones we've purchased. They each get three, based on the baby Jesus getting three gifts. It keeps it simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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