74 replies to this topic

[sdigman6]

I swear to god if I can keep the entire santa bit under wraps this year from our 9 year old it will be a miracle! I have hid things in the garage for YEARS, or in my basement. I went to a AG doll sale in Madison and bought a bunch of things for the 3 girls. I thought I can stash them in the garage and they are safer NOW then previous years , with dh thngs for work in there ...right? WRONG! She left to camp the other day and went to get her bike from the gargage ( its never in there mind you)to take with. Her brother tried to beat her in there so she would not get to looking around...whoosh!Our son who is 12 comes out to tell us she saw Kits bed, bitty baby stuff for the littlest sister who is 3 etc etc! OKayyy now there kills that! Now the Kit bed has to be saved for another time, the bitty baby has to be for the soon to be 3 yr.olds birthday and now I have to start from scratch for XMAS-UGH! I guess I need a new hiding place now that the garage is becoming off limits with her in there! I used my closet but now I need a high up lock, she saw I have a doll and stuff in there even though it was covered up with blankets..she seemed to find it. She is ruining all my hiding spots that I have had forever!!!! thankgod teh 5 year never is looking...yet

[cassgurlie04]

do you have an attic or maybe a crawl space that she wouldnt go into??? if not sometimes i have to resort to storing stuff at a grandmoms house because my house is small and there really isnt any where the kids dont go.

[Gray04]

Last year I was very surprised how many people hide gifts in the trunks of cars! Just a thought

[sdigman6]

no attic here, and MIL is well....a pain in the rear! She gets all worked up when you keep your belongings there no matter what the reason. If she does it for us she will need to do it for the other 9 kids even though they more then likely would not ask to or need to, she feels that way. I may need see if I can use my sons closet at all.

[abentley]

I have a locking hall closet that I have used, and a closet that is under stairs. My older 2 children would go through every square inch of the house if we ever left for 10 minutes. My younger 2 have not yet snooped and they are 10 & 11!!

[shopping mom]

I have used the trunk of my car before. My parents house is within 30 minutes from us and since they are out of the states I am using their closet.

[AndreaInNC]

I keep stuff under my desk at work. One year when I was about 12, my parents hid my big gift right in front of me by telling me it was for the girl who lived across the street. It was a bike. My parents told me that they were hiding it for her parents. What a sucker I was ... lol Do you have room under your bed? I had to buy some bed risers for my bed to make room for gifts. We also have the "you peek and it goes back to the store" rule at my house. Have had that one ever since DD17 was about 5. Only had to take back one gift in 7 years. And I made her go to the store with me to return it. I know I'm mean, but she had to know I meant business. When her sister got a little older, she explained the rule to her little sister with such seriousness - I couldn't help but giggle. My kids know where in the house is off limits year round since I do my holiday shopping starting Dec 26!

[tlklcox]

I hide things in my luggage with a luggage lock on it. We have two or three very large luggage pieces that we can use. In the end it isn't enough but at least it helps. Last year we used my husbands car trunk also.

[Mikesgirl]

I have a lock on my hall closet and the kids know if its locked dont open it or your stuff goes back to the store and all that money gets spent gifts for the child that didnt open the door. I also use my closet that stays locked and they know you are not allowed into my room without permission and that rule stands year round..

[momof5plus1hubby]

I get a few storage totes fill them half way with gifts and put something on the top n close the lid. This way the open them and find whatever on top n wont look any further:shock:

[berry1014]

How about some of the larger plastic totes. Not the see through ones and label them with something boring to a child like Old Bill Statements; Tools, Fragile : Dishes, etc and tape the lids shut. You can use the excuse for taping them shut to keep out bugs. Or get a large wooden box with a latch and pad lock and keep them in the garage.

[abentley]

I forgot one year I put everything in other boxes...like my ds18 laptop went into an Avon box(my friend sold Avon). Not a reason for him to ever look in an avon box, and it remained it basicly plain sight for a couple of months.. I have put stuff into shoe boxes in my closet...my kids think they are actually my shoes in them. When the tree goes up, I have been guilty of wrapping and tagging some of their gifts to my DH. They never thought to snoop into his gifts!!! I remove the tag Christmas eve and replace it with the right one.

[siczlo]

I use the Attic and grandma's house. I also wrap everything immediately.

