# Does "Santa Claus" wrap presents?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 15, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203 "2008-12-15T04:14:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/61 "2008-12-16T02:09:55Z")

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Santa is a busy man, and he has no extra time to be wrapping shit. Especially big, awkwardly shaped stuff that doesn’t have a box.

We always had one fairly big something each from Santa, and maybe one or two smaller things, and the stockings. None of it was wrapped.

To this day, if my parents have gotten me something that’s a pain in the arse to wrap, it’ll be unwrapped under the tree and they’ll claim Santa left it. When I was a teenager, if they still had stuff to wrap on Christmas Eve, Dad would ask if I wanted my things wrapped or left by the fat man in the red suit.

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**Author:** ![happiness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@happiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happiness)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/62 "2008-12-16T02:50:40Z")

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I am just really glad to know that I am not the only 20-something who still gets presents from Santa… the “big” present every year is still from Santa.

Santa’s presents are always wrapped (like a lot of others- with different paper than the rest, and with handwriting that looks just like Mom’s but slanting the other way).

Stuff in the stocking was never wrapped.

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**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/63 "2008-12-16T04:15:49Z")

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> [@nevermore](#):
>
> In conclusion, I feel I can tell my girlfriend that her way is weird, and my way is awesome, and I’m not wrapping stocking stuffers. 😛

Wait, what? You never told us what you or your girlfriend each did.

Actually (speaking of weird) the thing my wife and I clashed over more was when the presents went under the tree. Her Mom wrapped them and kept them all hidden until Christmas Eve after they went to bed.😕 In my family, we wrapped them and put them under the tree as we went, so this mound would grow under the tree as Christmas neared. 🆒

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**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/64 "2008-12-16T04:47:46Z")

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> [@ZenBeam](#):
>
> Wait, what? You never told us what you or your girlfriend each did.

…oh, yeah. Guess I could count my own vote!

For me as a kid, “high-impact” (as **Marienee** so aptly put it) items were fully assembled and unwrapped, even if they were wrappable. Lots of other things under the tree were wrapped from Santa, with the gift tags written in my mother’s very distinct handwriting. Stocking stuffers were never wrapped. I had never even heard of wrapping stocking stuffers until my gf told me she was wrapping mine before our first stocking-exchange. Why would you wrap something that’s already inside a stocking? The stocking IS the wrapper!

The gf had EVERYTHING wrapped. Big presents, little presents, stocking stuffers (excluding candy/edibles), everything. She says the only thing she can remember being otherwise was a bike.

I like my way. When you walk into the room and just SEE the thing you’ve been DYING to have… that feeling is indescribable. Also, I don’t want to unwrap things I’ve already bothered to pull out of my stocking. If you want to wrap it, it might as well go under the tree, y’know?

> [@](#):
>
> Actually (speaking of weird) the thing my wife and I clashed over more was when the presents went under the tree. Her Mom wrapped them and kept them all hidden until Christmas Eve after they went to bed.😕 In my family, we wrapped them and put them under the tree as we went, so this mound would grow under the tree as Christmas neared. 🆒

Weirrrrrrrrd. We did it your family’s way. Your wife’s way would make me sad. ☹

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**Author:** ![lynxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@lynxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynxie)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/65 "2008-12-16T06:39:04Z")

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> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> The elves wrapped the presents. Be sure you don’t use the same paper on Santa presents as parent presents. Kids notice.

That is how I found out that it’s Santa who really is “the helper”. After that I was allowed to help wrap my sisters’ gifts - I felt really grown-up.

Santa gifts wrapped.  
Stocking stuff not wrapped.

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**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/66 "2008-12-16T06:54:31Z")

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Santa doesn’t wrap presents ever, that would be one big pain in the @ss. Only family wraps presents.

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**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/67 "2008-12-16T12:03:57Z")

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> [@Mesquite-oh](#):
>
> Santa doesn’t wrap presents ever, that would be one big pain in the @ss. Only family wraps presents.

You make Santa sound like a fat lazy old man. Oh wait. He is.

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**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/68 "2008-12-16T19:58:12Z")

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> [@ZenBeam](#):
>
> Her Mom wrapped them and kept them all hidden until Christmas Eve after they went to bed.

But…but…the tree would be all naked at the bottom. Poor naked tree.

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**Author:** ![beanpod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/69 "2008-12-16T20:15:08Z")

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When I was little, “Santa” wrapped presents, but he “borrowed” Mom’s wrapping paper when he came to the house. He also used To/From stickers with Santa on them and never filled out the “From” box. Presents from anyone else had the “From” filled out and used different stickers. Sometimes things were wrapped in stockings and sometimes not. If there was something large, it was generally wrapped. I was allowed to open my stocking while Mom and Dad were shuffling around getting coffee.

I like **Sateryn76’s** idea about special Santa paper and no ribbons. I’ll have to take notes for when I have kids.

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**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-santa-claus-wrap-presents/477203/70 "2008-12-16T20:35:31Z")

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> [@Mesquite-oh](#):
>
> Santa doesn’t wrap presents ever, that would be one big pain in the @ss. Only family wraps presents.

> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> You make Santa sound like a fat lazy old man. Oh wait. He is.

[Groucho]Hey, I resemble that remark.[/Groucho]

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