The Joyful Sort How To: Organize A Holiday Gift Wrap Station

Well, friends, we’ve made it to the holiday season! I’ve always been a very strict “Christmastime doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving” person, but this year I was definitely ready for the pick-me-up of some twinkle lights by mid-November. Our holiday is obviously going to look much different this year thanks to COVID, but I keep reminding myself that a lot of the best parts (hot chocolate with peppermint whipped cream served in Santa mugs, Judy Garland’s version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, and watching my boys exchange the “brother gifts” they’ve picked out for each other on Christmas Eve) will stay the same despite all of the changes and uncertainty.

In the spirit of controlling what we can control (big 2020 theme around here), I’ve got a quick and easy project that will hopefully help you feel more prepared and pulled together as we head into the home stretch of this crazy year - a holiday gift wrap station!

Take inventory and edit.

Just like any other organizing project, the first step is to see what you have and then decide what you really need. Gather up all of your holiday wrapping and trim into one spot (this might involve searching a few hiding places in your home to make sure you’re not missing anything) and start sorting into categories - wrapping paper rolls, gift bags, tissue paper, ribbon, bows, etc. Weed out anything that’s torn or wrinkled or been re-used one time too many.

Bring in the basics.

Organization is about efficiency, having the things that you need readily available when you need them…and in this case there’s also the added bonus of a stash of Scotch tape that the kids can’t get to. Once you’ve done an inventory and edit of the fun stuff, pull together the basic supplies that you’ll need when it’s time to wrap things up:

• tape

• scissors

• ruler (if you’re a fancy gift wrapper…which I admittedly am not)

• nice pen or marker for writing out tags

• gift boxes

I keep a set of these items in the holiday gift wrap bin year-round. It’s a silly and small, but knowing that I don’t have to worry about tracking down tape or the “good” scissors when it’s time to wrap gifts each year is so nice.

Contain!

Now it’s time to give everything a home. I use the long under bed box from The Container Store because it’s portable (my personal wrapping style is to spread everything out on the living room floor while watching a show or movie) and lidded so that contents stay clean even in our crawl space storage off-season. It also provides some structure, versus the fabric under-bed or hanging organizers that tend to turn into a jumbled mess as soon as you actually start putting things in them that have any sort of weight.. Smaller clear bins (the classic accessory and shoe box basics, also from The Container Store) help sub-divide smaller items.

If you’re a pretty regular gift-giver during the non-holiday months, the Elfa over-door unit is a great investment and something that you could easily tweak for the holiday months. You could also spend zero dollars and use a spare dresser drawer or shelf or a basket tucked away somewhere- the key is to make sure that all of your holiday wrapping items stay together in one spot. Whatever you do, don’t waste your money on one of those vertical gift wrap holders. I cannot tell you how many of these I’ve seen in clients’ homes, every time with the lid off floating somewhere else in the house because once any taller wrapping paper rolls are stored inside, the lid no longer actually fits. I’m sure they were purchased with the best of intentions but this professional organizer’s opinion is that they just don’t work.

Only buy what you need.

The best way to make sure that your little wrapping station stays organized and efficient is to only keep on hand what you actually need. Super Duper Nerd Alert here, but we actually keep a Google spreadsheet for all of our Christmas info, including an entire column for the type of wrapping that each gift will require so that I have an idea going into the season of what (if anything) I’ll need to replenish. Sticking with a particular color scheme also makes it easy to use up any leftovers from year to year.

And that’s a wrap! Having a holiday gift wrap station may not be an earth-shattering development for anyone, especially in a year like the one we’ve just been through. But I’m hopeful that it’s one of those little things that someone, somewhere can take comfort in during a time when I think a lot of us may be feeling a little unsettled. In that spirit, I’ll leave you with a favorite quote one of my favorite movies: “It’ll all shake out okay. In the meantime, I’m putting up more twinkle lights.”

Wishing you all a safe and joyful holiday season!