From Thanksgiving week through New Year’s Day, Dave and my immediate families celebrate 6 birthdays and attend 4+ Christmas parties.
It’s a fun (and busy) time of year; and it always gives me a great opportunity to do a quick purge and reorganization of my gift wrap!
My grandma had given me a bunch of her wrapping supplies over the summer, and we got several baby gifts for Clara over the past month, so I really did need to go through all my gift wrap as it was sort of shoved, stuffed, and strewn about.
I tackled this mini project last week — with the help of Simon and James who felt the need to inspect, open, and test out almost every single gift bag 🙂
I started by compiling all my wrapping supplies into one spot — I chose the sitting area upstairs so the boys could play while I worked (Nora was at school and Clara was napping).
I honestly didn’t have as much as I thought I did — but even still, I knew I didn’t need even half of what I had.
I just don’t wrap that many gifts in fun wrapping paper or cute bags anymore. I prefer to use butcher block paper or plain white paper and then fun tissue paper, ribbons, or raffia.
After I got all my wrapping supplies in one spot, I quickly sorted things into 3 piles:
- Trash (anything that was ripped, badly crumpled, or just really junky looking)
- Donate (anything still in good condition that I simply didn’t want)
- Keep
I decided to donate all “themed” wrapping supplies — anything with baby, wedding, birthday, or other holiday themes went directly into the donation bag.
I did save out a few Christmas supplies to use this year, but I’m planning to stick with solid color bags and butcher block paper from here on out. It just makes it easier to keep fewer options (in my opinion).
I also pulled out the bags I’m planning to use for some of the upcoming birthday gifts.
I probably still have more than I need, but I’m happy with the amount of storage space my current stash takes up — and with with selection and variety of colors I have for future gifts.
I now have a shoebox of tissue paper, a medium size bag filled with roughly 20 other gift bags, and a small basket of ribbons, bows, raffia, and other gift accessories.
I also have a roll of butcher block paper, a roll of white paper, and few brown boxes.
Everything fits on one small shelf inside an armoire (I keep any gifts I buy throughout the year in this armoire too.)
The whole project took me about 20 minutes (with my 2 crazy “helpers”) and it got me excited for our upcoming birthday/holiday season!
Next year, I’ll pare it down once again!
If you’re looking for a quick-ish organizing project to get you in the mood for the holiday season, this might be just the right project for you!
wendy Conaway says
Where did you donate your good gift wrap? I am seeing a lot of places don’t accept it.
Andrea says
Hi Wendy — we have several thrift stores in our area that all take gift wrap (even partially used rolls of wrapping paper).
Our kids’ school also takes any type of (non-Santa) gift wrap for their Christmas “Love Bazaar”.
Jen says
Thanks to you I now have a much smaller stash of gift wrap supplies. It was insanely out-of-hand! I’m donating a large box of tissue, wrapping paper, and ribbon. What’s left are the items I really like and will use. I love the idea of butcher paper and white paper, decorated with colorful ribbon and stickers which take up much less room than rolls and rolls of paper in various themes. Thank you for sharing your great ideas.
Andrea says
oh yay — this is fantastic. I know you will love all your extra space and probably get even more creative the next time you need to wrap a gift! I’m always paring down my stash (especially after Christmas) and I’m much more choosy about what I save. It makes the process so much quicker and easier!
Thanks for sharing your success!
Michelle says
What exactly is butcher block paper?
Lori Martin says
When my kids were in preschool the favorite gift wrap was produced by my kids. I wish I saved some of it! They would spend hours coloring and painting on the butcher paper or large art easel paper. Great craft project that gave a special, personalized touch. Family members loved it and spent time discussing the paper with ‘the artist.’
Andrea says
yes, we’ve done this a lot too — especially with the white craft paper 🙂
Jenny says
Please, please, either donate or recycle the paper products! There’s no need to put them in the landfill. I am lucky to have weekly curbside recycling, but we take all our paper to the various schools that get fundraising money for it. It’s called Paper Retriever or Retrieval- you can google it or any similar company.
Debbie says
I’ve been using the butcher block paper for a few years now and I really like it. Others give us gifts by using gift bags and I usually keep them if they’re in great condition. I still have a couple rolls of Christmas gift wrap left from when I used to use it. I’ve found some uses for it when doing gift tags or wrapping empty boxes to use as decor around the house or porch. I’ve also used old Christmas cards or photo cards given to us for gift tags. I cut out a person’s photo from the photo card and paste it on the gift tag. The gift tag will show their photo, name, and maybe an art or saying from the Christmas card.
Andrea says
this is a great idea Debbie (about cutting the pictures out of the cards to use for gift tags)! I might “steal” that idea for a post I’m working on with Christmas cards for later this week!
Ann says
Great post! I’m going to clear out some that I never choose! That’s why I STILL have them…they are never my first pick.
Andrea says
haha — I know, we just keep hanging onto those “ugly” bag because we never want to use them!
Stephanie says
I occasionally go through my gift bags and gift wrap too. I have really downsized that area in the last couple of years because I found that many gift bags weren’t being used and I had had them for years. I buy Christmas gift wrap on sale after the holiday BUT am going to start using the butcher block paper, like you suggested. What a great idea! You can use it for any occasion. I might eventually go to the butcher block gift bags after I use the ones I have. Thanks again for the inspiration. I always find new ideas on your site. :-). Congratulations on the birth of Clara!
Andrea says
Yes, the butcher block paper is great because it CAN be used for any and every occasion — just change up the ribbon or bow and you have a new holiday or season!
Erin Heckber says
I love using butcher block paper. I am curious about the white, it is thick enough that you can’t see through? Where did you get it?
Andrea says
it should be at any craft store — that’s where I get the butcher block paper and the white paper. I usually let the kids color on the white paper (like if it’s for their cousin or grandparent) so then you definitely can’t see through it. However, if you had a really dark or bold package, you could always double up the paper (it’s pretty cheap for a huge roll!)
Kari says
Thanks for the inspiration. I think I’ll tackle this today! I know I still have some wedding themed gift bags from my bridal shower and wedding 10 years ago and some baby themed ones from the birth of our first child 7 years ago. It’s definitely time for those to go!
Andrea says
yeah, we definitely still had a few wedding bags from our wedding tucked in there! We just don’t get to many weddings anymore and if we do, I just use the butcher paper or ship the gift online!
Rhonda says
Same for me…wedding 10 years ago and first kid 7 years ago…my bags and wrap is organized, but there is definitely too much. Thanks for the ideas.
Andrea says
it’s a quick little project that will probably make a big difference over the holidays when you’re wrapping lots of gifts!