Okay, Since this seems to be the place and time we're all talking about BF.
I see that some of you are pretty much done, or at least got a pretty good dent
in your holiday shopping.
I would like to know.. Where are you hiding all your stuff?
I went to Target last week and only got @<hidden> toys for Xmas, and have NO where to
stash it so they wont come across it between now and xmas morning.

So where are YOU hiding your presents?
AND did you wrap them yet?

Absolutely no wrapping yet. lol, BUT I am over half way done with shopping for my two kids. Since our remodel, I now have a clean closests. So a lot of my items are in my top shelf of my closet and also in the garage in 4 Rubbermaid containers. (Yes 4).

I have a closet that I have put a keyed entry lock on. That holds a lot, but just in case of snooping, I hide the big gifts in the most obvious spot. I put my sons laptop in an avon decoration box in our pantry on top of my upright deep freezer. He saw it at least 3-4 times a week, yet never thought it could be anything, but what the box said. Luggage is a really good spot too. I also have an attic that I can use, and my dh office/ shop that is really safe. I can't imagine one of his emplyees risking his job for my kids gifts. The problem is keeping my list of what and where in a safe place!!!

I use a locking hope chest at the end of my bed, the attic and luggage. We have a closet that is full of luggage and I put presents in them and then lock them. We have a chair that sits in front of the door because we don't really use the closet except for storage. No one ever goes in there and I know they don't have a clue there are presents in there.. not even DH!

My kids are still too little to snoop. I have a closet up in an extra bedroom and that I am using. It is full of a bunch of junk so I just add my bags of presents in there behind the junk that the kids couldn't move if they wanted to, LOL.

If I hid presents in all the places everyone else is mentioning I would forget where I hid it. I have actually done that before :)

We have and enclosed trailer. So i lock it up in there all year long.

I have stacks of totes in the basement. I label them with the names of the people I buy for and then fill them up throughout the year. My kids are too little to go down to the basement right now.

I have a terrible habit of buying things throughout the year and hiding them from the kids and then forgetting to ever get them out! I've found quite a few cute items months after Christmas or a BD. So this weekend, after my awesome time at CVS and KMart, I hid them in a rubbermaid marked SOCKS. This way I remember - "SOCKS" = "STOCKING" stuffers!
:D :D
We'll see if it works this year!

I don't have to hide anything, but the stuff I buy is in an upstairs storage closet with my Christmas ornaments and stuff. I'm not buying for my kids yet (15 and 17) because what they want (money for one and a letterman jacket for the other) I really can't pre buy LOL

most of my stuff is in my closet in my room. I have a few things in the storage closet outside. I haven't started wrapping yet. I never do until a few days before Christmas. And, thankfully I am almost finished shopping. I need to buy each kid their BIG item and I need to buy more for ds19 months.

I don't have to hid things yet, my daughter in almost 3 so she doesn't really know to look for them! But what I have bought is on a shelf in the closet in the bedroom upstairs.

I usually put stuff in my closet or the attic. My son (16) knows where it is and I tell him if he wants to ruin his Christmas, then go ahead and look. He never does (that I know of anyway). My daughter (6) knows better than to go in my room and she is always with me and doesn't have time to snoop.

I got so lucky with our new house. The old one I had to put everything into my closet and it would spill out into the bedroom by October and the 4 youngest kids are the perfect age to snoop... 7, 10,11, 13..... well my new house has a huge walk in closet (12' x 10')... so I can store all of our clothes, etc in there. It's an older house so it has an old closet in the bedroom that is very small. We just have coats and luggage in it, but up above it from the top of the door to the ceiling is a large empty space with a door on it. PERFECT.... even DH has to get a stepstool to get anything into or out of it. And the stepstool that stays in the house is not tall enough for them to see inside the closet as if I use it I can't see and they are all shorter than me !!! Yeah for those short genes... lol...

Anyway, that thing is stuffed full and along the front edge where I can barely reach it is a notebook with THE list on it. They don't know the list exists but they do know I shop. Sad for them that even if they see something they have so many young aunts, uncles, cousins that they don't know who the stuff is for. The only thing is I filled up the cavern and have had to resort to boxes in the bottom... but I just put gifts for others on the bottom. Only DS7 still believes in Santa so that is a relief...... And the only thing that is kind of sitting out in the open is for DS11... he wants to join the middle school golf team so DH found a deal on a new set of clubs for him. 160 dollar set on sale for 25... so it is just sitting in the middle of my big closet. DS has seen it. BUT he knows that if DH gets a good deal on sporting equipment he will buy it to try to trade for other stuff from a softball board he frequents so he has absolutely no idea they are his... I will make them disappear around the beginning of Nov (not sure where) and then he will not have a clue once I find a box and wrap them in December.

