How to Create an Organized Wrapping Area
Feel like everything starts to pile up around you this time of year? Holiday decor, hidden gifts, gift wrap materials? Yeah, same. Luckily, I have an incredibly simple solution for you that will create the space you’re craving, but also solves a few of your holiday clutter dilemmas!
My hands down favorite way to organize all your holiday inventory – Christmas and year-round – is using a back-of-door system. It’s the most efficient use of space, and it keeps your items visible and tidy. And we all have doors – no excuses not to get organized now!
But before you go out and buy any organizing products, it’s important to take inventory of what you have – that will determine what you need. Do you have a ton of rolls and barely any bags? Do you have dozens of ribbons and few gift tags? Whatever your case, knowing what you have will help create your perfect setup (and probably also show you what you need to order more of!).
From there, here’s what you’ll need:
For rolls of paper: Large Utility Basket and a Gift Wrap Rack
For gift bags: Door Rack Board and Long Pegboard Hooks
For ribbon: Medium Utility Basket (you can get the small or medium size, depending on the size of your ribbon rolls)
For tissue paper: Another Large Large Utility Basket
All the other goodies can be stored in the small bins – such as tags, bows, tape, scissors, small boxes, etc.
If you have more wrapping materials (specifically rolls) than will fit on one door, you have options – my first recommendation is editing down your selection to only your favorite items. You can give the leftover items to your kiddos to use for crafts or recycle the materials. The other option is to use another door – you can separate the sections in categories – such as a holiday door and celebration (birthdays, anniversaries, etc) door. Of course, you can always store your holiday wrap in a bin in the garage and swap it out during the winter season.
If the closet of the door you’ve chosen to organize has room to use it for additional wrapping storage, here are some other great ideas for organizing your items:
Lazy Susan: These twirling little beauties make finding smaller items like scissors, pens, and tape so easy to retrieve and organize in an orderly way. I also use them for bows and other items that don’t fit in the door organizer.
Tea Sorter: Perfectly divided compartments that you can see right into? A tea sorter was practically made for gifts tags, labels, package adornments and other little wrapping goodies.
Divided Bins: These bins are great for larger items such as gift boxes, packaging supplies, cards, and even your go-to gift items (such as candles). You can also get them in several sizes, and the middle divider can be removed if you need to adjust according to your inventory. They also stack which is a great way to create added organizing space if you lack shelves.
As for the other organizing items you see in my closet, I store all my holiday entertaining items (paper, plates, cups, utensils, straws, etc) in Nordic bins (with bamboo lids). This makes it incredibly easy to simply pull out that month’s holiday bin. I sometimes even just set up a festive breakfast with holiday plates to surprise my kids. Having items organized and quick to grab makes this easy and of course, so fun for the kids (and my husband too if he’s honest).
In the two big white bins I store my go-to gifting items for when I have a last minute celebration or I need to ship off a friend’s birthday gift. One bin is for kid’s items (lots of Peppa toys and art supplies in there), and one for adult items (lots of Sugar Paper journals and candles in that one).
Lastly, the two bottom boxes, which are actually stemware and mug storage bins, I keep secret gifts for Christmas or upcoming birthdays (when it’s not the holiday season). I label them “silverware” and “china” and no one thinks to look in them. And even for my little ones who can’t read, the boxes have zippers, so they don’t even try to get into them. I love having these bins in the holiday wrap closet because I can easily put the gift in there right after I get home from the store (or more realistically, right after the mailman delivers the boxes), and they are right there for me when I start wrapping.
Like any good organization system, you’re more likely to use it and keep it up if it makes sense for the way you live and what you have, and if it’s easy to maintain. So give yourself the gift this year of making your gift area a space you’ll enjoy making everyone else’s gifts extra special!
** This blog was sponsored by The Container Store but all pictures and opinions are my own.
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