[julz0420]

Madison is still young so we use a rubbermaid tub with a lid and put it in our laundry room. My mom said she would stash stuff all over the place (in their car, their closet,etc) but there were 5 of us older kids so they had to be creative. lol

[amberjobryant]

i usually put mine in the linen closet under sheets, blankets and towls. unless forced they don't go there and so i just remember not to "force" them until january

[sdigman6]

WOW we have some great ideas! Some of these things might actually work for me. Seems my 9 year old finds EVERYTHING, thank god she tells her brother who is 12 so, he can tell me so Santa is not let out of the bag! if she only knew he was working against her -heehee

[guilliam]

We hid our oldest son's gifts in his little brother's closet one year. It was the year ds6 was born so our oldest son didn't have any reason to be looking in his baby brother's closet since all that was in there (or so he thought) was a stockpile of diapers and clothing from my baby shower;) We have also used the locked luggage idea as someone else posted, a cooler that was in the basement. But mostly if we don't want him to find something, we keep it at my parent's house (he's 18 but still a bip snoop:))

[Kandy]

under my bed, top of my closet, top of the hall and entry closet and best place of all top of their own closet and in the storage building.

[mgmckny]

Someone on here last year put their stuff in the canoe that was hanging in the garage. Get creative! We have faith that you can outsmart the 9 yr old!!!

[3cuties4me]

We have an unfinished basement that I store it all in. I put everything in boxes or if it's to big for a box I cover it up. The kids do play down there but never look in the boxes. We are going to be finishing our basement this year so I'm going to have to get a new plan! Maybe the attic?

[JennG]

My 4 year old finds stuff.. lmao. I put everything in the trunk of my car, which makes grocery shopping difficult in December and I try to put stuff in the attic.

[3 boys]

I have to hide my husbands stuff at the neighbor's house.. he is worse the the kids. I put everything in her garage and she helps us wrap all the kids stuff christmas eve... she has no family and looks forward to it and I get help wrapping

[guilliam]

Just a thought, but for those of you who hide items in the trunk of your cars, aren't you afraid of your car getting broken into? This happened to someone in my town last year and that thought has just stayed with me so now I don't leave anything in my car overnight (even though we live outside of town in the country)

[dancglady]

I love the luggage lock idea! Presents to my future old enough to snoop kids will go to my mom's or sister's where they will be wrapped and gathered in the trunk on Christmas Eve. That is what my mom did and I love the idea! I also love that my Granny had a sneaky part in the plans! Too bad your MIL isn't keen on the idea... she must be an anal clutter free person!

[mrs.winter]

We have a fifth wheel camping trailer so i put it all in there ! camping season is over by then so know one goes out there to look and my kids are 13,9,5 and 15 months so i have snoopers believe me!

[Layher6]

A couple of years ago I bought big red plastic totes to store our Chrismas decorations. We haul them up and the kids help me empty them and then put them back in the basement empty. What they do not know is I stuff them full of Christmas presents. It has not occurred to them to search the totes since they are the ones who emptied them.

[3 boys]

A couple of years ago I bought big red plastic totes to store our Chrismas decorations. We haul them up and the kids help me empty them and then put them back in the basement empty. What they do not know is I stuff them full of Christmas presents. It has not occurred to them to search the totes since they are the ones who emptied them.

that is a great idea
My kids would also think they were empty cause we do the same thing
Thanks for the tip

[Caprice64]

I think this is mucho clever!! I was one of those snooping kids, and I have to say this one would have fooled me. I never got caught, but after 3 years with no Christmas morning 'surprises' I stopped looking. The thrill of knowing what I was going to get just didn't quite equal the surprise thrill! LOL

A couple of years ago I bought big red plastic totes to store our Chrismas decorations. We haul them up and the kids help me empty them and then put them back in the basement empty. What they do not know is I stuff them full of Christmas presents. It has not occurred to them to search the totes since they are the ones who emptied them.

[jenesparza]

this may sound like a costly idea but my aunt she has kids that are really bad about snooping so she buys a small storage unit for the month of nov. then dec she wraps and puts under tree, but if they are still santa believers then you could also keep them there for dec too.

[elena_398]

Cabinets in the garage My closet (no kids go into my room unless my husband and I are in there) My mom sometimes takes bigger items (I also help hide stuff for my neighbors as my kids "know the truth" haha. Shed (in rubbermaid containers) attic Basement