Among the things that bring the most holiday cheer are watching your family members’ eyes light up when they unwrap a carefully-chosen gift. While picking out the perfect gift is a feat in and of itself, hiding gifts in a place where they won’t be discovered is another end-of-year challenge.
When looking for the best place to stash surprises, remember that in addition to keeping them away from searching children and sneaky spouses, you also need to keep them safe and hide them from the prying eyes of thieves.
These tips for hiding gifts will help you keep your presents, home, and family secure.
When Hiding Gifts, Avoid Unsafe Hiding Spots
Sadly, the holidays are a high time for house fires, and the Insurance Information Institute details Christmas trees, candles, and electrical/lighting equipment as some of the top items that spark infernos around this time of year. Keep this in mind when hiding presents or displaying them under the tree!
Closets and basements are common areas to stash gifts. If you’re hiding gifts in any of these areas, be aware that tucking items in around furnaces or hot water heaters can create a fire hazard. With the increase in house fires during the holidays and the cold-weather season, this is a good time to make sure that all of your smoke detectors are in good working order.
Don’t Put Gifts on Display
Even if the area around your Christmas tree is free of fire hazards, this is still a risky area to place presents if your tree is on display through your windows. Spotting a cache of gifts underneath a tree is excellent motivation for a burglar to target your home, so consider moving your tree out of sight from windows or keeping your gifts hidden away until Christmas morning.
Another pre-holiday strategy is to keep gifts locked in the car in order to keep them from being discovered before the big day. Especially if they’re visible through the car windows, this creates another temptation for thieves. Gifts will be more secure stashed out of sight in your trunk…and even more secure if your car is parked in your garage. Even if you always lower your garage door, remember to keep your car locked and to secure home entry points such as the door between your home and garage in order to offer an extra layer of security.
Keep Deliveries from Disappearing
Starting with Cyber Monday each year, the online holiday shopping season kicks into full swing … which means that criminals are keeping a close eye on packages that would be easy to swipe from doorways and front porches. To combat this growing wave of theft, many homeowners are installing video doorbells that notify them and capture footage when anyone approaches their entryway. These can be tied into an existing security camera/home security system in order to provide an additional deterrent to would-be thieves.
Another option to protect your deliveries from the most brazen of crooks is to install a secure dropbox near your front door. These come in a variety of shapes and sizes to accommodate more compact, envelope-style packages all the way up to larger parcels and boxes.
Purchasing the perfect holiday gift can be quite a journey – from choosing the right item and having it delivered without a hitch to keeping it securely hidden until you finally get to hand it to your loved one. Safely hiding gifts doesn’t require a wintertime miracle; with a bit of planning and care, you’ll be able to outsmart the most enterprising thieves as well as the snoopiest of children!
At ProTech Security, we have a strong history of experience, innovation, and customer service. The ProTech Security Advantage is more than 35 years of service in Northeast Ohio and a strong commitment to providing quality, cost-effective protection for homes, businesses, educational institutions, and government facilities. To see what ProTech Security can do for you, contact us today.
