S/O Where do you hide your gifts?

[Eos]

I almost started this thread yesterday then laughed to see it mentioned in another thread.  Feel free to extrapolate!

I'm Team All of the Above, and yes, I both forget and find them later.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Eos

[Amethyst]

I hide them in my bedroom closet. The HALLWAY closet??? Wouldn’t people findn them there? Who would hide them in such a place?

ETA: not judging. Just joking

Edited December 18, 2022 by Amethyst

[73349]

My closet and nightstand. It's only for 2 people, so I don't have much to hide.

[Eos]

2 minutes ago, Amethyst said:

I hide them in my bedroom closet. The HALLWAY closet??? Wouldn’t people findn them there? Who would hide them in such a place?

ETA: not judging. Just joking

OK, I added that option - I am jealous of people who actually have bedroom closets, lol.  My mother hid hers in the hall closet, so therefore I do too!

[Indigo Blue]

Spare bedroom closet. But they pretty much get wrapped quickly, so they are hidden by being wrapped most of the time. 

[Katy]

In DH’s locked home office or an old empty gun safe. 

[rebcoola]

I use my closet and the spare room  closet.  I have once or twice losed something. A big box of faux fur samples with gift card to purchase they liked best was missing the longest but was discovered eventually.

[AmandaVT]

I came up with a good one this year! I used an empty rubbermaid tote and stashed it in between a couple of piles of crap that my MIL asked to store in our basement "temporarily." I put presents in there as they came in and no one was the wiser. DH finally figured it out yesterday while I was wrapping and was grumpy he couldn't find the presents this year. He said, "why would you put them there, no one goes in that part of the basement? ....oh." 😂 DS is great and enjoys surprises, but DH is such a little kid and will sneak around looking for his gifts!

[Rachel]

Mine get split between my bedroom closet and my husband’s truck. 

I bought the kids chocolate from Germany that they like and it has to be kept where the pets won’t sniff it out. Plus, the truck bed can be locked, the bedroom closet can’t. 

[Kassia]

Bedroom closet and I record everything that's in there so it doesn't get forgotten.  Sometimes I forget what is in the pile of bags and boxes that I accumulate throughout the year. 

[gardenmom5]

either in a cupboard in the laundry room - or a cupboard in the garage.

If perchance I put them somewhere else - they might be forgotten.

[SKL]

I don't forget wholesale, but there have been small gifts that I bought way in advance and temporarily lost track of them.  Then found them the next summer.  😛

But then that counts as an early purchase for the next Christmas or birthday.  😛

 

[Miss Tick]

I leave them in a pile on the floor of my large closet contents obscured but not hidden and I caution people that is what is in there. If they look, they look - but no one ever has as far as I know. I don't wrap right away because I quickly forget what I bought for whom and who i still need to buy gifts for. If I'm not careful I overbuy out of caution/forgetfulness. I started wrapping a week ago, making a smaller more organized pile in there. Today i started bringing them out to put under the tree and I've already found a gift from me for dh and myself and I can't remember what it is! Funny and embarrassing.

[Kassia]

12 minutes ago, Miss Tick said:

I've already found a gift from me for dh and myself and I can't remember what it is! Funny and embarrassing.

I actually do this on purpose - I wrap my own gifts and do them early and by Christmas I often forget what I've wrapped so the gifts are surprises! 

[Eos]

1 hour ago, Kassia said:

I record everything that's in there so it doesn't get forgotten.

Wow, next level!   Hat tip.

[Starr]

My mother made such an impression on me. She said she looked at all her presents that were in a closet when she was about 10 and had to pretend to be surprised on Christmas. It was her worst Christmas ever. I told my dc about that and let them know the presents were in my closet if they want to ruin Christmas. No one peaks at our house. But I do forget things. Fortunately birthdays come a few months later.

[Emba]

I put “in the attic” but I mean in the garage/shop/shed.  
 

i use my closet extensively, but the problem is, where in the closet. That’s what I forget. Is it in the suitcase? The stack of “empty” shoe boxes? Under the pile of books? Or did I use my DH’s closet?

[Loowit]

In our old house I used to put them in my closet or in the drawers under my bed.  In our new house it is either our closet, the armoire, or my end table.  Sometimes I put small things in my desk drawer until I take them upstairs, or just boxes sitting in my bedroom on dressers.  DH leaves a lot of boxes sitting around that no one notices a bit of extra clutter.

I did misplace a few things this year, but was able to find it after a bit of searching.  I used to be a lot more organized and had a box for DH and each of the kids, plus one for extended family to keep things in, but this year I bought so few things that I didn't do that so things got scattered a bit more.

[mommyoffive]

A few years ago we did our closet, but even though it is a huge walk in closet, it just got to packed. 

So the basement is where I hide things.  But they are not really hidden.  Just keep everything in the boxes they come in.   Never forgotten anything.  The kids don't touch anything and the older ones know where it is.  Christmas eve I open the boxes and plop things in reusable fabric bags and done.

[Plagefille]

3 hours ago, Starr said:

My mother made such an impression on me. She said she looked at all her presents that were in a closet when she was about 10 and had to pretend to be surprised on Christmas. It was her worst Christmas ever. I told my dc about that and let them know the presents were in my closet if they want to ruin Christmas. No one peaks at our house. But I do forget things. Fortunately birthdays come a few months later.

This is almost exactly how it is at my house. Except I am the one who looked at my presents with my brothers as a kid. And yes, it run ned Christmas that year. As far as I know none of my kids have ever looked.

