wher do you guys hide stuff until Xmas and how do you keep track of all of it??

[rogue1230]

I have actually lined some of our clear rubbermaid storage bns with junk and stuck the "goods" in the middle. DH could sleep thru a war so I get up a bit early and sneak those out too. lol - I like the sutcase idea too though!

[lisamag]

2 yrs a go i used an old dresser for the small stuff and my daughter then 3 came out carrying one asking if she could open it, they got moved that night but she found them again a few days later lol. last yr they were in bags tied up in my closet kids found them again playing hide go seek game there went that so this yr i'm putting them in my basement keeping it under lock and key.

as for keeping track i have a list, plus i keep one on my comp and just put the file hidden and they won't see it but you know it's there or you could keep one on line like an email waiting to be sent with out the password they won't find it.

[Guest kathybmb]

my kids are teens so there really is no hiding i try to wrap right away and keep them in my room which is right above the living room. it has a squeeky floor so there is no sneaking in there...lol i wrap then put in trash bags super tied shut so there is no way but to rip them to open them. they usually leave them alone. i made the mistake of letting my son talk me into putting a few under the tree for looks..(he couldnt stand seeing the gifts for relatives and none with his name on it..soon as i did that it was non stop naggin for the rest of the season..cant we open just one we dont care if there is one less on christmas..big mistake that was. i keep a journal for years now. i write everything i buy for each person like a list. it is fun and nostalgic to go back to the early 90's(when i started it) and see things listed that are no longer in style etc.

[PeachieKeen]

Since I don't have kids it's not a problem with hiding gifts at my house. However, I have been known to lose track of what I've bought. Last year I started a spreadsheet for my christmas shopping...it never gets printed out so nosy eyes ever see it...but I track how much I have to spend, what I have spent, and what gifts were purchased for who....and it's password protected so nosy eyes don't get to see it

[cc1824]

I bought a lock for the closet and we lock stuff in there, otherwise i just wrap it and put it under the tree, but my kids are older, still nosy but older. Then after we open the closet w/ bedroom doors shut to evaluate what we have (bad about remembering), then we wrap, usually send the kids to the movies or on dates. It works for us. But not really that much fun since my son only wants 1 thing this year kind of blows the fun part, but it is an expensive item.

 

Had to throw him offf track last year, wrapped empty boxes and some w/ rocks in them since we bought him a used truck, he's 17, he had no clue, it was great surprise.

 

CC

[lisamag]

i like the idea about keeping a journal. wish i had thought of that when my son was smaller. he'll be 13 in dec. but i'll start one now anyway it'll be nice for him and his sister (she's 5) to look back on when thier grown.

[MissC63]

We have a huge finished basement and I have my own walk in "stash" closet which is always locked. It is so big I even have a table in there where I can wrap the presents.

Before we lived here I would hide them all over and I always missed some and would find them months later :)

[sbwolfer]

I must tell you I struggle every year with this, maybe I buy to much-NAH:D . I have 4 kids ages-10,7,4, and will be 1 Dec,12th. I lose track of what I have , I am worried about putting it on paper fear my nosey rosie kids will find it. they almost busted us on the tooth fairy as it is !! they all believe in santa still. I was hiding in the garage but running out there is a hassel when its 40 below out trying to haul it in to wrap. Wrapping is a story alone! how do you guys put tags on so they don't know its YOUR writting???

 

I had over flow from last year left in dh car found it this year summer-he is never in his trunk!

 

I do all the shopping and wrapping dh does nothelp with it which is fine but I need some tips on making this more organized now that Walmart is no longer a hiding place for me!

 

we have our basementbut its hard to hide with them going down there so much and our closet only holds so much.

 

thanks much

steph

I keep a small notebook in my purse with a page for each person I buy for. I write down what I buy to keep track. If you are afraid your kids will see it, then do it on the computer or something. Just label the file Taxes or something boring they would never look at! As far as hiding gifts make use of the basement. Buy those Rubbermaid containers and hide the toys in there. Label them...outgrown clothes or somethine equally boring. And for the tag writing I try to write with the opposite hand or have hubby write them. DD recognizes my handwriting but not DH's so that works. Wrap as you go and store the presents wrapped with tags. That way on Christmas Eve all you have to do is slap on bows or ribbons.

[sevirj]

We hide stuff in the storage spaces in the room over our garage. our daughter doesn't look in them because of all the other junk in there.

 

A couple months ago I went looking for something in one of the areas and found some socks & stuff still in the bag that we bought last year to give her for Christmas. The bag must have fallen behind something and we forgot about it.

 

When she got home from school that day, she had a little surprise waiting for her.

[brownlands]

One year I really got lucky in this area. My husband is a supervisor for an apartment complex and we got to use a vacant apartment that just happened to be next to ours to stash all the goods! It worked out so well and the kids had no clue. They are always snooping.

[EmConMom]

Like others have mentioned. I keep a spreadsheet. After each shopping trip, I add it under the appropriate child's column. I have formula's that figure out what the total for each kid is, etc.

 

I also color code, bold is on layaway, yellow highlighted is things that i'm looking for. blue highlighted i have in the house and red highlighted is going to be a stocking stuffer. crazy i know.

I hide in our laundry room in plastic bins, and at my parents house.:)

 

I love buying presents.

