For children pre-reading stage

A great way to disperse gifts in the order you want your children to open them up is to plainly write what it is on the wrapping!

for instance: Sally wanted Hasbro Baby Alive for Christmas. To prevent Sally from opening up the accessories first, simply write what things are, right on each gift! Eliminates the need to guess or shake the box!

For preteen / teen stage

Jott down on a piece of paper, randomly assigned numbers next to each teen's name. Instead of labeling each gift with the teen's name, replace it with their assigned number! When its time to open the gifts, reveal their numbers. Only works if you keep the "key" separate and secluded, and with 2 or more teens.

note: Teens are pretty clever. Gift tampering is one thing. If you begin accruing gifts under the tree prior to Christmas Day, some teens will open up the gift outright and simply rewrap it after their curiosity is satisfied! (lol...special recognition goes out to my sister for that "revelation"). By simply keeping the wrapping paper inaccessible, this temptation can be eliminated.

For adults

They say good things come in small packages. Well, with alot bigger box, and a little more wrapping paper, you are sure to throw the recipient off! For the really little items, don't forget to tape them real good to the inside of the box, so it doesn't rattle around...muahahaha...

For the really big items, print out or locate a picture of the gift (magazines or advertisements), wrap the picture up in the tiniest box you can find, saving yourself some wrapping paper and hard work! Inside the tiny box along with the picture, put the real location of the item...i.e...it's in the garage or trunk of the car!

(P.S. if you bought something that just doesn't make it fast enough by mail due to the holiday rush, this method allows you to still have something to give- The photo of a gift that's on its way!)

With all that being said, let the shopping begin!