# To wrap or not to wrap? (Christmas presents) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 20, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502 "2011-11-20T00:21:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/21 "2011-11-20T19:25:06Z")
Wrapped, except for big stuff (the abovementioned bikes and dollhouses) that doesn’t lend itself to wrapping and looks awesome next to the tree. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/22 "2011-11-20T19:39:20Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > Everything in life is better when it’s wrapped. > > Otherwise, naked would be no fun. No fun at all. Egg-zackly. Everything wrapped! ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/23 "2011-11-20T20:15:19Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > That does sound fun. One of my most favorite fun things my mom did was trick one of her brothers into wrapping a package for himself. > > She asked him to help wrap a package for the other brother, so he helped fill this large box with a bunch of wrapped smaller boxes. Some were empty and others were weighted with rocks or candy. And then come Christmas Eve, she hands this box to him instead of the other brother. > > Watching him unwrap all those boxes to get to the actual present was hilarious. Because of course he’d been so devious when he helped her with the box. He put tons of tape on, put boxes inside of boxes and all sorts of stuff. > > But he loved the watch. 🙂 Heheh, this reminds me of wrapping a present for my younger sister back in high school. She really wanted a metronome, so I got her one. The box itself was about the size of a deck of cards. I wrapped, taped, and generally encased it in a series of increasingly-bigger boxes, the last one of which was over 3 feet wide. Totally worth it! ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/24 "2011-11-20T20:27:29Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Heheh, this reminds me of wrapping a present for my younger sister back in high school. She really wanted a metronome, so I got her one. The box itself was about the size of a deck of cards. I wrapped, taped, and generally encased it in a series of increasingly-bigger boxes, the last one of which was over 3 feet wide. Totally worth it! Last year my husband wrapped up a piece of jewelry for me in a large box… with about ten pounds of lead shot. Totally confused me before I unwrapped it! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/25 "2011-11-20T21:07:26Z")
Packing this off to IMHO, from MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/26 "2011-11-20T21:10:19Z")
> [@nashiitashii](#): > > This only works with folks who do the “Christmas morning” thing. My family always celebrated on the eve, so there wasn’t going to be a practical time to get the kids away from the tree and the area of the house where gifts were stored for long enough to assemble the pile of presents for the big reveal. We’d wrap presents, then put them under the tree sometime in mid-December. Until then, my mom would hide the presents someplace sneaky for as long as she could. The only Christmas I remember from my early childhood was one where my aunt and uncle took me out for a walk to see if we could find Santa on Christmas Eve. We walked around in the cold for about a half hour, looking up into the clear, starry sky. Some one, probably my grandfather, rang some jingle bells back at the house. We ran back home to find that we’d missed Santa’s visit. The sad, lonely tree suddenly had, what seemed like, thousands of presents, both wrapped and unwrapped. It was my best Christmas ever. Sorry, that didn’t answer the question, but you can have a “Santa moment” even on Christmas Eve. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/27 "2011-11-20T21:13:42Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > I’ve always wrapped even though I feel guilty about the mass of paper it wastes. Sometimes, I recycle brown bags and once or twice purchased pretty fabric bags that can be reused by the recipient. Being a long time greenie, I’ve used various re-used items for wrapping through the years. My favorite items are Sunday color comics or older maps of all sorts. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/28 "2011-11-20T21:20:07Z")
In her household, the majority of presents are toys or things that the kids would want to play with? Interesting. Usually we had a couple toys and a lot of clothes and other stuff. Part of the fun is guessing which is which before you can hold them. Even if you only see it right before you get to use it, unwrapped presents ruin the surprise. And if you’re worried about waste, just recycle. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/29 "2011-11-20T21:44:44Z")
