EZPZ: (Not) Wrapping Children’s Birthday Gifts

I hate wrapping gifts for my kids.

I hate spending way too long trying to make something look way too pretty when it is destined to be shredded.

I hate spending $3 on a roll of destined-to-be-shredded paper.

I hate that I am not good at making something look pretty with destined-to-be-shredded paper no matter how long I spend on it.

I’m bad at it and therefore it’s stupid and I don’t wanna do it anymore! *stomp*

Fortunately, I am a genius and have devised not just one, but TWO EZPZ ways to eliminate wrapping my children’s birthday gifts.

EZPZ Gift Wrapping Avoidance The First: the mail

My children love to get mail. They love it even more than they love tearing up poorly arranged wrapping paper.

I found this out on my son’s last birthday when I ordered his Nook online. It was shipped to the house in a very mysterious looking brown box. I let that box sit on the dining room table for about a week before Devin’s birthday, letting him know that whatever was in that box was for him but that he had to wait until his birthday to find out what it was.

He studied the box.

He shook the box.

He attempted to decode the shipping addresses on the box.

On the morning of his birthday, he came into my room with the brown box in his hands, eager to tear into it. Suspense, anticipation, and the gratifying experience of opening something at an ungodly hour on the anniversary of your birth? Check, check, and check!

And all I had to do was not open the mail and not wrap his birthday gift.

EZPZ Gift Wrapping Avoidance The Second: the treasure hunt

This is a perfect strategy if your child is currently obsessed with riddles and guessing games.

Instead of buying gift bags, tissue paper and bows, hide your children’s gifts in various parts of the house. Choose age-appropriate hiding spots, much like you would with Easter Eggs. This means nothing too high or too near Mommy and Daddy’s special drawer.

The next step involves either writing up a simple treasure map or writing a list of clues to the hiding place, depending on your child’s interests and abilities.

Again, make sure there is no chance of accidentally directing your child to a dangerous location, like Mommy and Daddy’s special drawer. Seriously. You might want to just not hide anything in your room at all and make sure that door is closed and that you are following your child around on their hunt. Just in case. I’m just saying.

ANYway, your kid will be so impressed with themselves when they solve your riddles and find their gifts that they won’t care that you have not used any wrapping paper at all. They may even think you’ve gone above and beyond the normal parenting call of duty by making them a scavenger hunt for their birthday. Win-win!

(But seriously, spend a few moments thinking ahead about how your kid might end up in your special drawer.)