How to Organize Your Christmas and Other Gift Wrapping Essentials

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By K Mueller Stroup
eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating: (2 Ratings)

By keeping your Christmas items organized, you can save time and frustration. Therefore, you can make the Holiday season much more enjoyable!

Some people are fortunate enough to have a room or even an entire closet to devote to "Christmas." But, if you are like me and live in an old home, storage space is at a premium. So, you must always be space-conscious when deciding what to keep and what throw away. Still, I've always thought it was a waste of money to throw Christmas (and other) wrapping paper away each year only to have to buy more. Read on to learn how to hang onto it and use it the following year!

I have a closet in my kitchen that is used to store all kinds of "stuff" this is where the old and new (read, good or great deal) wrapping items are kept. I "organize" it all into one of those bags that you buy as a souvenir in the Bahamas or Florida. It is sturdy and stands upright (although one of my cats apparently tried to chew a hole in it at one time).

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A block of time
Patience
A true desire to do things better than you have in the past
The ability to place things into an organized fashion

Step 1

Decide what you want to use for storage--say, a souvenir bag or either a hamper or a clear tub that has a lid. (If you decide to use a wicker hamper, be sure it has a lining so your keepsakes do not get ripped or damaged during the coming years). Make sure what you use is large or tall enough to hold your wrapping paper rolls. You might want to purchase a container designed specifically for storing wrapping paper and all of the miscellaneous items used to wrap presents. There are even some models designed to hang over the door. An excellent place to look for storage containers is The Container Store. They have stores in some areas or you can order online.
Step 2

Gather all of your wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, gift tags, gift bags, tissue paper and peanuts into one place. (I store the peanuts I receive in packages throughout the year in a large shopping bag and re-use them as I need them).
Step 3

Sort through it all. If there isn't enough paper left on a roll to wrap even the smallest gift, it's a waste of space to hang onto it. Pitch it! It's the same thing with ribbon: unless you have a craft project (scrap booking, for instance) to use it for, or if it's just too small, now is the time to part with it!
Step 4

I stand my rolls of paper on their ends and slide the gift bags down along the side. I keep bows and tags in large Ziploc bags. For now, this works for me; but I do plan on investing in an over-the-door unit made especially for storing gift-wrapping items.
Step 5

Throughout the year, you may wish to purchase tape when it goes on sale and include it in your storage container. I buy my Christmas cards and wrapping paper, etc. right after the holiday when all of the items go on sale.

Comments

Chaddy said

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on 12/17/2007 I found a new way to organize my articles this year - I hung a laundry bag that was not being used (you know, the mesh kind with the drawstring) and hung it in the corner of mf my closet (with a picture hook) and placed all of my rolls in it. I then took a large, yet shallow clear plastic tub and put a small organizer that children might use for pencils - the plastic kind with a handle and placed all of my ribbon in it - and used another tin that I had and placed all of my bows in it and then put ALL of my bags, tissue paper, pieces of paper, etc in it! My things grew this year!