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Now You See It, Now You Don’t…Hiding Christmas Gifts

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, on purchases made after following an affiliate link. See my full disclosure here.

December 12, 2013 By Jackie

This is the first year I have been concerned about the boys finding their “Santa gifts”. They are both old enough now, and together mischevious enough, to start snooping around the house. I used to stash everything, usually unwrapped, in a closet. But this year I need to step up my gift hiding game.

The folks at Wayfair recently asked me where I hide my gifts. And I was all befuddled…hiding gifts…shoot I hadn’t gotten that far yet. And, the gifts were starting to pile up in the trunk of the car. Wayfair to the rescue! I ordered this 4-drawer storage cabinet for the corner of the dining room with plans for it to hold table setting goods.

gray-cabinet-with-wood-cane-drawers

The new cabinet for my dining room seemed like the perfect hiding spot. Since I just gave the frame a fresh coat of paint (I am digging the dark gray with dark wood), the drawers were still empty. I know what you are thinking…the drawers are see-through. You are right, but I had a plan for that, too.

I adore simple gift wrap, my favorite being brown kraft paper. So, I merrily wrapped all the small gifts in kraft paper and tied them up with baker’s twine. Then, I tucked them in the cane drawers. They certainly don’t call any attention to themselves and my boys are none the wiser.

inside-the-cane-drawers

There was one gift that didn’t quite fit in the drawers. It is a larger Lego set I desperately needed well hidden from my oldest. This will not be the year he learns that Santa is not real.

I removed the bottom drawer from the cabinet and tucked this coveted gift under the bottom drawer. This little cabinet has molding covering the front and sides at the bottom, making it impossible to see the gift underneath. And the drawers have little stops to prevent them pulling out all the way, which are too tricky for little hands to figure out.

now-you-see-it-now-you-don't-gift-hiding

All my brown paper packages are tied up with string and tucked safely away in this unassuming little cabinet.

And, just to save you from scrolling back to the top to see how well hidden the gifts are in these see-through drawers, here they are from a nice sunlit angle.  The brown paper packages draw no undue attention.

cabinet-with-cane-drawers

I have a few other larger presents to hide and you bet I will be looking for more spaces like this one in all our furniture. I am thinking I could stuff something light up under the rug ottoman, and what about all the empty drawers in our media dresser, and behind the sofa under this console table.

What is your top, super-secret, they-will-never-find-it-here hiding spot?  I need a really good idea to hide my hubby’s gift!

Disclosure: Wayfair provided a storage item of my choosing in exchange for sharing how I use it to hide my Christmas gifts.  No further compensation was provided this post.  All opinions and sneaky gift hiding ideas are my own.

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Comments

  1. valerie says

    December 12, 2013 at 6:32 am

    I put a lot of gifts in the empty suitcases in our closet. Works like a charm, they are always there and hopefully my boys don’t even notice them or think to check!

    • Jule {inside9B} says

      December 12, 2013 at 7:16 am

      That’s exactly what I do every year! I have a big closet (a walk-in actually, so it’s a real little room) with Ikea Pax armoires. On top of that I keep my usually empty suitcase and in that suitcase I keep the presents. Nobody ever looks up there, and I have to step onto a chair to reach them. Best hiding place!!!
      Jule

      • Jackie says

        December 12, 2013 at 8:56 am

        Jule, Seems everyone is onto the suitcase trick, except me. I am going to try it this year!

    • Jackie says

      December 12, 2013 at 8:55 am

      LOVE this idea, Valerie. You definitely solved where I should hide my hubby’s gifts and one larger gifts for the boys.

  2. Riley says

    December 12, 2013 at 7:15 am

    We lived in a small house at the time, with very little storage. It just became too much hassle to find hiding places. I finally got to the point where I just told the kids, “Your presents are being stored in my closet”. It was then up to them to decide whether they wanted to see them prior to Christmas morning.

