Christmas Morning Frenzy

We do Santa presents/stockings... then stop for brunch.... then do family presents.

We also open gifts one person at a time... but if someone wants to stop to play with something they've gotten, they're more then welcome to!

I made a scavenger hunt for my neice and sister since it will only be the two of them ... my sister will hide the gifts with a clue in each and it will all start with a card under the tree. The premise is that the toys fell out of the bag and he could not find them all - the elves helped but they were too big for them to move so they left clues instead.

The youngest hands out the presents one at a time (and may need help finding and reading the names) One gift gets opened at a time while the others watch,

Take turns-- Kid A opens their first present while everyone watches, then Kid B, etc around the room until everyone is done. Not only does it slow things down but it gives the kids the chance to see how happy the gift THEY picked out and gave their sibling made them.

You may want to wrap each one's gift in a different paper. On a scrap of the paper write their name and put it in their stocking (by the way anything in the stocking can be opened immediately). Then have them find the correct paper wrapped gift under the tree and make a "pile" of their gifts. Then have them each take a turn to unwrap the gift. It turns out to be more fun as everyone sees the gift rather than an opening frenzy! Merry Christmas, I.

In our first years of marriage, we lived down the street from an anesthesiologist's family. The good doctor had to make his hospital rounds in the morning, Christmas or not, and there was no telling what time he would be able to come home. So that family opened their "tree presents" in the afternoon. I'd never heard that before - but the mama told me she had emphasized to her children that doing it would make it possible to open presents as a family, and they didn't feel traumatized by having to wait a few more hours.

So we tried it ourselves a few years later, and it worked well. The children opened their stockings first thing in the morning, and all morning they had a chance to play with those things. The other gifts were there under the tree, and they knew that after Christmas dinner (which began about 1:30 or 2 o'clock) they could open them. There *might* have been a bit of tag-peeking and box-shaking, but no other real disturbance. (The kids weren't the only ones peeking at the tags, either.)

It has worked well ever since; in fact, the procedure has spread to some of our children's families. It spreads the day's celebration out well, so that there is less frenzy in the early hours and less "What can I do NOW?" the rest of the day.

If you're interested in trying it out and can't change your system at the last minute, think about it for next year.

(P.S. Just read some of the other responses. I love the idea about taking turns opening presents. My husband nixed that!)

I refuse to get out of bed until 7am. That's rule #1 ;) I pre-fill the coffee pot, so at 7am, I tell the kids to press the button to get it going, then they can wake me when it's both 7am and the coffee is made, LOL!!

Then my husband and I gradually make it out of our room. I'll make the 2 year old breakfast and (mean mommy!) make the girls (6 and 8) wait a few minutes. They usually count their presents. Then I take a picture of all the gifts, and we check to make sure Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk :)

Then the girls have at it. I'll help my son, my husband is usually still waking up. I run damage control; cleaning up as presents are opened, making sure no one is so excited that they're not reading the names on stuff, taking pictures, oohing and aahing over everything...

When the girls get to their stockings, my husband will start opening his. I'm always last, LOL!! By then, the kids are helping with clean up duty. Once all the presents are opened, I'll make breakfast.

Yep, that's about it. Even trying to stretch it out in all it's glory, it's still only about 30 minutes long!! BUT, I do make the girls take their time to appreciate each gift and really check it out before moving on to the next one, and I'll comment and ask questions 'Cool new game! How many players is it? Oh really, 4? Maybe we can play that later, that looks great, what do you think?'... it makes them really reflect on what they're opening, at least for 30 seconds, LOL!!!!!

We all open presents together, one at a time. We enjoy the sharing and gift giving/receiving. It isn't done in a manic, frenzied pace. The children know to wait their turn.

I have two kids......but I have them pick out a gift for the other one to open. Then they open those at the same time. We check it out, maybe take a pic. Then they pick out another one and so on.......

Christmas Eve we pick out one thing for each person. DD will get pjs to sleep in.

Christmas morning, everyone gets something to eat (or drink - COFFEE!) and then we open our stockings and see what we got, some of them from each other.

