What did you do when your kids snooped in their gifts???

[DramaQueenLucy]

I had 1 bag of stuff left in my trunk from yesterday it was double bagged and tied at the top twice well I sent my kids to the car to get all of the camping stuff out of there and I told them to leave the bag in the car that it was for my sister to give to her dd. They brought the bag in and it was all ripped apart saying that they know that the items in the bag where for them. They claimed that they picked up the bag and it ripped. This is not possible. I am so mad at them that I told them that there would not be a christmas this year. There wasn't alot in the bag but my oldest sons PSP that I had price matched yesterday and the youngests DSLite starter kit but still they now know what most of their gifts are and I am sooooo mad. I know that someone out there must have sneaky kids to so how did you handle it???

[laffnatu]

Hide the gifts they seen and don't put them under the tree. Give the gifts to them later in the day.

 

I haven't done this before but I may if my son sees something.LOL

 

Right now he's so scared that he'll see something that he always asks if it's ok before he comes into a room before he enters if he knows I'm wrapping. LOL

[carheel]

let me tell you what i did a few years ago, i had my kids rwrite out there christmas, which they did about 20 times, i told them to put the top 3 things they wanted up top with a star, i did not have alot of money but iwanted to get them something that wanted very much, anywasy my daughter wanted a cell phone so every list had cell phone on top, until the last list there was no cell phone on the list, so i asked her you dont want a cell phone phone no more, and fisrt she said ahe wanted something else, well later on she told me she did not put the cell phone on the list because she knew i alread got her one, and i did get her one and as soon as i got it i wraped it, so how did she no i got one, well because she opened the gift, well i pulled out the cell phone and let her unwarped it and then we walked back to the store and i made her return it, boy was she mad, she was 14 . now sure enough when i was a kid i snooped but i would never say i saw it, and she knew i was not able to get her alot of things, but i really wanted her to have that but for her to change the item because she knew i already got it in hopes i would buy the other item also, which was not cheap. my kids know now not to snoop.

 

good luck with whatever you do, by the way hold old are they.

[DramaQueenLucy]

They are 8 & 14 it was the older child that ripped open the bag to see what was in there...sooo very mad at him. He claims the his little brother didn't see anything. I was thinking of letting him think that I was taking the PSP back to the store and not giving it to him until his b-day on 1\14. I don't really want to take it back I'll never get that kind of a deal on it again until next year bf.

[love2beurwifey]

well I would still take it back or either I would not give it to him until his birthday

[missyjane]

When I was a kid we (my brother and I) got caught snooping. My mom didn't wrap ANY of our presents that year. Boy that was awful, having nothing to "open". It taught us a good lesson.

[kmbrly]

I snooped ONCE when I was younger (maybe a preteen). Not sure why I did it, because my oldest sister did my dad's Christmas shopping (to me) for him, and whatever I put on my list I got (I never asked for anything extragavant). The year I peeked, the two things that stick out in my mind that I got was a new Bible that I had been wanting, and a digital alarm clock. I forget the other things.

 

I'll never forget how I felt Christmas when I opened everthing, and I already know what they all were. The was absolutely no feeling of surprise.

 

I never peeked again.

 

 

 

As for your situation, I agree with some previous posts. Either hide the present and don't give it to them until later Christmas day, or make them take it back as their "punishment" for peeking, when you clearly told them to leave the bags alone.

[Illinoismom]

I snooped ONCE when I was younger (maybe a preteen). Not sure why I did it, because my oldest sister did my dad's Christmas shopping (to me) for him, and whatever I put on my list I got (I never asked for anything extragavant). The year I peeked, the two things that stick out in my mind that I got was a new Bible that I had been wanting, and a digital alarm clock. I forget the other things.

 

I'll never forget how I felt Christmas when I opened everthing, and I already know what they all were. The was absolutely no feeling of surprise.

 

I never peeked again.

 

 

 

As for your situation, I agree with some previous posts. Either hide the present and don't give it to them until later Christmas day, or make them take it back as their "punishment" for peeking, when you clearly told them to leave the bags alone.

