First Gifts of Christmas

Even before November I had the first gifts of Christmas purchased. The t shirts shown below were advertised on a site my daughters like as Mystery Shirts. My daughter clued me into the sale on these with the word 'hint' attached. The sale price was originally $3, but I think in the end I paid $2.40 each with another $5 for shipping. I think these will get stuffed in their stockings...since that should help fill up the space well.

And yes, I have also purchased gum for my daughter's stockings. I was at Target buying other things and had been tipped off about a coupon on Extra gum. I think each pack cost me less than 50 cents. They may have been as low as a quarter!

So now that I have these items I need to hide them until the big day. For now, I'm putting stocking stuffers and other small gifts in my tote bag. A tote bag that I finally dismissed from its job as an office and has had no use since.

I'm going to store the tote bag under my desk. If I had much smaller children who I thought would go looking for gifts I'd pick another place, but this will be convenient for me to tuck items away as the arrive into our home.

In the past I have used opaque bins to hide and store gifts until they are wrapped. I may end up doing this if I have larger items that won't fit easily in my tote bag. If I do that I will place the bin in our closet as I don't think my daughter ever goes in there! In the past I have stored gifts in our basement and garage in opaque bins. As far as I know it has kept the curious little hands out!

My plan is to be done Christmas shopping before December 10. It's a goal and not set in stone. But getting it all done before then would be ideal. I'll let you know how that works out.

Do you have reason to hide your holiday gifts? What works for you? Have you purchased any gifts yet? Do you give yourself any deadline for completing shopping besides Christmas Eve?