Long story for a short answer.... other ideas I have heard are the garage because kids assume that moms won't hide things out there and they really don't want to have to clean it anyway. I also know people that swap storage... like take your things to a relatives closet and bring their things to your closet....

Now I do LOVE the luggage idea.... cause I can never hide anything from DH.. he's onto me... that might just work this year!!!!

In the basement. There is so much junk down there no one will notice another bag or two

Locked up in the storage shed

my bedroom closet

Some of the stuff is in a tote in my closet. We also have a large laundry room and a workshop room with plenty of storage space. We stash the smaller gifts in totes in the laundry room and the bigger stuff in the workshop which are off limits to the kids.

Good one jellybean! My post exactly!! It's the truth though!!:D

Long story for a short answer.... other ideas I have heard are the garage because kids assume that moms won't hide things out there and they really don't want to have to clean it anyway. I also know people that swap storage... like take your things to a relatives closet and bring their things to your closet....


When I was 16 my parentshid my gifts in the garage. the was one particular large gift that I knew would be hard to find. I searched the house over nothing Christmas morning I went downstairs early and it still was not there (I was an only child at that time and spoiled) I then went to wake my parents and Dad went downstairs to make coffee when we came down to open gifts there sat my present it had been in the garage the whole time!! I probably passed it three times a day.

I work about a mile from my home. We have an empty office with a closet. I stash all of my gifts there. I wrap them on my lunch time/after work. Then while my DH is in charge of getting Christmas Eve baths, I go get milk and stuff for Christmas breakfast at the local store. Then I swing by work and load up the back of the van. The gifts are never on our property until late Christmas Eve.

I work about a mile from my home. We have an empty office with a closet. I stash all of my gifts there. I wrap them on my lunch time/after work. Then while my DH is in charge of getting Christmas Eve baths, I go get milk and stuff for Christmas breakfast at the local store. Then I swing by work and load up the back of the van. The gifts are never on our property until late Christmas Eve.

You've got to be one of the lucky ones.
That would be wonderful to have access to that space. :)

I'll probably do what others have said, Put in garage/basement/laundry room in
storage totes. Just gotta go get some more. :)

I have so much stuff that I have no idea how many boxes I even have because as fast as I can fill them up, my husband snatches them up to put away in our storage shed. Occasionally I'll see something in Target (usually Target) and it will remind me that I already have one in one of my boxes. This happens every year. When he brings all of the boxes out, I invite my daughters over to go "shopping" for gifts for co-workers and stuff. The selection is usually rather large. When we're done shopping, I usually box up the remaining items in a few boxes and pick someone from this forum to send a surprise box to. I would never mention any names, but I will say that one recipient last year said she cried when she found a special surprise that I added to her box. It's really a lot of fun. I'm sure I'm not the only one on here does that does this. Maybe others could share their stries if allowed. Sorry, I am not trying to thread-jack, I just don't know how to start a new one and this does have to do with the hiding of current ones.

Oh Yeah, I about forgot about that secret santa game you guys played last year.
I was too new last year, and didnt get to take part, but am definately
going to do it this year!
Cant wait. :)

In the attic which is locked, and the key stays on my main set of car keys.

sewing room closet and by dec 24 the entire sewing room. I have a lock on the door so no peeping eyes

Everything goes in my attic. DS is scared to even try to get in there.

In my younger years my parents learned the hard way to NEVER hid the presents at the home. I was such the snoop and knew how to get to every crack and corner that I'd find just about everything. I was such a naughty 'lil boy. :smirk: After a few spoiled christmasses they got smart and started wrapping and hiding everything at the neighbors until christmas eve. :D

Nowdays, with just the wife to hide stuff from, I just keep it in the trunk of the car until I decide to wrap 'em up and place 'em under the 'lil tree.

I'll figure that out after I get done shopping. Since I'm not sure what I'll be buying, I don't know how much room I'll need to hide stuff. ;)

I have a locked storage room in the front and another one at the back of the house. I have already started filing them up! :) I am glad DS is in Pre-K now so I can buy presents without him knowing and hide them before he ever gets home.

Last year I thought I was being clever & left them in the trunk of my car. DS7 put the split seat down & found everything. I told them they were for toys for tots and we took everything to school. I started over again and took everything to grandmas. Guess that's where things will be going this year too.

Luckily my kids haven't hit the seach for stage yet.