Then SD usually crawls under the tree and sorts into piles. First we let SS open his birthday presents.Then we do one present at a time and go around til nothing else is left under the tree. It slows them down more than handing packages out all at once and helps everyone appreciate the thought that went into each other's gifts, get thank yous, etc.

We all take turns, watching everyone open their gifts when it's their turn. My daughter did fine with it last year when she was 2 1/2. It may take some effort this year!!

I agree with Sarah C. We always did it that way when I was growing up, and we do it that way now. I have relatives that do not, they just hand out everything and the kids start tearing into everything all at once. The kids don't even know who gave them anything, and when it is all over, they don't know what they have! We just never did it that way and I think it would take alot of appreciation of the gift giver and the thought they put into things away.

When our kids got old enough to read (which was still pretty young), we started letting them have "Santa duty" and pull the gifts out to distribute. One person puts on the Santa hat and they are told (by somebody--usually me or Hubby, but sometimes a grandparent if they are here on Christmas morning) "get one for ____(your sister). What about that blue one over there (pointing towards it)." The designated "Santa" person crawls around under the tree until they locate it and then get to hand it to the recipient. Sometimes, they will get several (one for each person) before sitting back down, but the recipients open them one at a time in order so everyone can see. Almost like a baby/bridal shower, lol.
How old are your kids?
You should discuss with your husband and your kids what you are doing differently in advance, so they know what to expect.
Merry Christmas! :)

We have always had the kids open one gift at a time in a rotating fashion...this gives each child, and the rest of the family, the opportunity to appreciate the gift and teaches them turn-taking. We always take a photo of the child with their opened gift if the gift-giver is not present....like a gift sent from a relative. We use the photo for the thank-you note.

You could do youngest to oldest, or have some other way of deciding who is first.

In my family, we always took turns distributing the presents one after another to their recipients and everyone watched as each was opened. Anyone who couldn't wait their turn had to sit out the next round. We still do and it not only makes it last, but you get to watch each gift really get enjoyed.

Santa only delivers one present per child and fills the stockings. All the rest are from Mom and Dad and those are opened Christmas evening after dinners have been done and cleanup complete. The elf for handing out presents makes sure every person gets a turn and this usually leaves the smallest child be the last one to be opening gifts because they usually have more small toys as opposed to the more expensive electronic item. Christmas lasts until almost bedtime and they actually play all day with their santa haul.

We open some gifts on Christmas Eve and the adults save a few for the next day. We just put Santa stuff out unwrapped and have stockings. When gift opening we take turns playing Santa and everyone opens one at a time.

Ever since my kids were little, I've always insisted presents are opened one at a time, and everyone watches. The person sees what it is, and thanks the giver, if they are there.

It was a little hard to slow down my youngest son, 'cause he is one of those who would rip them all open in one minute if you let him (he eats the sa
me way), but I've insisted (pleasantly), and everyone has gotten used to it.

I like the "elf who hands out presents" idea, below.

p.s. They would all get up in the middle of the night and open their stockings together, and they would have to make do with that until the parents got up and had their coffee and then family gift opening would begin.

might be to young but we each take a turn open 1 gift each and so on we all watch each other one at a time (photo great)

As a kid, we had stocking full, santa gifts that were unwrapped (often things mom made..poor as church mice, but with a crafty, sewing mom who did stuff all year..along with a few years of Toys for Tots donations made this possible)...then some wrapped things from Mom and other family friends (we had no other "real" family around).

We would wake mom and she made us wait until a failry reasonable time of 6-7 am. She would give us the go ahead to go in the living room and pause at the tree, but leave the Santa gifts alone..and go to stockings and take them down. While she got up, hit the bathroom, then came out to start her tea and maybe something for breakfast to toss in the oven that she prepped the night before??, we tore into the overfull stockings.

By the time she was back with us, we were sucking on a candy cane or ripped into the giant orange that weighed down the stocking bottom, and comparing our stocking contents. As soon as she was settled into her lazy boy with her tea...and ours was set down...we had the OK to hit the santa gifts! we would play with those a while then maybe get to pick a gift or 2 until breakfast was done..play and ooh and aah, then eat.

After that it was still one person at a time, one gift at a time. We never did a big tear into it all. We all watched who got what. Very civilized and I don't remember ever feeling deprived! LOL.