    Years later, we found out that one kid looked every year; the other two did not. That explained why, when I got home from work one evening, I thought the sack that held the toy train did not look quite right. The “looker” kid had had it out, RUNNING it, and hurriedly had to put it away when he heard me pull in the driveway. :)

    • Jackie says

      December 12, 2013 at 2:00 pm

      Riley, Oh my goodness. It is like you ran your own personality test on your kids! I love it. It is like an honor system. I just can’t believe he not only looked, but he actually took them out to play with! Thanks for sharing.

  3. Sara says

    December 12, 2013 at 10:49 am

    We have a walk up attic and I have a huge rubbermaid container that holds my flannel sheets in the summer, when I pulled them out, it became my present hiding container. It has worked great!

    • Jackie says

      December 12, 2013 at 1:04 pm

      Sara, Oooh, that is a good one, too!

  4. Jennifer says

    December 12, 2013 at 11:46 am

    Slight change of subject: I hide chocolate from my son, who eats everything in huge quantities, behind the baking dishes. He never looks there! I do share the hiding place w/ my daughter and husband. For hiding gifts – – walk-in closet, behind the clothes.

    • Jackie says

      December 12, 2013 at 1:04 pm

      Jennifer, I am with you there. We hide all candy from our kids. Right now, above the fridge works, since they can’t reach it. But I know we will have to do something better soon!

  5. Design Chic says

    December 12, 2013 at 1:18 pm

    I’ve gotten great ideas here – mine are hidden in a rarely used closet, but think I need to be a little savvier!

  6. Amy says

    December 12, 2013 at 1:34 pm

    I am cracking up at the comment about the boy who not only peeked at his gift, but took it out and played with it! That is too funny.

  7. Ann McGlone says

    December 12, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    Where is that piece of furniture from, I really like it?

    • Jackie says

      December 12, 2013 at 3:25 pm

      Ann, The cabinet is from Wayfair, linked to in the second paragraph.

      • Amanda says

        December 14, 2013 at 8:10 pm

        Did you paint the cabinet?

  8. Anne says

    December 12, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    Apparently my mom hid our Christmas presents in the tree box. No one’s looking in there!

    • Paula says

      December 13, 2013 at 1:27 pm

      That was my hiding spot for years until we starting getting live trees again. No one ever looked in the tree box that sat out in plain site in the office.

  9. Gwen says

    December 12, 2013 at 6:50 pm

    I used to hide big gifts at my neighbors!!! My then hubby’s and the big stuff like bikes. The rest was jammed in endless edges of my closet that grew at Christmas for the rest of the year I had no idea how this families gifts and that’s as I’d buy and put in their big bag to later wrap (no, I never wrapped as I went. I was tired! Little ones, teaching, getting a Masters, volunteer work, home cooked meals, all laundry and cleaning on me) so I’d be wrapping to send two thousand miles one direction, two thousand another direction, and huge family coming into town to stay, so if my kids could figure all that out I’d say they were mighty smart! But I do recommend neighbors that don’t have kids thinking its for THEM though. Oh my, you may come home and see your child’s new tether all set up and the neighborhood gang playing with it so just be sure….Riley’s son and kids might be living there now!!!

  10. Terri A. says

    December 17, 2013 at 6:17 pm

    Brilliant idea! Love how you hid the one set under the drawer. Genius! Our gifts are hidden in a top closet where they can’t reach in a Rubbermaid container that is not see through. My hubby’s gift is wrapped and unlabeled. He just thinks its for one of the kids.

    • Jackie says

      December 17, 2013 at 8:40 pm

      Terri, You are doing so much better than me. I ordered my hubby’s gift through his Amazon Prime account, because it was 20% off and free shipping. I am pretty sure he knows what it is :)

  11. Judy says

    December 3, 2016 at 12:55 am

    Many years ago, our old chest freezer gave out. I was going to take it to the dump, but then it occurred to me it was a big, bug-proof storage chest. I started keeping bulky linens in it, and Christmas gifts. I kept a small shelving unit on top of the lid to make sure a kid never tried to play in it (dangerous) or find gifts. The “kids” are all adults now, and they still want me to tell them how I hid the gifts all those years. I just enjoy a smug smile!

    I love the suitcase idea!

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