It's the most wonderful time of the year! The kids are counting down the days while embracing all the magic YOU are creating for them. If you are a new parent, learning how to shuffle the shopping and wrapping between your normal parental duties can be difficult, and you might not know where to start. Having some experience under my belt, I wanted to share some tips with you on shopping for and wrapping Christmas gifts that might make your holiday hustle a little easier.
Make your list
Every year after Thanksgiving dinner, I give my kids the circulars from the newspaper, a piece of construction paper, scissors and glue. Here is where they construct their wish list to send to Santa. Before they send it off with their elves or in a Santa mailbox, I snap a photo to reference.
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Check it twice
Once my kids have figured out their wishes, I upload them all to an Amazon wish list in their name. Not only does this help me see what they are asking for and the prices, it makes it exponentially easier when a grandparent or friend is asking what the kids want or need for Christmas.
Find out who's naughty or nice
Now that you're ready to do your shopping, download the app Santa's Bag. This is your game changer. Upload your children's wish lists and track gifts through phases of idea, to buy, ordered, to wrap, wrapped, to send, and given. Add attributes such as store purchased, price, where you have it hidden, and more. This app will be your favorite go-to during the holidays, year after year.
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Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Now it's time to get down to business. Buy a durable roll of double-sided wrapping paper and pick one side of the paper that will always be your child’s "Santa paper." If you have two kids, each kid gets one pattern and so on; adding as many rolls as you need for each kid.
 My favorite wrapping paper comes from Sam's Club. It's a thick roll, cuts well, and has cute patterns with coordinating ribbons. |
Wrap your kids gifts in their "Santa paper" and tuck them away without putting a label on it (yet). Not only will this help you visually compare what your gifting ratio looks like, you will also find relief knowing your kids won't discover presents with a "From Santa" tag on it in November. On Christmas Eve, stick a label on each present as you put it under the tree, using your paper pattern as your guide.
 I use the red side for my daughter and green for my son. |
You know that random free label coupon code you get from Shutterfly all the time? Put it to great use by getting "From Santa" present labels. Not only does it make putting labels on your Santa gifts super easy on Christmas Eve, but you don't have to worry about your super observant child calling out your handwriting on the tag.
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Now get those gifts under the tree and enjoy the magic of your Christmas!
Do you have a favorite holiday hack? We'd love to hear about it!
