Yes, I’m aware that it’s only the beginning of June – but what better time to organize your gift wrap 🙂
This way, you’ll be ready for any weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays this summer — and you’ll know if you need to stock up on anything well before the holiday season!
I LOVE wrapping gifts, and I often feel like half the fun of getting a great gift is getting it in great packaging. I know that’s quite “consumerist” of me… but at least I recycle and reuse our gift wrap.
I used to wrap almost all our gifts (for any occasion) in either brown butcher-block paper or newspaper and then embellish them with ribbons, twine, fun accessories, etc. I liked how all the gifts looked uniform and I loved not having a huge arsenal of wrapping supplies to store.
However, over the years, we have gotten lots of gifts wrapped in bags with tissue paper — and I just can’t bring myself to toss all those cute bags, especially when they’re in perfect condition. So I kept them…
And then I ended up with this mess:
WAY too many bags!
The situation was getting out of control. I couldn’t even find the bags I wanted to use… and some of the bags were getting ripped and crumpled since they were all smashed together.
So the other day, I got out ALL my wrapping supplies, purged anything I didn’t need, use, want, or love, and then organized the rest.
It’s not a fancy system, but it has worked for me for several years.
I use one large gift bag to store all my other gift bags
I use another large bag to store all my boxes
I use a small box to store all my tissue paper (color-coded because I’m a dork like that!)
I use a medium-size box to store miscellaneous odds and ends, small boxes, rolls of twine, and any other wrapping supplies I need
I also have one roll of butcher block paper, one roll of white craft paper, and a little bag of ribbons and bows.
All our wrapping supplies are stored in our office closet and thanks to my 30-minute organizing project, I can now find everything I need again!
Betty819 says
My daughter packed away my gift boxes and gift bags in a shopping bag also last year. Now the gift wrap is stored in a long storage box..in garage..but I can see folding the papers would take up less room so I’m putting that on my list of “Things to do” when” I get round tuit!” Great organizational ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Susan says
Someone told me long ago that you can iron tissue paper… I have been doing it ever since! After a low-setting iron, the paper’s edges have that “crisp” look to them again. Much prettier when used over again, especially in a gift bag.
Anne says
I love that idea, thank you so much!
Keri says
I was hoping someone would make this comment. I work in day care and keep it all but am tired of the disorganized look.
Debra Kapellakis says
I like what you did and how you did it.
Rachelle says
On the topic of clutter control…do you have a system for organizing sippy cups/bottles?
Mama Murrey says
I’m a foster mom with three children ages 9 months to 27 months–lots of sippie cups and bottles!
I have a plastic shoebox in the fridge which holds 8 sippie cups. Four clear colored cups hold water; four white or teal opaque cups hold milk. The 27-month-old thinks he has to use the blue and purple cups for water, with white cups for milk. If he didn’t know the difference, I wouldn’t be that picky. But this helps me keep track of how much water and milk the two older toddlers are consuming.
The bottles and baby food jars are kept in the fridge in another square plastic container. The cups and bottles are either filled and in the fridge, in use, or being washed.
Going from 0 to 3 children in three months has taught me to be more organized out of self defense.
Jen says
I have mine organized in a rubbermaid container. My favorite hint: if my tissue is more “wrinkly” than I’d like, I just iron it with a cool iron! Wrinkles come out easily and it looks brand new! 🙂
Paula says
I too have sold them at garage sales!
Jennifer says
Thank-you for posting this. I need to organize my gift wrap supplies, but have been putting it off. This gives me motivation to get it done!
Debbie D says
I put tension rods in the top of my closet and store my rolled gift wrap up there. I use a system similiar to yours for bags and tissue paper.
Organize 365 says
I have sold gift bags at my garage sales for $.25 a piece. They go like hot cakes and you can make a pretty penny!
🙂
Lisa
sara says
me too! I’d never be able to use all the bags I’ve received for wedding or baby gifts. They sold quickly at our garage sale.
Laurel says
Nice looking organization. Do you recycle wrap that comes off of gifts you receive or do you toss it? How do you store that if you keep it? Do you purchase rolled gift wrap?
Hilda says
I’m glad I’m not the only one who can’t bear to throw out bags & tissue that are still in good shape! Your system looks so pretty 🙂 I used to organize mine like that too but I found the bottom flaps of the bags or the strings at the top always got stuck on each other and also the tissue would get squished/buried when adding/removing. I’ve gone with shallow bins the last while which I found worked better for me. If you’re interested, here’s a link to a recent post on my gift wrap organizing system: http://fromoverwhelmedtoorganized.blogspot.ca/2012/05/organizing-gift-wrap.html.
Kristin @ The O.C.D. Life says
Thank you for this post. It came at the perfect time. I am in the process of trying to come up with a solution to my wrapping things too. Haven’t quite decided, but thank you for the inspiration. ; )
Stel says
I also re-use giftwrap and bags! And for Christmas I’ll use brown paper with some form of embellishment, or just print a name tag.
I store my gift wrap in two flat drawers. The tissue paper and bags in our large (recycled-rebuil-tup) desk – it’s got 10 drawers! And the long brown paper rolls and plastic, which are also use to cover school books, are kept in the living room in a shallow shelf in a cabinet, together with scissors and sticky tape. That’s where my son does his homework, and where I usually use those.
Good idea, to keep it in the large gift bags.