Where to Hide Christmas Presents from Your Sneaky Kids and Spouse

Being Santa every year can be quite challenging. Especially if you have kids or a spouse who like to snoop around the house looking for hidden presents. Finding presents can spoil a Christmas especially if your kids believe in Santa! This is not the way you want your little darlings to find out that Santa is really you!
I remember the year that my younger brothers stopped believing in Santa.

We were ready to open gifts and my sister and I had a much larger pile than our brothers. My Mom got this unusual look on her face and then disappeared up the stairs for a few minutes. She returned with a suitcase filled with presents. The look on my brothers' faces was that of astonishment. This is how they found out that Santa wasn't real. My Mom had such a great hiding place that even she forgot where she hid the presents.

Here is a list of fantastic hiding places that even you might forget about!

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #1: Suitcases or Duffel Bags
Any type of a suitcase or duffel bag will make a great place to hide gifts. You can even hide large presents in these or several small ones. It is a good idea to write down where you hide everything so you don't forget like my Mom did.

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #2: Attic
If you have an attic, then by all means, use that space to store gifts! If you start shopping early in the year, do not put anything up there that could get damaged by extreme temperatures. Candles do not do well in the heat and musical instruments such as guitars should not be left in the heat either. Most toys will be fine though and your little ones won't be able to get to them.

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #3: High Shelves in Closets
I have used this space for several years now. If you have a high shelf or a deep closet, you can store gifts there and place blankets or clothes over and in front of them to keep them hidden. Do not do this in a closet that is used often by your children or they may notice the change and become suspicious.

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #4: Locked Shed
We lock up our shed in the fall for the winter months so this makes a great place to hide large items such as a bicycle, basketball hoop, or play kitchen. You can even assemble large items and store them here and they will be ready to put out the night before Christmas. This is also a great place to hide a teenager's gifts since they probably wouldn't think to look there.

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #5: Spare Bedroom
Hide your gifts in a spare bedroom and you will have a place to wrap in private too. Just keep the door locked and hide the key. This place is a little risky especially if you have older children or very sneaky kids that will undo locks to look for hidden treasures. A spare bedroom works great for hiding gifts for toddlers or younger children though.

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #6: Trunk of the Car
This may seem unusual, but can prove to be a very mobile gift hiding location! If you are the sole driver of your car, then what better place to hide gifts than in the trunk. Just be sure to keep the car locked and the keys hidden. You won't have to worry about snoops while you're gone since you will have the gifts with you.

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #7: Office or Workplace
Surely you have room to shove gifts in the corner of your cubicle, behind your office door, or in your locker. You may not want to keep the diamond necklace that you bought your wife, but most other items will be fine. Chances are your place of work is secure and locked at night. Just remember to take the gifts with you when you start your Christmas vacation.

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #8: Relative or Neighbor's House
Enlist the help of family or friends to hide your purchased gifts. You can even wrap and tag them before stashing the gifts at someone else's house. That way on Christmas Eve when you send your husband over to retrieve Santa's stash, you can place them right under the tree when he returns!

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #9: Storage Tubs
Purchase a few large storage tubs and hide your presents in there. Place them in a storage area such as the garage, basement, or under the stairs and nobody will even to think to look in them. It is a good idea to put a few "real" storage containers in front of them, but mark your gift ones with a colored dot or something similar so you can locate them easier.

Christmas Gift Hiding Place #10: Under the Tree
If you have older children that won't tear open wrapped presents, then why not eliminate the hassle of them having to sneak around the house. Just wrap them and place them under the tree. Make sure you disguise the packages and do not label with names, but rather some other code that only you can decipher. This will probably annoy them, but will keep everything out in the open. Note: I have been known to untape wrapping paper, slide out the box, take a peek, and then re-tape so nobody even knows I saw my gift. If you have a child or spouse like me, then do not use this method.