I remember the one year I peeked under my parent’s bed to see what Santa would be bringing my brother and I for Christmas that year. While it was just about everything we’d asked for, knowing what would be under the tree ruined Christmas morning for me. And that’s the thing about surprises, they’re so easy to spoil, and when we’re shopping online and surrounded by gadgets, the risk becomes even greater. A delivery text, a package photo from your smart doorbell , Alexa making a big announcement that a certain gift has arrived on your doorstep and other alerts can all ruin a Christmas surprise.

Online shopping is on the rise. According to PYMNTS research, 87% of consumers plan to shop online this holiday season, a 10 percentage point jump from last year. PYMNTS is a global data research firm and, as its name implies, focuses on payment platforms and e-commerce. The firm reported that Amazon has close to half of the e-commerce market, a virtual tie with Walmart. Alerts from Amazon are a top candidate, and with an Echo smart speaker in the house, you can bet little ears will be listening to Alexa’s announcements.

You have to stay a step ahead of your devices, and you can with these simple steps.

Head off an Alexa Christmas catastrophe. Start by turning off Alexa’s package notifications. In the Alexa app, tap “More” at the bottom of the screen and navigate through “Settings” to “Notifications” and then “Amazon shopping.” Under “Say or Show Item Titles” toggle off “including items in your shopping cart marked as gifts, or those that might be gifts during major holidays.” To make sure this works, check “send as a gift” when you put it in your Amazon shopping cart. You’ll still be notified about non-gift items, including the specific product. If you want extra surprise protection, turn off all options under this heading. You’ll still receive notifications that an order is out for delivery, but the product won’t be identified.

You may also want to stop Alexa from reminding you to rate a product you’ve received. On the same Amazon shopping page in the Alexa app, find a section called “Amazon Community Notifications” and turn off requests to rate products you’ve purchased. You should also turn off Alexa’s personalized recommendations and deals until the season is over. While this last type of alert may not reveal your exact purchase, the suggested products could be close enough to reveal your surprise.

Aside from Alexa, you may want to temporarily suspend delivery updates from Amazon via text message. You can do this by opening Amazon, clicking on “Account” and finding the “Communication and content” section near the bottom of the page. Choose “Shipment Updates via Text” and unsubscribe.

You can unsubscribe from other online retailers’ text alerts in much the same way. Go into your account, search for email and text preferences and then unsubscribe.

If you’re still shopping, you can hide those digital tracks as well. One of the easiest and most effective solutions is to open a new private browsing window. Any browsing history or online actions you accumulate in this session will disappear as soon as you close the browser window.

You can also prime your computer to easily hide a window while you’re shopping or checking on an order, because you never know when a family gift recipient may sidle up to your screen. Here are some keyboard shortcuts to help. On Windows, press the Windows key and the down arrow key together to minimize the current window. Hit Windows+M to minimize all open windows. On macOS, you can minimize the current window with Cmd+H and take care of all open windows with Cmd+Option+H+M.

In case you forget these keyboard combinations, you can also install a browser extension, which will always be in easy reach. For Chrome, try Hide Tabs and Panic Button for Firefox. Once click and these will quickly minimize all of your open tabs. With Hide Tabs, you can also password-protect the tabs to prevent someone from trying to steal a peek when you’re away.

Finally, consider shipping gifts to another location, such as your office or a nearby Amazon Locker or Counter if you’re buying from Amazon. Both services are free. Amazon shipments must not exceed 16-by-12-by-14 inches and weigh less than 10 pounds to be eligible for sending to a locker. For larger packages — up to 33 pounds and not larger than 36-by-24-by-24 inches — you can use Counter. Visit https://www.amazon.com/ulp/view to find locations near you and then add your choice to your Amazon address book and select the location as the shipping address during checkout.

Leslie Meredith has been writing about technology for more than a decade. As a mom of four, value, usefulness and online safety take priority. Have a question? Email Leslie at asklesliemeredith@gmail.com.

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