Present

Present is an item, depicted as a red box laced with a white ribbon which may drop after defeating a zombie in any level or may be given as a reward randomly. Presents drop very rarely and they may give the player Zen Garden plants or unlockable games. It will make a dinging or chiming sound when it is dropped, which is the same with chocolate and diamond. They often are plants for the player's Zen Garden. Usually whenever you get a present, the plant that will grow from it will be the plant unlocked in that area (e.g. Puff-shroom at Night). It is possible to find more than one present in a level. After beating Adventure Mode, the player can still earn presents, but they will not unlock any more modes.

What is earned
For information on how to acquire Zen Garden plants, see Zen Garden.
 * If on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo DS versions of Plants vs. Zombies, the first present will hold Versus Mode and Co-op Mode (Co-op Mode is not unlocked on the Nintendo DS version).
 * The first present found will contain three mini-games. (Level 3-2, after the first flag)
 * The second one will contain three Vasebreaker and I, Zombie puzzles. (Level 4-6, before the Digger Zombie appears)
 * The rest that appear after Level 5-4 contain a Zen Garden plant.Present.png

Where to get one
They are earned in the same way as money.
 * Every three levels of I, Zombie Endless; however, this is not the case for the Nintendo DS version.
 * Eating a brain in any I, Zombie level will sometimes drop one present.
 * Randomly in Survival Levels, especially in Survival: Endless.
 * Very rarely in an Adventure Mode level on and after Level 3-2, except for Level 3-10 where you can get, at most, four presents.
 * Every ten levels of Vasebreaker Endless.
 * Randomly removing graves with Grave Busters.
 * Killing any zombie in any game mode.
 * In Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies, for $7,500, although this is only on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad version.

Which level is the best to get plants

 * For Day plants, Slot Machine and Wall-nut Bowling are the best.
 * For Night plants, just replay Whack a Zombie over and over again, remove graves for coins, diamonds and sometimes presents.
 * For Pool plants, play Zombie Nimble Zombie Quick, Bobsled Bonanza or Last Stand with Marigolds for farming. If you have unlocked Quick Play in the iPad version, you can play Level 3-10.
 * For Fog plants, replay Level 4-10 (with the Zombie Yeti) or Survival: Fog (Hard) as there is no mini-game in the fog which has a high concentration of zombies.PresentOpen.png
 * For Roof plants, Column Like You See 'Em is a good idea. You can also try Pogo Party.
 * Level 5-10, Dr. Zomboss's Revenge, Survival: Endless, and I, Zombie levels drop every plant (except non-Zen Garden plants). Therefore, they are good ideas if you are not aiming for plants from a specific setting (although, Survival: Endless can actually be the best way to get plants, since it has the highest amount of zombies in the whole game).

Trivia

 * Survival Levels will not appear from a present. Instead, it is locked until the player beats Adventure Mode.
 * In the Xbox Live Arcade version of Plants vs. Zombies a present also drops in Level 2-1 containing Versus Mode and Co-op Mode.
 * Presents may have a higher frequency of dropping once ten Chocolates have been collected, since no more Chocolates drop.
 * It is the rarest item that can be dropped from a zombie, dropping in a one-tenth rate.
 * There are only 39 different Zen Garden plants of the 49 plants in total in Plants vs. Zombies. The Imitater, Gatling Pea, Twin Sunflower, Gloom-shroom, Cattail, Winter Melon, Gold Magnet, Spikerock, Cob Cannon, and Flower Pot are the ten that do not appear without a hack system.
 * There is a glitch in the Nintendo DS version of Plants vs. Zombies where, at the end of a level, if the player clicks on a present with a Zen Garden plant in it, then touches the money bag, the player will get two plants, and both will be the exact same plant.
 * In the PlayStation Vita version of Plants vs. Zombies, zombies drop a noticeably higher amount of presents carrying Zen Garden plants.
 * The PlayStation Vita version of Plants vs. Zombies has an occasional glitch where the player earns two Sprouts from a single present and both Sprouts are the same plant facing the same direction.