We do it that was in my in law family now as well.

Merry gift opening!

We open one gift at a time so we can all enjoy everyone's gifts. We did this as a kid and we do this with out children too. It's nice because it teaches our children to be thankful and to be happy for other people too. =D

For 15 years, I only had my son. Now we also have our 5 years daughter. We have never had that "rushed frenzy" although sometimes excitement did rush the opening a bit. The kids always have more to open then the adults but we normally hand the kids a few things and then make sure the adults have stuff to open. Then the kids have to wait until everyone is done for more to be handed out...after all, mom can't hand out if she's opening too.

Our family also does presents one at a time. We also have the youngest or most rambunctious person passing out the gifts to help keep them occupied. It worked out really well for my son last year since he was just as excited to pass out the presents as he was to open his!

My family has always opened gifts one at a time, taking turns and getting excited when the gift we GAVE was opened. To me and my family, that is just as exciting as the gifts we receive because we take time and thought before purchasing a gift for each member of the family. This process takes all day. I've been to other family's celebrations where they all open at once. I get disappointed because I usually miss the initial reactions to the gifts I gave because of the frenzy.

I love the scavenger hunt idea proposed by one of your responders. Never done it but I think your children would be the perfect age for a couple presents done that way. The larger gifts would be more fun the get if you must solve a clue. Your children could work together to hunt for the packages. If you work this in with normal tearing into the gifts you might get the longer time for enjoyment as you wished. Merry Christmas!

Make everyone take turns...one at a time. We also crumple up our paper and bows and throw them in a (HUGE!) bag (I love Fleet Farm...if you Christmas shop there, they give you a big heavy duty green plastic bag that's honestly big enough to put 2 or 3 adults in. I save it every year to throw out Christmas wrap, packaging, etc.) after each package, so there's no huge mess to clean up afterwards.

We always have Christmas music playing, and that seems to help...along with snacks. I guess we don't do it on Christmas morning, but you could still do what we do...tray of meat, cheese, crackers, fresh fruit, dips, etc, candy, cookies...all set out to nibble on while opening.

Growing up, we always took turns opening presents (it was all organized in piles for each person). Taking turns meant the attention was on the person opening the present, and the next turn wasn't taken until the present had been opened, held up, appreciated, etc., just briefly. I like the idea because it lengthens the present opening, makes things less crazy, and also reinforces a sense of gratitude (holding the present up for all to see, saying thanks, etc.). I thought this was all normal, until I spent a Christmas with my in-laws--I couldn't believe how everyone just tore into everything all at once! How wrong! lol. Different strokes, but I do love the one-at-a-time idea. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

We try to go one by one, but since we live an hour away from my family that starts Christmas over there at noon, we have to rush. It sucks and we have decided that next year, we'll start at 3pm.

Ok...This is not something that my family has ever done. However, I ex-boss of mine family had a tradition that would make their Christmas gift giving last over 1-2 DAYS!! They have 5 children who are all older now. Each person would open a gift and then based on the gift they would possibly play, watch, build, etc that particular gift. I don't think they did it with every single gift. I feel that is a bit extreme but could be fun once everyone is up in middle school, high school aged.

What we do is let the kids open their stockings 1st. Then they take turns opening a gift---not at the same time. They personally thank the person that gave the gift and then wait patiently for the next person to open a gift. It works well, we take our time and then have breakfast after. :)

M

We always grew up with the kids each taking turns and opening the presents one at a time. We start with the youngest grabbing a present for someone else and delivering it to the recipient. Then the person that opened a present has to pick a present to pass to someone else. It is slow but it was ho iwas raised and how my kids are now being raised. I also write down who got what from whom so thank you notes can be done.

Have the kids open just one present apiece on Christmas Eve. Many families have this as a tradition. It can be "On Christmas Eve we open Grandma's presents" or "We open our sibling presents to each other" etc. Do be certain these are not super-stimulating presents like a video game system etc., but gifts like books or something small..

