It’s the most wonderful time of the year: holiday prep season! It’s a flurry of baking and shopping and decorating and trying to track down the perfect Christmas gift for your kids before they inevitably change their mind at the last second. It’s sipping hot cocoa while admiring the twinkling lights, and baking cookies while singing your favorite carols. For those who celebrate Christmas, it all leads up to one glorious, adrenaline-filled morning where blurry-eyed parents smile behind their coffee cups as their kids make a mad dash to the presents.
But if you have little kids in the house, it can also be a little chaotic. You have to make sure the toddler doesn’t accidentally open the wrong present, leading to a meltdown on Christmas Day that even Santa couldn’t stop. Experienced mom of 3 Hilary Duff is prepared though, and she has a surprisingly easy Christmas morning hack that will make that stressful morning a breeze!
Dressed in festive red-and-green Christmas pajamas, the How I Met Your Father star played a game of This or That with kids clothing company Carter’s yesterday. She revealed her unique trick for Christmas morning.
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“Themed wrapping,” Duff said in response to the question, “Themed wrapping or anything goes?”
“Each child gets their own print. It helps me out in the long run,” she continued.
I love that! There have been many-a-night of wrapping while watching Hallmark (and drinking spiked hot cocoa) that I’ve completely forgot what I was wrapping. I had to open the present to check what kid it was for, then re-wrap it. With this tip, each kid, even those who can’t read name tags, will know exactly what presents they can open right away.
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But, wait. What does Santa do? Duff, who is mom to Luca, 10, with Mike Comrie, and Banks, 4, and Mae, 1, with husband Matthew Koma, revealed St. Nick’s tradition in their house, too.
“Santa doesn’t wrap any gifts at our house.”
Nice! So if the gift is already unwrapped, the kids likely already know which one was theirs (assuming they wrote Santa a list, of course).
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Duff also answered several other questions, including the fact that she prefers a photo Christmas card over a written one and wearing matching PJs all day Christmas day.
The actress is the first Chief Mom Officer of Carter’s, and she released her capsule collection of kids’ clothes last month with the brand. She seems to be a big Christmas fan, and even released a Christmas album, Santa Claus Lane, in 2002 (which, BTW, still slaps).
When Luca was a baby, Duff told Access Hollywood Live, per PEOPLE, that he loved the Christmas tree.
“He loves the Christmas tree. Obviously we have a funny looking Christmas tree [because] all the ornaments are at the top,” she said, since she had to babyproof it.
She also likes big family celebrations. Duff’s older sister Haylie Duff told Us Weekly that the whole family goes over to Duff’s house to celebrate the holidays.
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“We will be over with her and Luca and my mom and I think maybe my in-laws are coming in again,” she said, adding, “We tend to have an open-door policy around my family. We end up having a straggler or two … my mom’s friends or something like that.”
Seems like so much fun! Whether you follow in Duff’s footsteps or follow your own Christmas morning traditions, one thing’s for sure: embracing the fun and enjoying the precious family time is all that matters.
These blended celebrity families make it look easy!
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