Poll: Presents from Santa

Kellybeth124

Saw this poll on a local board and it piqued my interest. If you celebrated Christmas as a child and received gifts from Santa did they come wrapped or were they set out as is? Where did you grow up?

 

My answer - Unwrapped, I'm from NC.

kaleyandjason

I am from WV and most of ours were unwrapped!

SBS0628

Wrapped. California.

ETA: Except when I got a bike. And I ran right past it (seriously, didn't even notice a BIKE in the middle of the room) and dove straight to the pile of wrapped gifts. My parents actually had to take the gifts out of my hand and point me to the bike so I would see it.

megs1383

gifts were always wrapped, I'm from Upstate/Western NY

chrissyvcm

Really??? I find it odd that you'd get unwrapped gifts, probably because that was absolutely unheard of for us. Everything was always wrapped, unless it was a bike or something that couldn't be wrapped. I guess your parents were smart and saved on wrapping paper though! I grew up in Texas.

angelfire0412

Wrapped!! Florida.?

hopscotch.

Wrapped in Alabama.  However, occasionally my mom would set one or two things out (like a big stuffed bear or something).

Leigha12

Wrapped, except for a few things from him in our stocking. Grew up in Texas and western NY. The big things like bikes were never wrapped, either, of course. Plus we also got gifts from Rudolph, Frosty, etc. My dad gets creative with gift tags. Still does actually, lol. But sometimes his tags give it away. For example, when I get a gift "from" Tony Hawk, I know it's the newest PS game.

Kellybeth124

This is so strange to me! The poll on our local board was almost 100% unwrapped for the girls who were from NC with a few transplants saying theirs were wrapped. If I had awoken on Christmas morning as a child to find a pile of wrapped gifts, I probably would have burst into tears.

Philly6*6*09

Both.

We had two trees - the tree in the living room, everything was wrapped (boring stuff - clothes, etc)

 

Our tree in the basement (our playroom), the toys would be unwrapped.

It made sense in our house, as we had the catherdrial ceilings, and we could look over the railing and see all the wrapped gifts; but not the ones that were in the basement.

I am from Southeast PA.

mamie329

Unwrapped gifts would be such a letdown. 80% of the fun is the anticipation of wondering what it could be.

 

Wrapped. Pennsylvania. 

gmk1784

I'm in Central PA and our presents were always wrapped. I never heard of unwrapped Santa presents before

hopeblue9

Wrapped. Pennsylvania. 

kaleyandjason

I guess I should have specified a little. Part were wrapped, part were unwrapped. Usually any dolls, barbies, some games, things like that were unwrapped, maybe a total of 4 or 5 gifts were unwrapped. The rest was wrapped. I thought it was fun to run to the living room Christmas morning and see a few gifts, but then still have a pile to unwrap!

stjoespirit04

Wrapped in Massachusetts.

My mom would buy specific paper to distinguish "Santa" presents and "Mom and Dad" presents. She was a sly fox, I'll tell ya.

sarajoy12345

All our gifts were wrapped in Chicago!

We were never really believers in Santa, so the gifts that said "From: Santa" were always kinda crappy, useful things like socks and underwear. We'd always open those last.  I guess Mom & Dad wanted credit for all the fun toys!

Kellybeth124

This board has a disproportionate amount of people from PA. Y'all are wrecking my stats here. Interestingly enough it was the PA transplants on our local that were all "unwrapped Santa gifts?! Inconceivable!" 

I also wanted to add that all the gifts from my parents were wrapped. It was the 2-4 big items from "Santa" that were set out on display. I promise you that tearing open paper was not missed. There was the "AHHHHH" moment when you first ran into the room and stood there, basking in the glory of your toys set out in front of the tree. 

luckycooky

Wrapped - ND.  But we also found our Santa gifts under the tree a few days early some years so it was just odd all the way around.

hawkilady

Wrapped from Iowa... if we would have gotten unwrapped gifts it would have been a disappointment.  I've never heard of people getting unwrapped Santa gifts either... We got small stuff in our stockings that were sometimes wrapped, sometimes not (I think it just depended on if mom ran out of time). 

DH grew up in Kentucky and his gifts were always wrapped as well.  His parents wrap up every possible thing... i.e. last year I got a sewing kit (not that I asked for a sewing kit - thanks MIL) but the actual basket was wrapped, as were the scissors, measuring tape, individual spools of thread, etc. inside.  Annoying...

mamie329

Curious -- say you had a sister. How would you know which gifts are yours? Are they unrapped but tagged?

kaleyandjason

My sister and I are far enough apart that it was sorta obvious at the time who got what. Like at the age I got a barbie she was getting like Fisher Price soft toys. Now, we usually just know. A couple times they were joint gifts. Like a board game or other type of game.

Kellybeth124

I have a younger brother (we're 6 years apart) so it was always obvious who the presents belonged to, BUT we still had a specific side of the tree. My gifts were always on the left, his were always on the right. Our presents always had bows and ribbons on top (just no paper) so it wouldn't be too hard to slip a tag on them if you had kids that were the same gender and closer in age.

kaleyandjason

My sister and I are 6 years apart, too. That is why it was pretty easy to tell the difference when we were younger.

clarisa_b

Wrapped-CA. I always thought that was the only way.

LarkNow

I had never heard of unwrapped presents!  I grew up in Chicago.  Did Santa not have wrapping paper?

kaylynne

Santa did not wrap gifts in Va.  We could tell which gifts were for whom because they were laid out under our stockings (which my grandma made - they have our names embroidered on them).  Only gifts from family went under the tree (wrapped).  I would also have been shocked if Santa made me unwrap the gifts (the elves have to wrap stuff AND build it?  they should strike!).  I loved the big reveal of coming downstairs and seeing this overflowing cornucopia-style pile under my stocking.

DH's family and mine both still get gifts from Santa, even though we are all grown, but at DH's (in NE) Santa only gives gifts that fit in the stocking.  I'll have to ask him if they were wrapped when he was a kid.  At my parents' the stocking usually just has candy, an orange, and one or two small cheesy gifts, while the "real" Santa gifts are on the fireplace under the stockings.

Savy _05

Kentucky.. Unwrapped. I remember one christmas that everything from "santa" was wrapped (it was because my dad wanted to do it how he grew up doing it in michigan) I was really odd to us! When it was unwrapped it was amazing to come down stairs and see everything... as a child it was breath taking! haha... anything from our parents was obviously wrapped though.