When Kids Find Their Christmas Presents...

How would you react if your children discovered their Christmas presents in their hiding place?

Let's be clear, we're not talking older children on the cusp of not believing in Santa being cheeky and deliberately looking - smaller children, innocently exploring the house, are prone to finding things that perhaps they shouldn't, and it's not always possible to have a 100% fail-safe hiding spot for Christmas presents. What an awkward situation!

Recently, one dad was left 'devastated' when his toddler found all of her Christmas gifts, with the little one asking if that day was Christmas Day and telling daddy that she'd seen 'toys and a barbie'. Dad Jason Madden shared the experience on TikTok and was inundated with suggestions on how to deal with the situation and keep the magic of Santa alive in the comments.

@jasonmadden67
When santa didnt do a good job of hiding the presents.
♬ original sound - Jason Madden

We asked the parents in our online community group how they'd deal with the situation;

The response we had was huge, with so many helpful tips and ideas on how to explain the mysterious presence of Christmas presents in the home when we all know that Santa Claus lives in the North Pole - how do we keep the magic of Santa alive in such an awkward situation? Thankfully, it seems to be a salvageable situation!

Lyndsey told us; "I tell my daughter I send them to santa and santa decides on his list if she has been good to get them. Then she knows I've put it the energy and paid for them, would just tell her he has been super busy and not collected them yet."

We also loved this suggestion from Katie; "I'd say santas sleigh has broken down and made a stop here these are the presents of the children's in the street!"

Claire's idea was genius; "I would say santa always sends the presents to mums and dads so they can check no one else has brought them, for example. Once mums and dad's have checked, elves then take them back to be wrapped and delivered."

Karen shared her great idea; "We have always told our children that because Santa is super busy at this time of the year, he asks us to look after the presents and to help him and his elves by wrapping them for him. The elves then come and collect the presents so Santa can deliver them on Christmas Eve."

Charli made us smile with her anecdote; "I found presents as a child and was so upset. My mum told me that Santa was super busy so he would I ask my Mum to help by wrapping the presents and he’d collect them. I fell for it hook, line and sinker and felt so relieved afterwards!"

Our verdict...

Kids will be kids and every year, there will be children who accidentally (and deliberately) come across your stash of Christmas presents. Not everyone has the space to keep Christmas gifts inaccessible and hidden from curious kids, so it always helps to have a back-up story. It also doesn't always help to follow advice to only give one present from 'Santa' and the rest from mummy and daddy at a certain age, depending on the level of understanding. We hope that these suggestions come in handy if any of you are ever left in this position!

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