I have a storage room in the basement. I used to just put everything on the floor, but ds can go downstairs and in there himself now, so I have to put his and everything form santa (so he does not see it) on the top shelf (he's still too little to get up there). Other people's stuff, I will put on the floor.

i was using my closet and an empty dresser but then 2 yrs ago my then 4 yr dd found the stuff hidden. thank goodness it was wrapped she came out carrying one and asked if she could open it, lol. so last i started putting the stuff in my bin it's a small storage space with a door that locks in the basement. so when the kids went into my closet they only found a few small bags lol. i'll do the same this yr.

usually i've got quite a few things by now but with both of them graduating and then her birthday was on the 14th so i'm a bit behind but got some done this week.

We have and enclosed trailer. So i lock it up in there all year long.

I hide them in the hall closet with a lock on the door and i told the kids if they open it i take everything back and i get to spend all that money on myself!:)

My BF has an area in his garage that is almost like a mini attic...you need a ladder to get to it and the ladder is out of reach of the kids so we put everything up there.

But sometimes we have stashed stuff in the back part...over the summer I found things from 2 years ago. So they were too young for the kids now. They went to one of the charity organizations so at least someone got some use out of them :D

Small stuff usually ends up in my dresser drawers (most of my clothes end up folded and on a table in the garage, too tired to move them (LOL) and the boys wouldn't think to snoop in my dresser. Plus dh spends most of his day in there because of his disability so they don't get much chance to snoop.. DS10's computer spent 4 months on top of the freezer in the garage in plain site and he never made the association. Too much junk out there I guess!

Hall closet and attic last year I tried dh's trunk but he kept opening it infront fo the kids:banghead:

In my bedroom closet in totes or at my mom's.

Mine are either in our closet or hubby's are hidden in my armoire. None are wrapped ... that's to be done the Saturday after Thanksgiving ;)

"And the only thing that is kind of sitting out in the open is for DS11... he wants to join the middle school golf team so DH found a deal on a new set of clubs for him. 160 dollar set on sale for 25... so it is just sitting in the middle of my big closet. DS has seen it. BUT he knows that if DH gets a good deal on sporting equipment he will buy it to try to trade for other stuff from a softball board he frequents so he has absolutely no idea they are his... I will make them disappear around the beginning of Nov (not sure where) and then he will not have a clue once I find a box and wrap them in December."


Have you considered wrapping each golf club separately? You could make each look like a candy cane... that would be fun.

As for where I hide my presents, I'm trying to get one closet cleaned out now but I really have nowhere to hide them. :)

I hide everything in our basement in boxes. The kids big gifts I usually put behind the boxes to 'cover them' up!

~ Erin (24y/o SAHM to 3 cuties ages 4 and under.... plus 1 on the way!!)!

we put everything in the attic-the one place they refuse to go. My children are such snoops! :D

I use my closet, Dh's armoire, a dresser I have--and last year the RV... It's really hard when we travel for Christmas, as we did (RV) to my folks last year. Was very interesting storing the gifts and bringing them all home... But, we have some storage compartments that you can only get to from the outside with a key, so that worked too!

Has anyone ever forgotten where they hid a gift? :D

my wife always forgets where she hides them. then she finds it and i get it as a birthday gift in february.

We have 3 piece luggage set that fits inside of eachother and i hide the gifts in the 3rd one. That's where my Wii is sitting right now. I so want to open and play it. it's so not fair.

My parents use to hide my stuff in my closet because that was the last place in the world I would have ever checked. I will do that one as my kids get older and smarter to my ways.

I have more than once found things later in the year "spring cleaning". The kids like it when I do anyway lol. DD since that year has asked Mom did you get everything this year? :blush:

There has been a year (2 yrs ago) that I could not find a gift. I knew I got DH something
in particular.. and He didnt believe me. FInally about a month later, I threw it at him.
LOL He just laughed and shook his head.

In my room, where I can stuff them.

Absolutely no wrapping yet. lol, BUT I am over half way done with shopping for my two kids. Since our remodel, I now have a clean closests. So a lot of my items are in my top shelf of my closet and also in the garage in 4 Rubbermaid containers. (Yes 4).

I've got a rubbermaid tub going in the garage also. I keep sending my husband out there with odds and ends and then questioning him if he remembers what he put in the tub. He always has the same kinda answer, "I don't know, it was something in a Target bag!" I' must find a better sysytem of keeping track of what is out there-I can't remember anything!:D

i have to hide mine very well even from myself... :smart: because i simply can't resist the pleasure of giving .... :smirk:

Well this year my 2 oldest boys r moved out on there own.....my 14 and 12 year old boys will be the tough ones....there r so nosey!!! Last year there stuff was at my parents so I'll probably do the same this year for them. My 2 youngest girls 1 1/2 and 5 don't know how to be nosey so I just make sure they can't run across something by accident.

at my moms and where ever else i can think of

My wedding dress is still hanging in my closet. It has a pretty wide skirt, so I hide presents in it. My DH can never seem to find my hiding place, yet it is right in front of him the whole time:yup:

Store gifts in the canoe hanging from the garage ceiling, boxes marked "old FHS yearbooks" or "Dad's computer books" (boring items; kids will never think to look there). The back of the front hall closet is also useful - push them way back there and be sure that the coats hang in front!

