Survey Shows Your Kids Probably Know Where Their Presents Are Hidden

Sorry, moms — a new survey just showed that the most popular place to hide holiday presents is also the first place kids look for them

Once all the Black Friday and Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday deals have been taken advantage of — when the holiday shopping is finally complete — where do you hide all those presents until they get wrapped and placed under the tree? A new survey shows that we’re all pretty unoriginal when it comes to our present-hiding spots, and that your kids almost definitely know where their gifts will be stashed until Christmas morning.

The survey, conducted by storage company Neighbor, showed that the bedroom closet is the most popular place to hide presents, with 53 percent of people saying they’ve stashed some gifts there. Other popular spots were spare rooms, coat closets, under the bed, and in the trunk of a car.

But moms may not be too happy to know that those popular hiding spots aren’t exactly well-kept secrets. When asked where they go to look for hidden presents, the highest number of people (25 percent of them) said the bedroom closet. 22 percent said under the bed, 15 percent said in the trunk of a car, and 9 percent said in a coat closet. Those moms who are hiding their presents in spare rooms might be onto something — only 6 percent of people said they go looking for gifts there.

The fact that the most popular hiding places are also the first place most people look for hidden presents might also help explain this: Just under half of people (49.9 percent, to be exact) said they’ve had their hidden holiday gifts get found. But that does mean that most people are successful at hiding presents, even if just barely.

If you’re looking for a better place to hide your shopping haul, consider these options:

• The attic, where only 2 percent of people said they’ve had their hidden gifts get discovered.
• The basement, where just 2 percent of people said their hidden presents have been found.
• The garage, where only 3 percent of people said gift recipients have sniffed out their hiding spot.

Of course, you can also avoid having your presents get discovered by just wrapping them and placing them under the tree right away, but you’ll have to really work fast — 21 percent of people said it’s taken less than an hour for their hidden gifts to be found, and another 8 percent said they’ve been caught in the act while doing their holiday gift wrapping.

At the end of the day, though, most moms don’t seem too stressed about whether their presents will be discovered. 60 percent of them said they don’t mind hiding gifts, and that it adds a little fun to the holiday season.