Parents have revealed the 10 best places to hide Christmas presents from mischievous kids.
Christmas is just around the corner, and parents have been busy stocking up on the top Christmas toys to treat their little ones this year. Those who've been keeping up to date with the best and worst days to buy Christmas gifts will likely have already done the majority of their Christmas shopping, and all that's left to do now is head to a local Christmas tree farm and pick up this year's spruce.
But parents with curious kids will know that leaving gifts under the tree isn't an option - unless you want them taking a sneak peek at their presents before the big day. But thinking of creative places to hide your purchases - where nosy little ones won't think to look - isn't easy, which is why bedroom specialists Time4Sleep have done the research for you.
They spoke to parents to find out the top 10 places to hide Christmas presents, and some of them were ingenious - with one parent even revealing they get their neighbours involved!
Meanwhile, another parent shared that she tells her daughter "a little white lie" to keep her from pawing at her Christmas presents.
Mum Jane Roberts confessed the only space she had to hide presents was in a wardrobe, but added, "To try and make sure [my daughter] wouldn't completely ruin the surprise on Christmas Day, we told her that the wardrobe was booby-trapped. We honestly didn't think this tactic would work but she never chanced taking a look and now at 23 she says she genuinely bought it, she even reminded me that we also said the wardrobe had cameras inside so we would know if anyone went snuck in - sometimes you have to be inventive!"
Best places to hide Christmas gifts from kids
- Loft/basement
- Garden shed
- Neighbour’s house
- Spare suitcases
- Shoe boxes
- Handbags
- Storage beds
- Back of the wardrobe
- Out of reach cupboard
- Inside shoes
Katie Peters - the mum behind the genius suitcase hack - said of her idea: "We pretty much all have suitcases in our loft or cupboards taking up space, so we decided to put them to good use to hide our four year old’s presents as we knew he wouldn’t ever think about the cases. We then told our friends about the hack and they took it to another level, putting a lock on the case for extra security. Genius."
Meanwhile, it's mum-of-two Sarah Pearson who got her neighbours involved. "Luckily our next door neighbours are more like family to us and with their children having grown up and moved out, they were more than happy to let us store the presents in the loft and wrap the presents in their house," she said.
"On Christmas Eve we would collect the presents from our neighbours' house, arrange them in the living room and head back to bed - the kids never found out and couldn't believe what we'd been doing when we finally told them!"
Alice Thomspon shared her story of hiding presents in her two-bedroom flat: "Our flat had limited storage and zero loft space! Therefore, we had to get extremely creative and pretty much anywhere was fair game when it came to present hiding. Stocking filler gifts were stashed in wellies and shoe boxes… We even went to the extreme of removing the back of our wardrobe and stashing wrapped gifts behind it!"
But sometimes, hiding gifts in plain sight can be the best option. Tom Hemingway, dad of two, explained, "I think our kids are more aware of the lesser known places to hide Christmas presents thanks to films and TV shows so we tend to stick to the more common spots to hide gifts.
"The main place we use to stow presents is our storage bed, the kids know that we just store spare bedding and towels there and it's difficult for them to access anyway so they don't bother. With space for larger items that would be difficult to hide elsewhere, it's a great option for us."
Looking for some gift inspiration? We've rounded up the best gifts for new mums and gifts for new dads too, as well as some of the best perfumes of all time. For more kids' present ideas, we've rounded up the best toys for 3 year olds, the best toys for 6 year olds and the best toys for 10 year olds too.
