Holiday Hacks: Shopping, Wrapping, Hiding Presents

I’ve had littlies in my house for over a decade. I’m the primary parent, the grocery shopper, and the gift purchaser. Typically, I’m all three at the same time. In addition, my house was built very efficiently. The original owners designed the house by optimizing every square inch for livable space. I appreciate this tremendously, except this time of year when I need to hide presents.

The only thing I can store in the furnace room are filters and house paint. Each bedroom has a modest closet that’s already in use. The shelving units in the garage are currently occupied. The attic space is accessible by a pull-down ladder that’s very narrow, very steep, and – for Nebraska in winter – tends to be a very chilly place. Let’s be honest, Santa may run up and down chimneys all night, but this Mrs. Clause, won’t be.

 

So, what do you do when Christmas is coming, shopping is happening, and hiding is limited? You get creative.

Hack #1: Shopping for the kids, with the kids

Not every parent can Christmas shop solo. Most of us, have kids in tow. How do you hide the latest LOL! or Lego set behind the bread and milk without the kids finding it? Solution: reusable grocery bags. Starting around July – stores like Target reset their toy aisles and you can find great clearance deals – I carry a reusable shopping bag in my purse. Mine just happens to be black with a strip of Velcro at the top. When one child is occupied in the cart, another is busy pushing buttons on the interactive toy, and another is around the corner looking at Nerf guns, I snag the toy I want to purchase, shove it in the bag, and place the bag at the bottom of the cart next to the cat litter and toilet paper. At the register, I hand the black bag to the cashier and tell her I want what’s inside the bag to stay inside the bag. Most cashiers understand and secretly ring up the items, handing them back in the same bag.

Another trick, grab a utility tote – not a clear one – and fill it with the items you want to purchase in secret. At the register, tell the cashier you want everything inside the tote, but not the tote. Or purchase the tote and leave it in the trunk of your vehicle, adding secret purchases all season long.

Hack #2: Hiding Gifts

If it works for your vehicle, leave purchased gifts in your trunk. If this is not an option, my favorite hiding spot: suitcases. Un-nest those babies and load ‘em up. Duffle bags, overnight bags, those wonderful 31 totes you have sitting around; they work great. Fill them up, zip them tight, and place them back on the shelf. Gifts hidden in plain sight.

If you’re traveling over the holidays, this may pose a bit of a problem as you may need those suitcases. My most practical location for larger gifts was the ottoman in my bedroom, until the oldest found a gift that will now be coming from me and not Santa. If the gift is too big to fit in a suitcase, try hiding it on or under a shelf with a duffel bag in front.

Notice the blue and white snowflake behind the rainbow striped bag? I hope they don’t either. 

My second favorite location: utility totes. Again, not the clear ones. The ones that stored the extra blankets and winter coats now in use. Or the holiday decorations that will be pulled out, set up, and gracing your humble abode. Refill the totes with gifts and slide them back where they came from.

Bigger items tend to require more thought. If there’s room, use the furnace room. Try under a bed or in a closet behind clothes with a blanket draped over them. Even bigger? Check the garage and place behind the mower.

Hack #3: Wrapping gifts

My son has been trying to debunk Santa since he was five. He’s smart and quick and the most obvious give away is the wrapping paper. Yes, sure, Santa and Mom may use the same wrapping paper, but if you have an on-the-fence believer, don’t give them any more clues! Santa needs his own wrapping paper.

Which brings me to my number one rule: in my house, Santa is the only one who can use wrapping paper with a Santa on it. Period. Snowflakes, Christmas scenes, basic plaids or poke-a-dots, and licensed characters are great for gifts from parents and siblings. If the wrapping paper has a Santa on it, it’s Santa’s. I try to find red-themed Santa paper, because my one exception is Santa can also use plain red paper. For this reason, I keep a solid red wrapping paper on hand and will use it during Christmas Eve wrapping marathons when Santa’s paper runs out. Santa’s paper is also not stored in the same bin as other wrapping paper. It lives in secret on the very top shelf of my closet, in the back with the dust bunnies and cobwebs.

Santa’s wrapping paper.

For a frugal wrapping paper tip, try the Dollar Store and Target’s dollar bins. Great choices, fabulous prices. Make sure you don’t wrap a gift from Santa in the Amazon or Target box with your shipping label still attached. That might defeat your hard-kept secret.

Hack #4: Keeping gifts a surprise

Even though the tree looks festive with gifts under it, I generally wait until a few days before Christmas before bringing gifts out. We have a no touching, no shaking policy. But the temptation is great and nothing ruins the surprise faster than a mid-December: Shake-Shake-Shake “It’s Legos!”

To help this, label gifts in code. One year, each gift was addressed to a different reindeer. Hint: make a reference key and don’t lose it! Another year, I used numbers: 713, 78, and 615: their birth weights. This year, the gifts with a tree on the label go to one child, snowmen to another, etc.

Hopefully these hacks will help ease your holiday season. What are some of your holiday hacks? Remember, the best hack is the one that works the best for you.

jenniegollehon
Jennie is a native Nebraskan and aspiring writer. She’s a stay-at-home mom to three kids, two cats, a bearded dragon, and a handful of fish. When she’s not playing chauffeur, maid, cook, housekeeper, tutor, laundress, or answering to “Mom” a million times over; she hides in her writing nook and lives vicariously through her fiction characters. Jennie likes to read, take long walks, go on crazy road-trip vacations her wonderful husband plans, or simply sit on the deck with friends.