Ordering Disorder
with Busy Mom
When you have kids, the battle between order and chaos at home can take place on many fronts. Ordering Disorder is about ways to fight domestic entropy with organizing tips, tricks, meal ideas and more.
To learn more about Elizabeth, visit Busy Mom Blog or check out her Work It, Mom! profile.
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The gift-giving holidays are done for the most part, and there’s a wrapping paper, gift bag, box explosion in the house now.
Someone (and, by “someone”, I mean probably you) will eventually have to sort through is because some of that stuff can be reused. Really, have you noticed the price of gift bags?
Once the aftermath is combed through, you have to decide what you’re going to do with it all.
A long time ago, gift wrapping supplies consisted of a few rolls of paper, some tape, a few sticky bows and some scissors stuck in the hall closet. But, when gift bags, decorative boxes and such came on the scene, gift wrapping supplies began to take up more space.
Additionally, gift wrapping has become such an art form (a competitive sport?) that birthdays and other events no longer mean there’s just a roll of non-Christmas paper to add to the supplies. Now, is seems like there’s a whole other set of item we have to store for birthdays, anniversaries and surprises.
Maybe that’s just me since my kid’s school sells wrapping paper for a fundraiser, and I have quite the display of “all-occasion” wrapping supplies.
Any way you look at it, all that stuff has to go somewhere, and for those of us without a “wrapping room” in the house that means paper, bows and other supplies go in some sort of box.
A long time ago, I splurged for a “gift wrap organizer” that was actually just a long box, thinking it would solve the mess. But soon, paper rolls got longer and gift bags came along and things no longer fit neatly inside it and I ended up having an “annex” box.
I’m not really happy with my gift wrap storage solution, but I haven’t come up with anything better.
Currently, I have those 2 boxes for holiday wrapping supplies, and I keep the all-occasion supplies in the kitchen closet since we have to access them more frequently.
When the kids were younger and they were going to birthday parties all the time, I also kept a supply of gift bags, tissue paper, tags and tape in the car because I confess to being the person who usually bought the gift on the way to the party, but I really don’t have to do that anymore.
Also, since the kids are old enough to get into the supplies themselves, things end up looking like this:
I’d love to be able to keep the gift wrap supplies neat, and all in the same place. Do you have a storage system or a container you like to use to organize gift wrapping supplies?
Please share in the comments below!
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Good question. I store a long box of wrapping supplies under a bed (similar to the two boxes you described), but it has become so full of gift bags that the lid no longer fits. I’m anxious to see the responses to your post. Reserving a room or corner of the house as a “gift wrapping area” sounds ideal to me, but my house isn’t large enough to have that luxury!
Kara | December 27th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
I cracked this conundrum this Christmas after threatening to recycle ALL the paper, used or not! For the bags, I got a plastic LockBox that would fit on the shelf in the study, but was big enough to handle most gift bags. The bigger ones are slotted between the side of the bookshelf and the wall.
And the solution I am most proud of - rolls of gift wrap go in a 12-bottle wine box! They stand upright with a thin elastic band to stop the paper unrolling, with each roll (or two if narrow) in their own section. Has worked brilliantly. We keep ours in the study, but you could store them in a closet just as easily.
Jen | December 27th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
I have a rubbermaid thing that stands and holds tubes of wrapping paper. It does not fit the extra long ones, but as long as I only buy regular ones I’m ok. It used to have a flip top where I’d store tissue paper and scissors and tape and ribbon, but when we moved that got ripped off and I lost all my stuff too! NO ONE CARES everyone just shrugged when I asked if they’d noticed this (how could you not? haha) So anyway I keep my paper there and it fits nicely next to my desk. I have an antique dresser that I use to store all kinds of holiday related stuff, candles, and one drawer is full of gift bags and tissue paper. I keep the scissors and tape in here, too. My mom never had a wrapping station, so this is so awesome to allow myself to do this, it makes things SO much easier when wrapping the random birthday or baby shower gift! And since I have supplies, I can be a bit more creative than just wrapping a box.
jen (melty) | December 27th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
I just got a “forward” email that has 24 clever ideas for making life easier. One of those was for gift wrap. I’ll send you the email but I’ll try to describe it here. They strung up two wires at the top of the closet (about 4 inches from the ceiling), going across short-ways and about 3 ft apart. Then they store the gift wrap rolls up against the ceiling. Won’t work where I live, but might for someone. Mine are in a long box under the bed.
amy324 | December 28th, 2011 at 3:00 am
I have a stand up container for the rolls of paper. The lid is long gone but it works for the extra tall rolls. For the rest? I have a large cardboard box where I keep: flattened gift boxes, a gift bag with all of the other gift bags in it, a gift bag with all of the reusable tissue in it, and a ziplock bag of sticky gift tags. All of those things are in the box. If there’s too much I toss some things. All bows and ribbons are stored in a repurposed clear plastic zipper case from a bedding purchase years ago. It usually sits right on top of the box. All of this goes in the closet under my stairs-relatively easy access but out of the way.
Headless Mom | December 28th, 2011 at 10:10 am
I keep the wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, bags and boxes all in a long flat wardrobe box. However, I think I need to get a second one so that i can keep the Christmas stuff in one and every other kind on the second.
Christina | December 28th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
I don’t think I want to confess all the gift wrapping boxes I have, but I will. I’ve got a rubbermaid box that stands up and holds all my rolls of paper. DH and I like to buy Christmas paper after the holidays for next year. Its tall enough to hold all the long rolls. I also finally bought two additional rubbermaid containers, one large enough to hold all my flattened boxes, bags and tissue paper and the other holds all bows, tags, tape, scissors and a couple pens. I also have an additional box to hold all my wedding and baby shower gift bags. Everything is stored in my basement. Eventually I’ll put a table down there too, but for now wrapping is done on my dinning room table.
Kara | December 29th, 2011 at 9:22 am