Then on Christmas morning: We also do stocking first then breakfast (not a long one, though!) Then, like others have said, take it in turns. This teaches the kids they have to wait for the others. Model for your kids how to take an interest in other people's gifts and other people's happiness: "What do you think it'll be? It's such a strange shape in that wrapping paper!...Oh, you're going to love that..." Make sure the kids pay attention rather than just impatiently griping until they get to their own gift for that "round."

Keep a big trash bag ready nearby so the paper goes straight into it after each gift -- my mom taught me that and it saves a lot of cleanup later.

My child is a little older than yours (nearly 11) so she is great about actually wanting to save a present or two until later on Christmas Day so there is still more awaiting her. You can try that with your kids but they may be too young to want that yet! Also, in Britain where my husband is from, they exchange gifts with certain folks on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, when people often go to see friends and family that's not immediate family. And in some countries gifts -- often smaller ones, not stacks and stacks of Santa gifts -- are given on St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6) or Epiphany (Jan. 6). We do a tiny gift on Dec. 6, left by St. Nicholas and put into my daughter's shoe (a European tradition).

See if somewhere in your family's cultural tradition there is any tradition of presents at times other than Dec. 25. That is fun and importantly, it helps make kids aware that the whole world doesn't do things the way we do here.

Our kids are 4, 6, and 8.

They open gifts one at a time and they always take the time to admire what they get. It tends to go on for up to an hour. But it's wonderful!! Even if they ripped through everything and then loved it all, it'd still be amazing :).

2 more sleeps and I can't wait!!

My husband's family opens the gifts one at a time. We sit in a circle and open the gift, and everyone stares at you waiting for your reaction. It's awful! There are 6 of us and it takes 2 hours to open all the gifts. I HATE it. I suggested this year, that we open 2 presents at a time, and they went for it. I think it will take a lot less time. There are 5 of you, and say each person has 4 gifts to open. If it takes 3 minutes per gift, that's an hour. If you have more, then it gets really long. No one want to sit that long for presents. I really like opening a few at a time, for that reason.

We have never just allowed the kids to grab and open present after present. I don't think it would even occur to them. We go around the room opening one by one. Someone (usually my youngest) will get under the tree and pass the gifts out. Of course you want it to last longer than 15 minutes, just don't allow them to shred without watching what other people get and have them slow down to enjoy each gift they get. Relax and enjoy your Christmas!

we opened presents fr each other (immediate fam) on christmas eve after supper so it was already slowed down anyway....then in the morning santa came so everything was opened already & ready to be enjoyed. there was no frenzy, lots of excitement though! maybe that would work???....doing it in the evening?

I didn't read your responses. But when me and my siblings were kids we always too turns opening and really enjoye an appreciated each gift. We were allowed to open our stockings first thing though. We only have one child so it's a little different now but we still try to do that!

for us it's stockings first, then breakfast then gifts.
When my kids open them we make sure we get a picture of them with the item that slows it down a bit. But we don't have the issue of rushing through unwraping. My mom made us unwrap them all one at a time taking turns , and that drove me crazy as a kid, it made the rest of us bored, especially with there being 5 of us kids.

Now Christmas at my Dad's mom's house, was different. We all unwrapped at the same time and it was much more pleasant because everyone was sitting there talking and unwrapping and if you wanted to see what someone else got you'd say something like " oo let me see what you got " or " oo who gave you that one?" And everyone would look stop and look and it was great . Sometimes if it was clothes the person that recieved them would go put them on so everyone could see.

We all get a stocking and open that first. I always have a large zip lock bag to put the stuff in with each persons name written on it standing by because, try as they may, the kids are usually never able to put everything back in the stocking after they took it all out and the little things always end on the floor or lost in the shuffle. Every year everyone gets socks, underwear, PJ's and sometimes a new robe. All of that goes in one big box for each person. And that is usually the first gift each one opens because even though they are appreciated we all know we are really waiting to open the "toys". Adults included! Toys are handed out by me, one at a time and opened while everyone else waits and watches. This way we all get to see their faces as they discover what they got. Any gifts that come from outside of the immediate family are given afterwards, or if the person giving the gift (grandparents, aunt, uncles etc) are coming to dinner, are opened when they get there. This makes the gift opening last most of the day, with a little here and a little there.