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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I had the same issue.  Tried forever to stop the flow of gifts but my ILs would not listen.  What I ended up doing was taking the piles of gifts and putting 90% of them in the attic, unopened.  then I donated them to our church giving tree the next Christmas.  In Laws never noticed the gifts were not in the house, because they didn't care about the gift, it was the volume.  Interestingly, my kids barely noticed either.  They(kids and parents) were so overwhelmed by the volume they didn't remember the details, so I just moved them out before anyone noticed. [/quote]

This seems like it would only work in ideal situations. My kids aren't going to not notice a pile of unopened gifts by the tree if everyone is together for the holiday. And giving trees often ask for specific gifts, random wrapped gifts may not cut it. Are grandparents mailing all these wrapped gifts? My MIL mails me gifts but then demands I mail them and she'll send each kid like one $15 item so I can't exactly not wrap it and then give the kids nothing. I guess its good if it works for you but, I can't see how this works for many.[/quote]

You let them unwrap the gifts and keep the ones they are genuinely excited about. I think you are not envisioning what is happening here. At least in my case, my MIL is bringing so much stuff they cannot possible remember it all. Think 5 barbies instead of one. Plus 20 outfits/accessories to go with them. And that is just one category. There will also be books (at least 5), outfits for her (3), pool toys, sports equipment, board games, and a Christmas stocking of crap from the dollar store. Multiplied by 3 kids. We can barely walk across our living room. If that is what OP is dealing with, it is very easy to tuck away half or more to give away. I keep the stuff they like, hide the rest for about a month, and then if they haven't asked for something by name it gets sent to the church.

Also giving trees like you are thinking of are long since done by Christmas. That's not where these go. Shelters need cloths and toys all year round. They don't ask for specific stuff. I have also donated toys to preschools, occupational therapists offices and even my kids dentist. Out it goes![/quote]

PP explained that the kids actually unwrapped the gifts which was not clear originally, it just said unopened and she removed them and it wasn't clear if they just got delivered and never seen or if everyone was together for unwrapping but she somehow squirreled 90% away before anyone noticed. My kids will tear through a ton of gifts but they don't miss the unwrapped ones even if there are 100 of them. PP also mentioned her specific church gift donation. The way it was originally laid out didn't make sense, but I think her follow up clarified. I'm familiar with the idea of general item donation.[/quote]

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