The short-time vibrational wave packet motion in amolecule with several vibrational degrees of freedomshows oscillatory behavior with the characteristic vibrational periods.For long times revivals will occur,i.e., the wave packet restores its initial form. For smallvibrational coupling the revival times in the singlemodes are approximately those of the uncoupled nuclear motion. Thefact that the revivals with respect tothe single degrees of freedom occur at different times can be used tocontrol the branching ratio betweenreaction channels by short-pulse electronic excitation at differenttimes. A model of the HOD molecule isused to demonstrate this general scenario.