hi everyone,
i have a weird little question:
will i be able to bring wrapped christmas gifts into canada when driving from the USA?
i want to wrap all the gifts for my friends and family before we get there, but will there be a problem with that at the border?
just wondering if anyone can share their experiences.
have you ever been asked to unwrap gifts so they can see what is inside?
because that would be a huge pain in the arse.
i hope i'm not wasting my time by wrapping all these things.

The rule is not to, and I seem to recall someone in my family having to open gifts at the border once. It's really a calculated risk though, I'm personally not wrapping anything.

Years ago when I was taking Christmas gifts to a friend in the US I did bring across the wrapped gifts along with a completely detailed list of what each gift was and who it was for. This was at a land border crossing. The guard went through the list, told me that I shouldn't have wrapped them in case he wanted to see them, but allowed me to cross without his unwrapping the gifts to check. It will be the same situation for going into Canada. If you are flying, instructions on airline pages actually state to bring any gifts unwrapped as if they are wrapped, they will be unwrapped at security. I would plan on wrapping them after you get to Canada. Or - you could do what I have done in the past and did this time - I mailed them off ahead of time - wrapped but with a complete list attached for customs. All of the packages have arrived with gift wrapping intact, although it is always a risk that customs will open and check.

Leave them unwrapped and throw them into gift bags with tissue when you get there. They'll look nice.

I never wrap them ahead of time. I just go and lock myself in a bedroom after I arrive so I can wrap them without anyone bothering me.

This year I wrapped them Sunday morning and everyone was tearing into them Sunday afternoon. But it was awesome to see my nephew's face light up with he opened up his Mack truck from Cars

I've crossed the border twice now with Christmas gifts. Once they were wrapped (bad idea...) the other time, not wrapped. A couple of people here have the idea (which I did the second time!) Don't wrap anything, bring gift bags, tissue, or flat wrapping paper, and do it when you arrive where you're going. There is no concern from Customs when you do this, and you'll save yourself a lot of wasted time as they go through them if they want, or have to.

Carla

I order all the crap I need online and ship it to my Moms house. She wraps it up for me. Thatway I just have to bring my mom's gift which is normally a 30 year old bottle of Scotch

If you wrap them, Customs may unwrap them. Gifts up to$60 CAD are duty and tax free any gift more expensive may have to pay duty and tax on the overage. $60 is per gift.

So what about coming back to the US? What does my fiancée (US citizen) have to do with all the loot he is bringing back with him from Canada this year? I assume it's just have an inventory on hand of everything he's acquired as well as a dollar amount (guesstamite) and keep it under his $$ amount allowable for the days he's here for the holiday. Thoughts?

That's what I did when I went to England for Christmas. The bags and tissue didn't take up much room since they could be packed flat and I put the presents in them after I arrived. Worked a treat!

I just got home with my holiday loot and all I did was write it on the customs declaration card that you fill out at the airport. As a US resident returning, you're allowed up to $800 er summat. All I had was not even $200 I don't think. There's room on the card to write all that in. Plus I marked "YES" for bringing food back. The guy asked me what kind of food, I said "all kinds of chocolate!" He waived me thru.

I am waiting for hubby to bring home a box from work so I can mail off my Christmas package to Canada... He did bring one home last week but it was too small .....

I highly doubt it is going to get there before Christmas now... but that is ok the kids like it because it is almost like having a 2nd Christmas when a package arrives after Christmas....

They may still get there in time. I ended up shipping ours off late last week by priority mail (it was the middle price of the three) and they assured me they would take 4 to 7 days since they go airmail. Sending parcel post was 4 weeks although it would probably be faster but no guarantee that method would get them there for Christmas. Keep your fingers crossed:-).

well, I have a box now..... hopefully we will get the box mailed off tomorrow....

I just brought a trunk load full, was asked and said gifts for family for christmas.

I wrapped all of our gifts before flying to Vancouver last year and didn't have any problems in Nashville or Vancouver.

My aunt visits from Spokane each year and always pre-cuts the paper for each gift to the right size and has the tags pre-written. She carries the bows and ribbons in a box. It doesn't take long for her to put things together once she arrives.

well, the box is all packed and taped up but it is still sitting on our floor...

I was going to mail it off yesterday after hubby came home from work but he got home a bit later then usual and was too tired and I didn't feel like going out....

hubby says he will pick me up after work today to go mail it off but now I really doubt it will get there before Christmas.... my own fault, I guess...

I hate not having my own car....

Marilyn,

I was watching American TV in preparation of my upcoming departure to the US (ha ha!! wouldn't that be funny!!).. but I do remember a US Postal Service commercial where they were saying they would pick up parcels at residences. I assume you'd have to go to their website and pre-pay the postage, but I know i saw the ad!! (and it's not like Canada Post to do anything so progressive ).. Anyway just a thought!!

yeah, I have heard of that and seen the commercials but it is too difficult to figure out all that customs crap and postage....

well, we finally sent off the package....

we ended up sending it UPS because the regular post office was closed by the time hubby got home from work....

it ended up costing about 45 bucks to send by regular ground post.... I figured it out online and it came to about 30 dollars, so I am not sure where the extra 15 came from ...

they said it would take about a week to get there... here's hoping...

after we left the UPS place we realized the guy didn't give us any kind of paperwork with a tracking number etc... all my hubby got was a receipt saying he paid so we went back and I asked the guy if we could get a tracking number ... all he did was print me up a label with the tracking number on it and told me that the other smaller packet I mailed off didn't have a tracking number... so how am I supposed to know if that smaller package gets there and if it doesn't I have no way to follow up and find out what happened to it....

I was just sitting here thinking that it is kind of odd that we didn't get any kind of paperwork....

That's just wrong. If it has a UPS label on it, it has a tracking number. Were they both going to the same place? If so, then it should be the same tracking number, and will show up at Box 1 of 2 and Box 2 of 2. If they're going to different places, the UPS guy is stupid, and should have a tracking number for it.

they both were going to different places....

Check the receipt.. I dont usually ship UPS, but FedEx puts the tracking numbers right ont he receipt...

the receipt was just one of those you get from a cash register ..... no tracking number on it...

i have shipped parcels/boxes before and I always get a paper with the tracking number on it... I should have said something but I was still in shock about how much it cost and I just didn't think of it....

well, the one package that I had a tracking number arrived in Canada this morning...

my brother said that customs went though the box... they put a sticker on the box saying so.... so the box is probably a mess right now... I hope they didn't tear open the presents that I wrapped....

I don't know why I should bother making sure I pack the box up all nice to make sure nothing moves etc... if they are just going to look through the box and not put things back the same way

just letting you all know that we had no problem at all.
i decided to chance it and wrap all the gifts.
the border officer didn't say a thing about it.
all he wanted to know was how much money we had in gifts and what was the most expensive gift.
he didn't say a word about them being wrapped up.

An update here too . . . we sent two large boxes to two different addresses in Canada (the 19 1/2 lb one cost $35.05 to send, the 10 lb 8 oz one cost $24.60) via US Post Office using priority post. We mailed them December 8 and both were received, without incident and without brokerage fees required or anything like that, on December 13. We were told 4 to 6 days and it was 5 days. The presents inside were wrapped and the custom forms filled out on the front. The boxes were not opened or inspected by customs. I have used USPS a number of times to deliver parcels and have always been satisfied with the service.

Myself as well Kathryn. we've always sent our Christmas boxes through USPS using Global Priority or Priority Post and everything has gotten to Canada on time and intact. we sent five boxes to three different locations this year and they all arrived when promised. No complaints from us!

Glad it got there. Did the other one ?