One of my guilty little pleasures is having a super tidy and organized gift wrapping station. Although the holiday season is well and truly behind us I thought why not get a head start on making this year’s season smooth sailing?  

Do you currently have odds and ends scattered around your house? Is the gift wrap shoved in a closet? Do you have tape and scissors in a kitchen drawer? Are gift tags in the bottom of a dresser drawer somewhere? Wrapping gifts doesn’t have to be a chore when you have all the necessities at your finger tips. Get your scissors, tape, bows, paper, cards, ribbons, gift bags, and tissue paper all in one place and simplify gift giving.  Here are some simple tips for organizing gift wrap and all the accessories that go along with it.

Setting up your gift wrap station. 

1. Gather. Gather everything you have that is gift wrap related from around the house and lay it out in the middle of the room or on a kitchen table. Yes, you need to pull it all out. Sort through the wrapping paper and dispose of ripped/scrunched/torn paper, tissue that is overly wrinkled and bows that have been squashed. Recycle where possible or use these for crafting with the kids.

2. Get order. Sort like-with-like. Put the flat wrapping paper together, the rolls of paper together, bows, ribbons, present toppers etc. Once you have like-with-like you know what categories you have and also how much storage you will need to keep it all.

3. Storage container. This is where it gets interesting. There are so many storage options for gift wrap out there from see through plastic tubs and towers to specialty wood cases. These options work best for people living in small spaces and who don’t have the luxury of allocating an entire room to gift wrap. If you are really strapped for space consider an under the bed storage container or an organizer that hangs on the back of a door. The important thing to remember is that it needs to be accessible and easy to pulled out when it’s time to wrap a gift. No matter what style you choose there are a few things to keep in mind depending on the supplies you have:

• tall/long storage for rolls of wrapping paper
• drawers or dividers to hold flat wrap and tissue paper
• large compartment to hold bows, gift tags, and cards
• drawer or pocket for scissors, tape and pens
• drawer, hooks or bins to hold gift bags

4. Storage room. If you are lucky enough to have a spare room that you can use specifically for wrapping gifts then you can get a little more extravagant. Here is a list of things to consider when setting up a gift wrapping room:

• a large table or counter height desk to cut paper and wrap gifts on
• a dresser or storage tower to hold wrapping paper and all the accessories
• mount a dowel on the wall, horizontally, to store spools of ribbon
• mount hooks to hang gift bags 
• desk top organizer to store flat wrap, tissue paper, scissors, tape and cards
• pen holder for pens, pencils, and markers

My awesome gift wrapping station

These are the containers I use to organize all of my gift wrapping supplies. With the tower on the left, I’ve labeled each drawer and set it up as follows:

1st drawer: scissors, tape, glue, pens, and markers

2nd drawer: cards and gift enclosures

3rd drawer: wrapping paper

4th drawer: tissue paper

5th drawer: gift bags

6th drawer: present toppers (bows, silk flowers, charms etc.)

7th drawer: ribbon

I also use the tall bin to store rolls of gift wrap and a larger storage bin for gift bags and tissue paper that won’t fit in the tower of drawers. This has worked really well for me so far. Everything is in one place and neither of these containers are big or bulky so they don’t take up much room. I can just wheel the drawers out to the table and I have everything I need right there.

Making your own gift wrap station can save you a lot of time and make the whole experience more enjoyable (even Gwynn doesn’t mind wrapping gifts now! )

Here’s a comment from Gwynn:

This wrapping station rocks. I totally teased Sher while setting it up, especially with the labels, but it’s very handy to have around and we always have our supplies ready to go. And without those labels I can assure you I’d be mixing up the bows with the bow flower thingy’s.

There are many systems, containers and ideas to choose from. You can make your station or room as extravagant or as simple as you want. But what ever you do decide to go with make sure it works for you and the space you have. Like any system, if it doesn’t work or fit seamlessly into your life or home it’ll likely add little value and won’t be used.

Do you have a system that works wonders for you? Do you have other tips to suggest for someone who is just getting started? Please share your ideas in the comments. Happy wrapping!

Photo courtesy of: Jillclardy

See also:

Spring Cleaning Food: Use Up The Old, Make Way For The Fresh

Eliminate Clutter Part 1: The Cost of Clutter and Where Does it Come From?

A Real Simple Way to Organize Your Pantry

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Tuesdays are Home & Organizing day at Serene Journey. We will share tips and ideas that we have learned and applied to the organizing and running of our home.  If you have any suggestions for this series feel free to drop us an email or leave them in the comments.