[BusyMom5]

I have 6 kids- I don't even try to hide them!  Different years we've used different places, this year I tried my bedroom.  Not a good choice.  My room has been a mess of boxes for over a month!  I get the boxes, open,  sort,  and stack them.  Today I got it all out, sorted into piles for each kid, then found boxes the right size for each thing, then wrapped about half of them.  I'm exhausted and have to wrap a bunch more sometime this week,  along with food, cookies, etc.  

[lmrich]

back in the day  of having little ones - under my bed and high  up in my closet but also...

In the bathtub covered with towels... 

in a laundry basket  with laundrry on top

at my neighbor's house

[Resilient]

I hid my son’s presents in his closet.  He never looked there.  

[Tanaqui]

I don't hide gifts. Instead, I periodically ambush people and ask if they're absolutely positively one hundred percent sure they don't want to have their gift RIGHT NOW.

I'm not joking, either. I'm not that great with surprises. Consequently, the kids spend the last few days before the holiday and also their birthdays hiding from me.

The only sop I give to this whole presents should wait thing is I tell the kids that if they want to have their gifts early, they can just ask - they're on my desk. In this way, they cannot accidentally stumble upon them, because I told them where the presents are.

And, you know, you might think this advice does not apply to your life because you really love the whole surprise aspect of present giving, but my experience suggests that if you make it clear that responsibility for not getting surprised is on them, and the only person who will care if they know in advance is, again, them, then you don't have to hide anything. Even if you really care about that sort of thing. It's actually frustrating! I just want them to know what they have and to tell me how much they love those gifts! I don't want to have to wait!*

Of course, if by "hide" you simply mean "store out of sight" and not literally "I don't want them to have any idea where they're put" then I generally keep presents in my room on my desk or in one of the drawers.

* Well, in normal years. This year my mom just died and I'm not really feeling it, so it is increasingly looking like they're getting gift cards. I have already told them this.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Tanaqui

[madteaparty]

I pity the fool who opens my hall closet these days. They have no business there, as it exclusively holds my dresses, and further they will be hit on the head with a massive Lego box 

[Eos]

6 hours ago, lmrich said:

back in the day  of having little ones - under my bed and high  up in my closet but also...

In the bathtub covered with towels... 

in a laundry basket  with laundrry on top

at my neighbor's house

Outsourcing to the neighbors is also next level!

[Eos]

1 hour ago, Tanaqui said:

I don't hide gifts. Instead, I periodically ambush people and ask if they're absolutely positively one hundred percent sure they don't want to have their gift RIGHT NOW.

I'm not joking, either. I'm not that great with surprises. Consequently, the kids spend the last few days before the holiday and also their birthdays hiding from me.

The only sop I give to this whole presents should wait thing is I tell the kids that if they want to have their gifts early, they can just ask - they're on my desk. In this way, they cannot accidentally stumble upon them, because I told them where the presents are.

And, you know, you might think this advice does not apply to your life because you really love the whole surprise aspect of present giving, but my experience suggests that if you make it clear that responsibility for not getting surprised is on them, and the only person who will care if they know in advance is, again, them, then you don't have to hide anything. Even if you really care about that sort of thing. It's actually frustrating! I just want them to know what they have and to tell me how much they love those gifts! I don't want to have to wait!*

Of course, if by "hide" you simply mean "store out of sight" and not literally "I don't want them to have any idea where they're put" then I generally keep presents in my room on my desk or in one of the drawers.

* Well, in normal years. This year my mom just died and I'm not really feeling it, so it is increasingly looking like they're getting gift cards. I have already told them this.

I was laughing out loud, but I am sorry for your loss and I appreciate this story, so left a heart instead of a laughing face.

[Eos]

13 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

Spare bedroom closet. But they pretty much get wrapped quickly, so they are hidden by being wrapped most of the time. 

We still laugh about the time when oldest and his bestie (also homeschooled, relevant) were maybe 12 and really REALLY wanted to know the truth about where presents came from so stealthily devised a system whereby they opened, perused, and rewrapped ALL THE PRESENTS IN THE HOUSE.  Apparently they tallied up what they found so as to compare on Christmas Day and if something hadn't previously been seen, well, there it was. Real.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Eos

[mom31257]

Guest bedroom closet and guest bedroom is where wrapping paper is, so I chose with the wrapping paper. 

I don't think I have ever lost a gift, but I did find a small gift that I'm not sure where it came from. I found an ornament that's a key and the year 2021 in which we bought our new house. I'm not sure who gave it to us. It was still in a gift bag in with our wrapping stuff. 

[Rachel]

2 hours ago, Eos said:

Outsourcing to the neighbors is also next level!

I forgot the year we gave the kids a basketball hoop, we hid it at the neighbors. 
 

The box was gigantic, like 5’-6’ tall, there’s no place in a house to surprise kids with that! The neighbors loved getting to help with that surprise. 

[skimomma]

This is difficult in my house.  The only (very small) closet we have is in our bedroom and our house is small....we use every space.  I have had to become very crafty over the years.  The dryer is my short-term place to stash something that I have to hide quickly.  I just have to remember to relocate before anyone does laundry.  I do the same with our big recycling bin on the front porch.  I can toss something in there but need to remember to relocate, again, before anyone goes in there for any reason.  For longer term, I have to do an almost-in-plain-sight strategy.  The one closet is the most natural location but it is so tiny that the footprint is only large enough for a laundry basket and two suitcases.  And dh goes in there daily, so hiding his stuff is hard.  But I found that the suitcases are perfect for hiding.  I stash gifts inside my big stock pot, which lives in the back corner of a cabinet.  I have put items in the chest freezer (I'm the only one that venture into it).  I can put smaller items in the bottoms of my clothing drawers.  Our camping cooler is another sneaky spot.  My dh has it good because he can use his work office.  I work from home so I do not have this luxury.