Wrap, definitely. Some presents from Santa aren’t wrapped, depending on their wrappability, but otherwise they’re all wrapped. > [@](#): > > Having just spent the past hour or so wrapping presents I recalled a bone of contention I have with my sister-in-law. This sounds like a rationalization to me. Apropos of nothing, you know what else sucks? People who apparently have lots of their shopping out of the way before I even start. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/30 "2011-11-20T21:51:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Basically, she doesn’t believe in wrapping presents! She thinks is more fun for children to see all their presents sitting unopened ready to be played with. Meant to include this part in the quote above. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/31 "2011-11-20T22:27:33Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Wrapped, except for big stuff (the abovementioned bikes and dollhouses) that doesn’t lend itself to wrapping and looks awesome next to the tree. Wrap, sometimes wrap trickily. Big stuff that is too big to wrap you can hide someplace else and wrap a picture of. We have a ton of boxes from packing up our entire house for our new floors, and we plan on using them to put every present in - so the presents will all look the same around the tree. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/32 "2011-11-21T02:29:12Z")
> [@Ashes\_Ashes](#): > > What a good thing to remember. Thanks OP! “My work here is done…” _tips hat and rides off into sunset_ > [@ZenBeam](#): > > This sounds like a rationalization to me. Indeed, it may all stem from the unfortunate Christmas present related incident which happened to her approx ten years ago. Her family had all their Christmas presents in their car which was parked outside the chapel while they attended midnight mass on Christmas Eve. It was a very stormy night and the wind brought a large tree down outside the chapel…right onto their car, and onto their presents… I kid you not…I have to ask her if the ‘no wrapping’ thing started after this incident or before… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/33 "2011-11-21T04:16:11Z")
Everything wrapped, including the stocking stuffers. It’s no fun otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/34 "2011-11-21T05:19:31Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Basically, she doesn’t believe in wrapping presents! She thinks is more fun for children to see all their presents sitting unopened ready to be played with. Whereas I, and all right-thinking people, believe that unwrapping presents is half the fun. How does she keep the kids from playing with them before it’s time? This makes no sense. Part of the fun is the sight of the wrapped gifts under the tree. Scoping them out, trying to guess. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/35 "2011-11-21T05:32:35Z")
I would say it’s not a big deal to not wrap, but evidently I am the only one who unwrapped presents to see what they were. Just slit the tape with a razor blade and then cut a new piece the same size to tape over it and it’s practically undetectable. I don’t really like surprises. ---
**Author:** ![rchandsaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@rchandsaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rchandsaker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/36 "2011-11-21T06:59:45Z")
i could save a little money with the no wrap.and the kids can use there creativity by picking any color of wrap or the biggest ribon then all they have to do is open there eyes and poof unwraped , no aunt jean saveing all the pretty paper, and the clean up. what clean up ---
**Author:** ![rchandsaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@rchandsaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rchandsaker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/37 "2011-11-21T07:02:30Z")
[rchandsaker;14484481]i could save a little money with the no wrap.and the kids can use there creativity by picking any color of wrap or the biggest ribon then all they have to do is open there eyes and poof unwraped , no aunt jean saveing all the pretty paper, and the clean up. what clean up? ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/38 "2011-11-21T07:55:02Z")
Wrap. Heck, even Santa presents sometimes get wrapped and then tucked into stockings! Big things get placed out after little ones are in bed asleep. The devious stuff is fun, dad once found a place that put presents into cans about coffee tin sized, then they were sealed. The only way to open them were with can openers! ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/39 "2011-11-21T07:59:23Z")
If I have to wrap something myself, fuck it - it’s going in a gift bag with a tag. Maybe some tissue paper jammed on top to disguise it. But wrapping is a clusterfuck and I hate it. Last year I discovered the joy that is getting the lovely lasses at the mall to gift-wrap things for me. From now on, that will be the way I go. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502/40 "2011-11-21T09:18:02Z")
Everything gets wrapped, even if it’s wrapped in clear cellophane to be delivered Xmas morning. I’ve wrapped freaking pot plants! My parents wrapped a fish bowl, with the fish in it!! The pressies start building under the tree from Dec 1st when we put the tree up. All the pressies we are giving other people. Around Dec 20th, the occasional pressie will show up for me or the kid. She’s the devious one when it comes to wrapping - she likes making me wait and guess. Then, Xmas eve, after she’s gone to bed, a bunch of pressies will show up for the kid to find on Christmas morning. Aww, I’m getting all no-elly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-wrap-or-not-to-wrap-christmas-presents/603502.md?page=3)