I Ruined Christmas!!!

I would tell him that they are for some other boys and girls who need christmas gifts this year. And when christmas comes tell him that Santa decided to let him have them instead.

Tough one...Good luck

CAlm down, i almost did the very same thing today myself, christmas isn't ruined. first off did he really see everything, i mean nothing was buried in the back or anything? because if so here is what you do, you explain to hm taht mommy and daddy buy him some presents and santa rings otehrs, i'm doing this myself this year, just so i can have stuff wrapped and under the tree and out of hiding, and what i told the kids was santa brings one toy for each of them, if they are good, so whatever gift they told santa they wanted this year will show up under the tree christmas morning and everything else will go under this weekend. but basically then he knows that it is stuff you got him, since he alredy saw it all. but just like a birthday gift he needs to wait to open it on christmas. you've got a few weeks and if he didn't get a good look he is bound to forget some of it, and heck if he does beleive in santa and the whole being good thing expand on it and say that if you give him his gifts early then santa won't come and there will be nothing there to open on christmas, chances are he'll let it drop in exchange for getting more stuff from santa. but at 5 heck at 6 and 7 even i know my kids would forget about it if i didn't make a big deal of it, jsut make sure to move them too, and when he goes back to the closet and asks where his presents are, what presents, i didn't see any presents.... or you could just tell him they were for someone else, my mom took me shopping with her for years before i caught on. but the biggest thing of all here, don't freak out, it's not about the gifts, we all forget that, i know i do when it comes to my kiddos, it's about being together as a family and spending time together, this might jsut be a good way to teach that lesson.

Whether you wrap them or not, I wouldn't give them to him until Xmas. He should have to wait like every other kid. Maybe he'll forget about some of the stuff he saw in the next 10 or so days. P.

I don't think you ruined Christmas at all. I don't think that he's old enough to not believe any more. Most parents like to hang on to that to about the age of 10. I think him "knowing" could lead him to telling other child. I have a 4 year old, and we talk about gifts all the time. We talk about how I got him some gifts and how we buy everyone else gifts and then Santa brings special gifts to the good boys and girls. So, there are gifts, wrapped and unwrapped, all over the house. His are hidden in places that he wouldn't look. You can use this same thing with your 5 year old. Explain how you got him some special gifts for doing good things this year, he may not have them until Christmas and he has to act surprised. Sign your name to some of the packages and Santa to others. Sign your name to the ones he talks about most between now and then, and Santa to the ones that he forgets about. Or take some back and get different things. By no means did you ruin christmas. Use it as a learning experience for everyone about the love of giving, not recieving. Enjoy the life of the children, they grow so quickly!

Wow!...Oops. Well, you could return them and get new ones. Another option....tell him those are for Toys for Tots and bag them and put them in your car. Then pull them out again for Christmas. Good luck!!

I say wrap them up and make him wait. He'll probably forget what he was getting and be just as excited on Christmas. Of course you still have time to add in a few surprise gifts.

My 4 yr old daughter saw some of her presents in my bedroom. She didn't know they were hers though, so I told her that we bought those toys for kids that didn't have any and we were going to give them away (which we did with some, some of the bigger stuff we told her we took when she was with her grandma cuz it wouldn't fit in the car with everyone in there because we don't have alotta money too buy all new gifts), and if Santa saw what a nice girl she was and how she was helping others he might bring her the same toys. I don't know if that would work with your son but it worked for her.

L., It happens! You did not ruin Christmas. Here is my story of last year when My son found his "big gift" from santa under my bed.

I will try to be short:
Our cat was lost, and thinking a goood place to look would be under all the beds, I sent Grey to search for her. It hit me when he started crying "I found something, I am in trouble" over and over - just what he found. So not sure how to handle it, I sent him to his room, so I could call santa to find out how he wanted to handle it. I told Grey to hang out in his room until I called him to come out. (I moved it to the garage) but told him "Santa's head elf came to pick it up and if he (grey) was a good boy, Santa would decide to deliver it on Christmas day". Worked like a charm...we still talk about it today. From now on I don't bring gifts into the house. Good luck...Happy holidays!

Let him choose 1 gift and play with that...tell him the rest of the toys are a surprise for a cousin or something along those lines...and make him promise not to tell anyone. (smile) or HE will ruin Christmas for someone else.

L.,

You have not ruined Christmas! It's just time to change it. Your son is at the age when they stop believing in Santa Claus, so you could tell him that whole thing. Then, you could start a new tradition or just something different for this year. What about having him help you wrap them up and then mix them up under the tree. Starting the next day, let him open one a day IF he can correctly guess what is inside. (You can put a number on the bottom and keep the list hidden. Just don't forget and "leave the door open again"!:) Or you can have him choose his top favorites, you choose how many, then you take the rest back and exchange them. You still wrap them all up, but you might make an agreement that he can choose one to open the next day, but the rest wait till Christmas. Another idea I heard about was making a game out of clues to find the presents, but only one clue a day was given. Maybe these will give you some ideas.

If you want to try to keep the Santa Claus thing going a while longer, can you say those gifts are from the grandparents and you? Of course, you'd have to buy something else from Santa or exhange something. He might forget exactly what he saw if there were several presents in the closet. You could try saying that Santa drops off presents early sometimes because he can't be everywhere in the world at once and parents are supposed to help out in the whole Christmas/Santa plan.

And then you can get him excited about buying a gift for a needy child listen on a card on one of those Chistmas trees.

Keep us posted as to what you decide! Good luck. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.