A couple of weeks ago, my five-year-old and I were in Aldi. She goes pretty much everywhere with me.
She spotted a display of Little People toys, and once I confirmed which one she found most exciting, I snuck it into the cart behind her back. Bear in mind, I’ve done this with six kids before her, and thought I’d pull it off again.
I would have, too, except, oops, it didn’t fit in the bag, so she spotted it after we paid, and she hasn’t stopped asking about it yet. Millennial parents in a recent survey said they feel stressed about keeping gift secrets during the holidays.
Gift-Giving Is Fun; Secret-Keeping Can Be Stressful
Persistence is one of those traits we’re really thankful for in our kids (after all, it will serve them well in life) and at the same time, really frustrated by.
It turns out that many parents are finding this aspect of Christmas a little frustrating. Kids spend the months leading up to Christmas in a whirlwind of excitement and anticipation, wondering what their gifts will be. Parents say that sometimes the work of hiding and keeping secrets can be stressful.
In a recent Talker Research survey, millennial parents said they’re going to extremes to ensure Christmas morning is a surprise.
“To keep those presents a secret, most parents are putting major effort into hiding them ahead of the holidays. Two in three (63%) disguise gifts as something else to keep their kids from suspecting, and 34% will let their kids find decoy gifts to throw them off the scent.”
How Do You Keep Gifts Hidden?
Currently, we have a few items hidden in a kitchen cabinet and a closet. In the past, we’ve hidden a larger item for a smaller kid in a teenager’s closet, with their cooperation. We’ve kept things in the shed or left them in the car trunk.
Leaving a present at Grandma’s is often a good trick, and one year I just wrapped the biggest package as soon as it arrived and left it in the living room for guessing!
Other parents say they’ve hidden presents in crawl spaces, doghouses, attics, inside appliances, or even in laundry! Perhaps the most bizarre hiding spaces reported in the survey were behind framed artwork and in cereal boxes!
The downside, though, is that more than half of parents in the survey said they’ve hidden presents so well they’ve fooled themselves and forgotten where the items were!
More than a quarter (29%) even said they’ve had to rebuy gifts after they were hidden too well.
Handling Kids’ Questions
With my three youngest boys, as they got old enough to understand the link between parents’ shopping trips and Christmas morning, I gave them a frank talk. I told them that, for parents, part of the magic of Christmas is seeing their surprise on Christmas morning, and that one great gift they can give us is to let us surprise them.
My five-year-old isn’t ready for that. Clearly, she’s now old enough to pay more attention to my purchases and remember them better, so we’ll probably employ more tactics, like having her older sister babysit, making separate shopping trips, ordering items to be delivered, and using high shelves and old diaper boxes.
If your kids are starting to ask questions, it’s time to decide how you’ll answer them.
For some families, that will mean reminding kids that too many questions can spoil Christmas magic. For others, it will mean it’s time to discuss what Santa (or other traditions) really mean for your family. For others, it may be about focusing on faith and having a talk about what’s most important.
Keeping The Magic Alive
The excitement of surprising your loved ones with gifts that they’ll adore is a big part of Christmas magic. Almost two-thirds (62%) say that excitement is one of the strongest sentiments they feel around the holidays. Joy (44%) and nostalgia (39%) follow closely.
However, there are many more aspects to holiday magic than gift-giving. Kids were asked their top ten holiday joys:
Gifts – 81%
Holiday lights/decorations – 72%
Holiday foods/treats – 67%
Winter break / time off school – 66%
Holiday entertainment – 62%
Family traditions – 60%
Snow – 52%
Outdoor activities – 51%
Staying up past their typical bedtime – 44%
Seeing extended family – 43%
Keep being creative with the gift-hiding (maybe save your locations in an album or note on your phone, though), but don’t forget to enjoy these other memory-making opportunities, too!