Right now the kids don't really snoop, so I just put them in my closet.

I hid them in my closet last year. But last month DD3 asked if it was time for presents to come out of the closet yet. :eyepoppin So I need a new hiding spot.

The canoe is a good place. I would never think to look there.

we are still lucky.. we don;t have snopers yet. we hide them all down stairs in the storage closet, it is in the garage. which is sweet, from the car right into the storage!;)

I pretty much wrap everything right away. I keep them on a shelf in a bedroom that is now a closet and laundry room. I also write a list of who and what I got so far and keep it posted on the way so I can find it easy. Normally I wait until BF to shop for my ds. Then I wrap them right away and put them under the tree since I put up the tree the day before Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving depending on if I am at home or away. If I am out of town I just keep them in my car until we are back home or have them shipped home if flying.

Well I just gained a closet!!!!

My ds who is 11 is no longer a believer in Santa, so he is going to be in on the hiding game.:yup:
I figure if i make it fun and like he has a secret vs. it being a bummer knowing about santa, he will still enjoy it all the same.;)

So now I have his closet in desperate measures, our closet, the basement, and the garage.

I used to put eveyrthing in my closet...but now my oldest is 11 and my middle child is 9 so we have to be a little smarter this year.

I never hide the presents I buy. I usually just stack them in the corner of my bedroom & throw a blanket over it. Ever since my ds was small I always told him anything that he finds goes back. I can tell by the way I have the bags stacked if they're touched! lol

I don't have a lot of space so I use my closet, my son still is too young to snoop.

All over the house. lol I have some on top of my bookcases in my room. Some in the garage. And some stored out in the van that we don't use. In the next week or so, I plan on pulling them all together in the garage. Just so I can see what I have so far. Oh, and I have a bike stashed at my parent's house. :)

I sort of hide stuff in plain sight. I hide stuff in totes in the basement. We have a huge shelf down their filled w/totes and boxes, and the kids have no clue that their Christmas gifts are in among the other totes on the shelves there. hee hee.

Elena

I hid them in the attic since we moved 5 years ago. Before that, three out of my four kids weren't even born and my oldest wasn't even 2 when we moved. In the old house, we hid his presents in the finished basement we had and just never took him downstairs when we went to do the laundry.

I too hide them where ever I can. We have 48 people to buy for this year including our 3 kids who will get 13 gifts each. I have over 40 gifts wrapped already!! I hide them in closets, totes and where ever else theres room. I wrap mine asap beacause there are so many if someone got a peek it still wouldn't spoil the surprise!:) I do like the luggage idea!!

I buy totes and put them in my room since I don't have a closet in there. I use them as end tables until after Christmas. My ds is too young to snoop but dd is 11 and knows the truth and was told if she snoops she gets nothing so she leaves everything alone, I also keep a notebook with a list of what I bought, for who, and who I still need to buy for.

This is the first year it's really been a problem now that my oldest DD is 5. I think they'll all have to go in the garage because she can get into my closet. I have some high cabinets in the laundry room I could try to put some in, but she's such a climber, there's even a chance she could get in there. I guess the garage is my best bet.

closet...and i have the ...ya peek its going back clause too :tongue1:

LOL!!!! My daughters American Girl doll arrived yesterday and she is STILL sitting in my kitchen on the counter.....haven't moved her yet and my daughter hasn't said a word about what is in the box. Guess I should think of hiding her I suppose.:rolleyes:

My husband had professional shelving/cabinets put into the garage so right now I took over them :) and I also have a lot of items in my walk in closet

MIL lives next door so i have it easy!!

There is no way I could wrap them yet! I would totally forgot what they were before Christmas morning and then I would have to unwrap them! lol

But I hide the majority of my toys at my parents house. When she runs out of room, I have to hide them in boxes in my closet. The two or three weeks before Christmas, I hate going in my closet for fear everything will fall out!

There is no way I could wrap them yet! I would totally forgot what they were before Christmas morning and then I would have to unwrap them! lol

But I hide the majority of my toys at my parents house. When she runs out of room, I have to hide them in boxes in my closet. The two or three weeks before Christmas, I hate going in my closet for fear everything will fall out!