 

My oldest son did the same and felt the same way, after one year he opened every present under the tree for him, when I went to work. He say's that was the wordt Christmas he every had and I didnt punish him, he punished himself by not being able to be surprised and he knew I knew he opened everything,

[tokanm]

My DS did that when he was about 10 or 11, luckily he didn't find everything

but the stuff he "found" got donated to Christmas is For Kids charity. I don't

think he will ever snoop again:eek:

[DramaQueenLucy]

Still not sure about what I'll end up doing but putting the gift unwrapped under the tree sounds good too. I think that it may end up being a b-day gift you know make him sweat for a little while. I did sit down and talk to him about it I told him about the memories I have of Christmas how much I love the surprised looks on their little faces so now that he know we can all sleep in on Christmas Morning because he was always the first one up. Hey a little guilt never really hurt. He didn't find everything only his big gift. There is still the joint gift for both him & his little brother from Santa and his clothes but I'm really hurt...wow I never thought it would feel this way.

[lori12563]

I would not give them the gifts this year maybe save for birthday. First off you told them to do something and they disobeyed second they lied about it.

I put my stuff in attic and my kids dont look becasue they know it would be gone. also I told them what is the fun of knowing? takes all the fun out of it. Now they old i make them go with me for half the stuff lol. good luck, be strong

[lilac100]

When my older son got caught doing this I rewrapped everything. The thing was he thought he was snooping in his own gifts he didn't know the things he saw were for his younger brother. Boy was he disappointed Christmas day when his brother opened some toys he really thought were for him. I never told him they weren't his so in his mind he thought I gave away "his" toys.

[elena_398]

I tell my kids, if I catch them snooping and know what items they saw, I will return them. Imake sure to keep all receipts

[Illinoismom]

well I guess I am a softy, they have never done anything I have not done, I still would never take back a gift or hold it out, But hey thats me, They know and I do not put hardly anything under the tree or where they can find it till Christmas eve. Its just nature to be courouis (sp)

[shopping mom]

I tell my kids, if I catch them snooping and know what items they saw, I will return them. Imake sure to keep all receipts

I have told mine the same thing. It is funny now because the older five love the secrecy as much as I do. My DS 15 knows what his sister is getting and he said he is so excited to about Christmas because he ca not wait to see her face. Once they understand the joy it brings you to see their faces they will not want to snoop. By the way I would not want to return the PSP I got my DS this year either. If he thinks his sister is going to be happy, I can just imagine how thrill he will be.

[sissykus]

I used to unwrap and rewrap my gifts EVERY year as a teenager. I was never caught and never let on that I knew what the gifts were. I always hated surprises.

[pastasalad]

Thats a hard one, for me at least(i am sorta living it now)... I had some Christmas items I bought for my son and a few stocking stuffers for the girls in sacks, I put in our garage on a ping pong table under some old garage sale stuff(i thought the sacks were hid good enough untill i could get em up in the attic)my youngest 9 took some stuff to the garage and found the sacks and SNOOPED!-of course the majority of the stuff was for her brother, so she said i know some stuff mom got you for Christmas and told him everything she saw in the sacks, then preceeded to say "do you wanna see it?" yiyiyiyi he said NO but then told me about it on our way outta town during Thanksgiving Holiday...

I was sooooo upset with her and I really had to choose my words carefully at this point. To be honest I still dont know what I am gonna do-I feel like it's partially my fault for not getting it up in the attic sooner,but still she had NO reason to be snooping either...Now my son(11) knows his bigger items and i feel horrible and am not sure how to deal with my younger blabber mouth dd...advice??anyone??

 

sorry op to hijack your post and not be able to offer any advice!

[DramaQueenLucy]

sorry op to hijack your post and not be able to offer any advice!

It's ok I don't know what to do with my kids the one thing that I have done at this point is sit down and talk to my oldest ds and told him how he took the joy for himself and me on Christmas morning. I told him a few examples of my memories on Christmas mornings from him and his brother. Boy did he really feel bad so at this point I have just dropped it with him but still I am unsure of what to do with his big gift (PSP) that he has seen. I might just put it under the tree unwrapped then if he asks why it wasn't wrapped I'll tell him becaue he had already seen it there was no point in wrapping it.

 

With your kids I think I would leave the snooping child a gift or two short and use the money on the child that didn't snoop.

