Hiding Gifts

My two girls are of an age now where I have to sneak my Christmas gift shopping in alone. I can no longer take them with me and trust that they wont notice what I am doing and just hide the shopping in plain sight of them. But this isn’t the hardest part! We now have to hide the gifts so that they don’t see them. And the bigger the item the harder it is to hide. Then comes the struggle to contain my excitement and make sure I keep the gifts hidden. I know they are going to love them and I want them to play with them. I am constantly thinking through out the time leading up to Christmas - oh, I know what would be perfect for this … if only we had a *insert gift here* … And I even have to sneakily buy the wrapping paper for the gifts from Santa so that it is different from the wrapping from us. Oh my, the intricacies of giving. I love it!

When I was a kid I remember my parents would hide our gifts at the neighbours place, until we figured that out. At the moment we have things hidden all over the house, mostly up high where the kids can’t climb to and in the garage behind things the kids aren’t allowed to touch. I’d love to hear your creative hiding spots.

With the Christmas shopping almost finished, the next thing I’m looking forward to is wrapping all of the gifts in pretty paper and bows. And then re-hiding it, though they never go back in the hidey space quite the same with all of the ribbons poking out everywhere. I have heard that you should sticky note the wrapped boxes to keep a track of who they are for and then put ribbons on them at the last minute. This is probably a good idea but I don’t like the thought of the notes falling off or having to do pretty bows in the darkness and rush of Christmas Eve night.