How to Organize Gift Wrap and Seasonal Decorations

Wrapping packages is a pleasure when you have the right supplies
organized and at your fingertips. Wrapping your house with lights and
other holiday decorations is less of a chore if you can locate the items
easily--and find them in good condition, not smashed or cracked. And
once the right storage system is in place, you can take advantage of
the postholiday sales to stock up for next year.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Organize wrapping materials

1. Purchase under-the-bed storage plastic boxes specially designed for gift wrap. Look for ones with lift-off inner trays for ribbons, tags, tape and scissors. Consider buying two: one for the major winter holidays, the other for the rest of the year.

2. Dedicate a dresser to wrapping supplies. Lower drawers can hold gifts you've bought ahead (see 357 Organize Gift-Giving in Advance). Label everything (see 57 Live Better Through Labeling).

3. Make the most of minimal storage space by keeping supplies in a large, compartmentalized hanging bag or vertical organizer (available at sites such as StacksAndStacks.com and TheContainerStore.com) designed specifically for gift wrap.

4. Outfit a small closet as a wrapping center. Store rolls of paper in a 5-gallon wastebasket or an umbrella stand. Mount a flip-up shelf on one wall to use as a wrapping surface, keep ribbons and tags in open baskets on low shelves, and hang double-prong hooks on the inside of the door to hold gift bags.

Store seasonal decorations

5. Keep fragile holiday ornaments safe in compartmentalized boxes. Many cardboard units are available in holiday colors, making them easy to spot among other boxes in crowded storage spaces. Also check out vertical seasonal storage towers.

6. Use wreath boxes for storing artificial wreaths, garlands and large bows. Or place wreaths and garlands on clothing hangers. Protect them with plastic bags or, for items too large for standard- size bags, covers made from old pillowcases or sheets.

7. Prevent snarled light strands by storing them in special boxes that come equipped with hanging plastic or cardboard frames to wrap the strands around. Coiling each strand and putting it in its own plastic bag also works well. Store extension cords in the same box as the lights.

Tips & Warnings

• Buy wrapping paper in solid colors. A few colors will work for many different occasions, which means you can buy and store fewer rolls.
• Buy a ribbon holder that feeds the ribbons through slits in one side, or make your own from a shoe box and a dowel.
• Keep decorations in tubs labeled or color coded for each holiday.
• Wrap thick candles in plastic to keep away rodents. Store them in a wine carton with cardboard dividers.
• Store a reminder list with the holiday decorations, telling you what lightbulbs, ornament hooks or other supplies you need to buy early in the season before the stores run out of stock.

[szilvi]

on 2/9/2009 I only use fabric to wrap. That makes it all very easy, I just fold them like scarfs and store them in my wardrobe. They don't get crinkled like paper and I could iron them anyway. They take up lot less space than paper rolls and all the other stuff you need. If you wrap with fabrics you don't need ribbons or tape or scissors. You'll find more info on ModernFuroshiki.com

[Chaddy]

on 11/23/2007 Nice aricle - One tip I hae found is to store my wrapping paper, bows, and bags in one of those stand-up souvenir "bags" that you pick up on vacation in Florida or the Bahamas, etc... I have such a small amount of storage space in my house (built in 1925) that I already have things under the bed. My wrappings are stored in a closet in the kitchen. i also have a plastic lidded box that my ribbon fits into (standing up) and they are stored in my "craft" corner which consists mainly of a small child's dresser that I picked up for a song at Big Lots and have created compartments for everything from yarn to waterpainting supplies.

on 8/8/2006 I use a travel garment bag that is used normally for hanging clothes. Put all the tube wrapping paper standing up in the long, front zipper. Use the pockets for folded wrapping paper, gift bags and accessories. Mine has 3 zippered pockets, so one is for the folded paper, one for the gift bags, and one for the accessories. The scissors, tape, gift tags,and ribbon are all there when needed. No hunting for the scissors. Just hang it in a closet or on inside of an attic door. Works great!