[Stowasser]

I personally think if they find their gifts than the surprise is over, go ahead and put them under the tree but won't be very exciting opening gifts that they know are there. I would definitely talk with one or both, if the older saw the items and the younger didn't, explain that he has ruined the surprise for himself but don't ruin it for anyone else in the family. My mother was telling me she found her gifts when she was younger and her mother just said well, I guess you won't be surprise now will you. I guess I believe in that too. Its madden as parents because we want them to believe and be surprised but we all know at one point all is found out and generally as they get older, the list are very specific as to what they want. You know we all do it, we snoop LOL I did it as a kid, even figured out my moms system of packaging. She would wrap the gifts and hide them behind something in her room, I would sit there and try to figure out the numbering system or whatever she had written in the corner to remember whos presents were who's, sometimes I got it, sometimes I didn't but I never opened the gifts. What fun is that. I

[Kimp67]

I would def. save it for his birthday. I've told my son since he's been old enough to understand that what he sees goes back. I put all our stuff in a corner in my bedroom & throw a blanket over them. He doesn't even try to peek because he knows I mean it. Plus, in a way he's like me, I never snoop either until they're wrapped, because I don't want to spoil the suprise for myself!! :)

[glitterstarr]

well I guess I am a softy, they have never done anything I have not done, I still would never take back a gift or hold it out, But hey thats me, They know and I do not put hardly anything under the tree or where they can find it till Christmas eve. Its just nature to be courouis (sp)

Same here because I wouldn't take anything back and plus I remember when I was a kid I snooped all the time! It's just nature to want to find what we aren't suppose to know we are getting.

 

I also keep everything hidden in different locations every year and it's usually right under their nose and the last place they tend to look.

[AndreaInNC]

I go by the "you peek it goes back" rule. I started this rule when my DD was 5 and I caught her peeking .. she was so upset that the gift she wanted got returned. She's 15 and doesn't peek anymore.

[hnybee411]

Mine aren't old enough that I have to worry about this yet (thank goodness) but my cousin and I have already decided we're hiding presents at eachothers houses when they get to that age. We'll wrap early and just exchange them. I was a snooper, my brother was a snooper, my uncle, my FIL, my....well you get the picture. It's in their genes. I just know I'll have to go to extremes if I want to keep it a secret.

[theboyzmom]

I told my kids from day 1, "if you peek at your gifts, I will take it back and get you something not as nice"

 

I've actually overheard my oldest telling his friends...they asked him if he did any snooping or peeking for his gifts and he said NO WAY, then explained why

 

it's worked great for us

[amyers12345]

I have this problem with a different spin on it. My DS is 7, DD 2. He was here when her santa present was delivered, in it's original box. Then I bought her the Vsmile to be from Santa, and he got into the car to get something and saw it. I forget to worry so much about her santa gift.

 

Should I buy her something small, such as a game for her vsmile, or get her something that looks like a 'real' santa present? i am not ready to tell him the truth.

[Sunshyne]

My son (then 4) saw something last year that was in the trunk in the bag when I went to get the stroller out. It wasn't really his fault...the bag had shifted in the trunk and it started to come out. He couldn't see exactly what it was, but he saw the Thomas and Friends logo. He didn't realize it was for Christmas, and he wanted what was in that bag so bad! I told him I bought it for a present for one of his friends. It was supposed to be from Santa, but it ended up being from us in order to keep him from finding out about Santa.

 

I'd make the Vsmile from you, or make up a story that Santa brought it early because his sleigh is just so packed on Christmas Eve. I tell my son all the time that I saw Santa while I was out or that an elf stopped by while he was at school to check up on him and make sure he was being good. lol

[DramaQueenLucy]

. I tell my son all the time that I saw Santa while I was out or that an elf stopped by while he was at school to check up on him and make sure he was being good. lol

 

Now thats a god idea!!!

[mom_of2boyz]

So far, I've never run into that problem. I've either hid them at other houses, or have managed to hide them very well in my house. This year though it's going to be a little difficult to hide a large computer box. I think that I am going to have my oldest son keep it at his house, then after we "go to bed" on Christmas Eve, I'll have him bring it down to my house and I'll wrap it and put it under the tree then.

[Trish1298]

My kids are younger, I think I would tell them I took everything back. But them give it to them still. If they were older i think making them take the stuff back is a great idea.

[sbixby]

I used to unwrap and rewrap my gifts EVERY year as a teenager. I was never caught and never let on that I knew what the gifts were. I always hated surprises.

That is sooo funny. I did the same thing...still do! My husband has learned to hide all my stuff at my mom's house but I still find out! I hate surprises but love giving them!