[wifeymiller]

My daughter is a baby, so I haven't had to hide from her yet. But, we keep everything in the closet in our bedroom or down stairs. I,too, am notorious for losing something or forgetting about something. That's what happens when you start shopping in July I keep a list in my purse of what I've bought for who though.

[JustJules]

When the kid was little I would wrap everything, then hide them in the suitcases in our closet. I also, even to this day send items to my folks house, (as we always have christmas eve there), then take paper and other goodies out there to wrap and go right under the tree. Always put on the tag his name and love santa.

His birthday is in Feb, so the things that I forgot I had gotten @ the last minute or found after Christmas, he will get and something big too.

One year I got him a big heavy Michigan Wolverines sweatshirt, MW clock, long underwear(hunting)golf shirts and golf shoes. Found them about 2 weeks after Christmas. Called him and said Santa did it again, he forgot where he put somethings.

[bearcatfan]

I have a bonus storage room off the basement playroom that has our sump pump, furnace, etc. I keep stuff there in plain boxes but it's not locked. I've told my oldest (7) that there are huge spiders in there so she steers wayyyy clear. Yes, I'm mean

[sleepigrl]

I stash family gifts in our closet or in a locked spare bedroom - works ok, but I have to keep an eye on the kids at all times.

 

I've changed how I'll keep track of things this year. I started a Google spreadsheet with our lists, so both DH and I can make changes or updates and see just what we want to buy or have already purcahsed. And, I might share it with the rest of the family so they can use it for ideas if they want to.

[boudmel]

Mine all goes in the attic and I keep all the Xmas receipts in my purse in an envelope - I go through the receipts and make a list of what is for who to keep track of it all. I also get all the presents down and wrap them before Xmas break so they are ready to put under the tree on Xmas eve:)

[cleverbffool]

Attic, a just thrown up there kids don't even know we have an attic.

[smurf94409]

I don't really have any good hiding spots in my house. I put everything in cardboard boxes in my garage and mark it something like Kitchen stuff and the kids never know. After it's wrapped I put them back. Seems to work out rather well. I have a 10 & 8 year old and they have never found stuff.

[robertakeene]

I have a storage room with a lock on it. I try to wrap as soon as I buy it, or while the kids are at school. One year I paid someone to take them to the movies so I could wrap. Sometimes we wrap while they are asleep. Rather than putting names on the presents (just in case one of the nosey buggars get my keys) I use a different color sticky dot for each child. This way if they do find it, they dont know who it is for. As far as disguising your handwriting, print Christmas labels on the computer.

Before we had the storage room I stored at a relatives house...very inconvienient on Christmas Eve though.

[cotinkandy1]

Oh my goodness....I hide everywhere. IN the attic, at my moms, my inlaws. My children are 20, 18,14,11,4 and 8months. So it is very difficult. The 2 little ones are to young to snoop so thats the stuff that is hidden in the house. But those older ones are a pain in the butt....They are always snooping around. about 5-6 years ago everything went to the inlaws and I wrapped over there then they delivered it the night before x-mas and the kids still to this day do not know where we hid everything...LOL

[sammy50]

We always kept all of our suitcases on shelves in our basement and I would stick gifts in them.

The kids never thought to look in there--probably because they were always buried under other junk.

[Sunshyne]

This year, I'm using the garage. We just moved in, and there are still plenty of boxes out there, so my oldest son won't notice. I put an old blanket over the big boxes. I put smaller stuff or things I don't want to get too cold (Movies, mostly) on top of the kitchen cabinets. You can't tell there is anything up there. My friend wants to hide her kids' stuff here too.

 

But, last night I went out and bought ds something big and left it in my car. My husband wanted to go buy a wheelbarrow this morning and take ds with him. He had to take my vehicle for this because it's bigger than his car. I was trying to tell him not to take ds outside without telling him why in front of ds. lol It was frustrating until he finally figured out what I was trying to tell him.

 

I keep a spreadsheet, and this year I am posting pictures on my blog because I still found stuff in January that I had left off the spreadsheet and forgot all about.

[alimfp]

We put all presents in our closet. Now, our closet has no doors (it's kind of built into the wall, it's neat!). So I cover the boxes/bags with a blanket. BUT at this age, the kids don't go in our room at all without us. (They don't even go upstairs without us)

 

And I keep a list of their presents.

[Deal Grabber]

I have a rented 5 x 10 storage room.I keep a list and then store it there.Makes a great wrapping room also.Mine are 7 & 10 and i want the spirit kept alive.If my DS who's 10 sees ANYTHING including paper he might figure it out.

[mandifour]

Mostly in the garage. I did hide them at my BIL's but my kids have been spending a lot of time over there. So my house is safer.

[clevelandrocksandrolls]

We didn't use name tags. When my kids were little, I used specific wrapping paper for each kid. I used two patterns for each kid. We never put gifts under the tree until all the kids were asleep on Christmas eve. My kids are 28, 27, 22 and 21 and we still don't put gifts from Santa under the tree until the middle of the night. We use name tags now because with all the spouses, girlfriend, boyfriend, grandkids--my poor husband would never remember what pattern belonged to who without a cheat sheet. One year before we started using tags, my daughter actually ended up with my daugher-in-law's gift. (and she really loved the gift) I think that was the year we decided we better use tags the next year. LOL.