Do you assemble your kids presents or leave them in the box and then wrap?

[my-three-monkeys]

Hi,
I have learnt that it is waaaay easier to put presents together before the day. We have been caught out with a bike that had no pedals the night before DD1's birthday.

On top of making sure the bits are all there and in working order, it is much less stressful than having a child impatiently waiting for Mum or Dad to put something together NOW! And you can have more time spent playing with them rather than assembling.

The present can look much bigger and more exiting when wrapped out of the box too!

Toni.

[Trillian]

Oh another thing I always do is get rid of those stupid wire ties that hold the toy in the box - they **** me to tears and you spend half of Christmas morning making sure the things are picked up off the floor. And toddler toys are always the worst offenders for them LOL. So that's one thing you should definitely do before hand and just pop the toy back in the box. She wont know that it's not held in place and she gets to play with it quicker.

[Astrid]

Big stuff we tend to assemble the night before, bit late to deal with missing bits, but much easier than dealing with impatient kids on the day.

[rufalina]

And a tip... my cousin got a battery charged racing car, and his parents accidentally forgot to charge the cell, and took 12 hrs to take a full charge... luckily my cousin was around 10 at the time so was relatively patient, but I have since learned from that one...

[mrscricket]

We assemble - for the same reason as Trillian to get rid of all the stupid plastic ties. DS is also a 'budding builder' and is so obsessed with all of DH's tools that we can't have them out in front of him. He'd show no interest in the toys, and would rather take a screwdriver and try to 'build ' something himself.

[widdly]

Apart from DS bike last year which we assembled the night before, I have always just wrapped the box and assembled xmas morning...thinking I might assemble the night before from now on, I like someones suggestion that toys look biger and more exciting when assembled then wrapped

[maz]

bikes, tikes, doll houses, tramps, swing sets, pools we all do the nigiht before.

little stuff...blah thats half the fun of christmas....it shuts the kids up for half an hour so you can wake up

[Astrolady]

We generally assemble prior to as well. Ashton is getting a bike this Christmas which we already have in a box in the shed. We will be pulling it out soon just to make sure all the stuff is there and then assemble it Christmas eve and wrap it with tinsel.