I put a small number on the bottom of each present and then I keep a list of what gift is what number, so I will know what is in each box.

I hide them in our suitcases in the closet.....the kids NEVER think to look there. :2wiggle:

I hide them in the garage here. There are some totes out there with stuff in them anyway...and some are empty. I just put them in the empty totes. I hid ds's Wii on top of a kitchen cabinet because I would cry if he accidently found it.

In the attic, believe it or not the my 4 year old even knows this!! I am going to need a new spot soon!

Well what I hav bought it is wrapped up and in ds11's closet he is hiding it for me.

2 of my girls are getting AG dolls so to throw them off I wrapped on in a really big box so she would not know what it was after he sister opens hers. SHe is getting smarter with that.

I have the santa family gift in my room wrapped up and in the shipping box so ds will not know its a WII. he will figure its big when he reads "family gift".
2 other gifts are on there way here and when they show up they will get wrapped right away too. ds11 digital camera and Guitar Hero3.

thats all so far , I have to wrap on the days my 5 year old is not in preschool.

I used to hide a lot of them at the WalMart layaway! I loved having that option to hide alot of the junk. This year we moved and have a really nice walkin closet that will be put to good use.

Garage in storage containers and on shelves in my closet. Ive wrapped some already and unfortunatly I cant remember what they were:o

I always hide my childrens presents at my mother in laws. Everyone elses presents stay at my house and are wrapped promptly and put under the tree.

We hide them in the garage for now. They're still too young to notice the bags of stuff out there. ;)

all of my presents are wrapped and on my ebay shelves ... even when they wernt wrapped everyone jsut thought it was more stuff I was ebaying.... tee hee

Luckily we have a storage building just right down from our house so most everything goes in there. This time of year I make sure my DH gives me back his key (he's worse at peeking then my ds5!) I already have most of the stuff wrapped but it has to stay hidden for now.

My kids are snoops, so for the past couple of years the presents go straight to my best friends house til christmas eve then I go retreive after they've gone to bed!!

I too hide them where ever I can. We have 48 people to buy for this year including our 3 kids who will get 13 gifts each. I have over 40 gifts wrapped already!! I hide them in closets, totes and where ever else theres room. I wrap mine asap beacause there are so many if someone got a peek it still wouldn't spoil the surprise!:) I do like the luggage idea!!


48 people to buy for! WoW!!!

Watch out for those paper cuts from all of the gift wrapping you have to do.

Okay, this is making me laugh. I remember when I was little and my brother and I snooped and found our presents early. Then before Christmas, we played with them in the morning after our mom went to work and before we went to school. We thought we were pretty clever but then I messed up. (hey, I was 7!) We opened presents Christmas morn and we acted all surprised but then Mom said something was missing and I jumped up and ran and got it and said she must have forgotten it. My brother never let me forget that I blew it! ;)

Now I know my 3 kids will snoop just as much as I did, so the last 2 years I have been hiding them at my neighbor's house in her closet. Then during the day when they are at school I go get them and wrap them a few at a time and then take them back over again. Then on Christmas Eve I go get them after the kids are in bed. So there's a lot of sneaking back and forth but it's part of the fun!!:D

Since my kids are teens I dont have to hide them anymore. I got mine wrapped and in the living room, The torcher has begun. I love it. I wrapped all I had last night, now I will just have to wrap teh stuff I ordered last week, and a few more I have to order. The hard part is over.

I have most of them in the shipping boxes they came in--taped up with packing tape. Others that I've gotten from the store are spread out between my dh's armoire, the laundry room closet and one of my drawers. I'm going to start wrapping soon though, as all the boxes are on my bedroom floor and it's ridiculous to step over to get into my closet...

I have the half I got at the B&M stores in my storage closet and the half that came from online in the spare office at work...

I hide them in our suitcases in the closet.....the kids NEVER think to look there. :2wiggle:

Thats exactly where I hide mine too. Great minds thinks alike :D

I'm starting to put them in the basement under our stairs, and in my bdroom
in a chest DH built.

If they are clothes I sometimes hang them up in the middle of mine, the rest goes in our empty suitcases in our closet. Been my hiding place for the last 3yrs...they haven't figured it out yet!!

your right great minds do think alike....this great mind needs to learn to read all posts before posting her "great idea"! lol

I have the BIG box from the Clariol house party in my living room still (empty or was till BF)
I have filled it up with the kids stuff from BF and its still in the living room... They have not even bothered to look because its been in there and they know what WAS in there. Plus there is other items in the living room closet.