7 Places to Hide Your Christmas Presents

In this season of gift-giving, not only is it important to spend time finding the perfect gifts for your loved ones, but it’s also important that those gifts aren’t discovered and opened before Christmas. We’ve all done it too. As kids, we searched through the house looking for mom and dad’s hiding spot. If your parents were smart and creative, you never found those gifts until magically they were under the tree on Christmas morning. If your parents weren’t smart or creative, you found those packages and realized you didn’t get that super-cool Swatch Watch.

So, now that you’re the one giving the gifts, it’s time to discuss the best places to keep them so that your family, significant other, or pet, doesn’t find them. The key to hiding a Christmas or Hanukkah present is to find a place that keeps the gifts hidden and protected yet easily accessible.

The Garage

The garage can be a good spot to hide presents, but there are a number of factors that go into making it a decent location. First, you’ll need the room. Many garages are already packed to the brim with stuff, and adding more stuff to that stuff is no good. Garage cabinets would be great to conceal the gifts, but if your family is smart, that’s probably one of the first places they’ll check.

Instead, this is the best place to hide the physically massive gifts that just won’t fit in a closet. If you bought a Gorilla Playsets swing set or a new E-bike this year, the garage is your only option. The trick is camouflage. Consider putting the gifts in boxes marked with labels like “Old Tax Returns” or “Broken Garden Tools.” No kid is going to move a stack of rake handles or dig through a box of “1990s receipts” to find their new gear..

The Basement or Crawlspace

Another long-used space to hide presents is your basement. The basement works wonders because, depending on how creepy it is down there, your kids will never venture in. When I was a kid, the basement was the scariest place in our house—dark, spider-filled, and full of strange noises. There was no way I was going down there alone, not even for a sneak peek at my gifts.

If you have a creepy basement, use that fear to your advantage. It is the perfect place to stash high-demand tech like the Nintendo Switch 2 or the Meta Quest 3S. Your kids might be brave, but are they “brave enough to face the basement spiders for a console” brave? Probably not.

If your basement is finished and pleasant, you have to be craftier. Kids will check the entertainment center first. Instead, try hiding smaller tech items, like Apple AirPods or smartwatches, inside the pockets of old winter coats hanging in the basement closet. If you have a drop ceiling, lightweight boxes can go up there, too.

If you have crawlspace, this could also be a place to store your gifts. But the crawlspace has to be full encapsulated and thus resistant to temperature swings, humidity, and um, rodents. If it’s not encapsulated, look elsewhere.

The Attic

The Attic is actually the perfect storage spot for many families, especially those with younger children. Why? Well, the kids aren’t going to be able to get up there in the first place. And even if they could, would they? The attic is the stuff of movie legend where all sorts of weird, other-worldly things happen. If your kids have watched enough horror movies, they’ll never go up there.

But again, the attic may not be a great spot for the same reason as the crawlspace isn’t – namely temperature, humidity, and the toy-eating squirrel. Do not put electronics (like that new high-end laptop or iPad) up there; the freezing cold or fluctuating humidity can damage the screens and batteries. Instead, the attic is the designated safe zone for “soft goods.” Did you stock up on Squishmallows, Jellycat plushies, or clothes back in October? Toss them up here in a sealed plastic bin to keep the dust (and the squirrels) out.

The Office

When I say “The Office,” I mean the office in the building where you drive to work, not the home office down the hall. This is arguably the most secure spot on the list. First, your kids or significant other probably won’t come around to your workplace. Second, the building is secure and temperature-controlled.

The office is the ultimate hiding spot for small, expensive electronics that are easily lost or snooped out at home. This is where you keep the Oura Ring 4, the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Wayfarer glasses, or jewelry. If you work in a cubicle, space is limited, so stick to these smaller items that fit in a locked drawer. If you have your own office with a door that locks, you have more freedom to hide the bigger boxes, provided you don’t need to haul them home on public transit on Christmas Eve.

The RV or Boat

This one comes from personal experience. We have a small RV that we keep in the driveway. In the wintertime, it just sits out there under a tarp. The kids will not venture out there, especially because it’s cold and they would have to undo the tarp to get in. They won’t do that. Boats are also great spots to hide presents for the same reason.

The downsides to this hiding spot are temperature and critters, so you have to be selective about what you store. It’s too cold for delicate LCD screens, but it’s perfect for the durable “hard” goods that take up a lot of space. Think kitchen appliances like the Ninja Creami, the Instant Pot, or that massive LEGO set box. As long as you aren’t storing food or sensitive electronics, the RV is a spacious, chilly vault.

The Storage Unit

If you happen to currently rent a storage unit, this is the “cheat code” of holiday hiding spots. If your storage unit is heated or climate-controlled, it’s even better. Since most storage facilities have long access hours, you can hustle over there after the kids go to bed to grab the gifts.

This is the only realistic place to hide the “impossible” gifts. If you went all out this year and bought a 75-inch TV, a Sim Racing Rig, or a full set of golf clubs, do not try to stuff them in a closet. The kids will find them. A small storage unit keeps the surprise alive until the very last minute. Just make sure you don’t enjoy too much eggnog on Christmas Eve before you have to drive over and pick them up.

Under the Tree

Yeah, it’s on the list. Why? If your kids have learned the truth about Santa Claus (that he’s lactose intolerant – what, did you think I was going to say something else?), then hiding presents may not be that important. But if you do decide to put presents under the tree, you’ll have to take extra precautions with wrapping them. For instance, extra tape works. Or special stickers that tear if removed can stop a child from getting too curious. Those Wi-Fi cameras pointed at the tree also work nicely as a deterrent!

Bonus Tip: The Suitcase Strategy

If you are running out of nooks and crannies, stop looking for new places and start looking at the empty spaces you already have. Hard-shell suitcases are arguably the best hiding spots in the house. Most families have a large suitcase sitting on a high shelf in a closet that stays empty 360 days a year.

Pop your gifts inside your carry-on luggage, zip it up, and—if you want to be extra secure—put a small travel lock on the zippers. Nobody looks inside a suitcase in December. This is also a great way to “hide in plain sight.” You can leave the suitcase right in the bedroom closet; even if the kids go snooping for presents, they usually look behind the luggage, not inside it.

Places NOT to Hide the Presents

Now that you know the best places to hide your gifts, you need to be reminded of the worst places.

The Closet

Are you kidding me? Tell me you weren’t actually considering putting the presents in the closet. Every kid or adult makes a beeline straight to the closets in your house to search for their booty. Unless you’ve got a false door in the back of your closet that leads to Narnia, don’t even think about it.

The Car

Hmm, what place does the whole family see many times during the week? Yes, that would be the car. Oh, but you’re saying you want to put the gifts in the trunk? All it takes is one moment of forgetfulness where you pop open the trunk to put the groceries in and surprise! The surprise is over. Not to mention that car-burgling thieves seem to be everywhere these days. Not a good idea.

Grandma’s House

Nothing against Grandma, but her memory isn’t what it used to be. Remember that year when you opened your gift and it was a talking fish plaque that should have gone to Grandpa? Grandma may be good at wrapping presents, but she’s not so good at remembering whose presents are whose.

So, there you have it. The quintessential list of great and not-so-great Christmas gift hiding spots. Remember to pick one spot and only one spot. You don’t want presents all over the place because you’ll end up like Clark Griswold when he finds that present from 1972 in his attic on Christmas Vacation. And the gift buying part is up to you. Don’t blame us if they don’t like what you bought!