Mother questions whether ‘controversial’ gift hack makes her ‘terrible person’

‘Does this make me a terrible person or is this such a genius gifting hack for kids,’ she asks

A mother has expressed concern over a gift hack that she currently uses with her children.

Elizabeth Longshaw took to TikTok to try and figure out whether or not her idea made her a “terrible person” or a “literal genius”. “I’m doing something super controversial with my kids’ birthday and Christmas presents this year,” she began her TikTok.

In the video, the mother explained that, this year, she and her husband decided to buy gifts all-year round, either on sale or at garage sales. Their purchases were then placed in a bin in their basement to be wrapped for their children’s Christmas or birthday presents to avoid scrambling at the last minute.

Longshaw then revealed that her daughter had a very large birthday party last year with 10 kids in attendance. She said her daughter received gifts from her friends, parents, and relatives, which ended up being “too much”.

“I took maybe half of those gifts and put them downstairs in a bin to save,” the mother said.

According to Longshaw, the problem is the bin she used was the same bin she was using for the gifts she and her husband had been purchasing. As she started to wrap presents, she realised she can’t figure out who the gifts are from.

“Now, I’m wrapping up [my daughter’s] birthday presents and I’m going through the bin and I’m like: ‘Did we buy her this or did her friend Chloe buy her this’” she added, while holding up a puzzle.

“I don’t remember. Especially because my husband and I both add to the bin so he could have bought this, I could have bought this, we could have gotten this at a garage sale, I don’t know.”

She continued: “I’m gonna wrap up this gift and put ‘from mom and dad,’ and it might not be from us. What do you think?”

“Does this make me a terrible person or is this such a genius gifting hack for kids who just get way too much?” Longshaw concluded.

Since first being posted, the video has received over one million views, with many commenters telling Longshaw that the idea was smart.

“This is fine, she’s three! But this is probably the last year for it. She’ll remember after four-ish,” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing: “If you get away with it, this is definitely the last time hahaha because once they remember, they REMEMBER.”

Other commenters gave suggestions for what Longshaw should do next time so she can remember who the gifts came from. “My mom did this in the 80s and 90s. What she did is if it was gift from someone else, she put a sticker on the back. So she would know,” they wrote.

Another commenter gave a suggestion for how to utilise her current system for when her children are older. “While she’s young enough to not remember getting them already, by all means do this! When she’s older, move them to a toy rotation bin and when she gets bored of her current toys, swap them out for some she hasn’t seen in a while. Keeps them from getting bored and overwhelmed having all the toys out at the same time!” they wrote. “Also shopping sales through the year is so smart! I remember my mom always having a running bin of gift ideas!”