Gift Wrapping Tips

One of the things that I have been certain of over the past few years is that it is only a hop and skip to Christmas once Halloween is over.  I believe that the cosmos speeds up at this time, creating a time warp that blends every 3 days into a 1 day timeframe, so that before you know it...before you have time to properly prepare, the big day is upon you.  For those of us who love the holidays and spend hours and days agonizing over getting the decorations just right and making sure we have enough snacks and sweets to feed a small third world country, this speed up in the space-time continium can be daunting.  In the spirit of thinking ahead, I have a couple of gift wrapping tips that may prove helpful in preparing for a less-stress holiday.
One of the most annoying things to deal with is finding your giftwrap items, especially when you buy your gifts over a period of time that encompasses several shopping trips.  This can be avoided by creating a gift wrapping station.  If you are not lucky enough to have a permanent gift wrapping station, set up a temporary station.  Some inexpensive ideas for creating a temporary station.

•  Clear out a large dresser drawer and fill with your cutting tool, tape, ribbon, tissue paper, name tags and gift bags.  Place your gift wrap rolls in a tall plastic container, like an inexpensive tall kitchen trash can.  Rubbermaid has a couple of tall plastic containers made specifically to hold giftwraps.  Use the dresser top or the bed as your battleground for wrapping presents.
• Use a large garbage can - the kind with wheels and a cover that will keep your materials sealed and clean.  Make sure your can is clean and place a smaller tall plastic container inside - a tall kitchen garbage can or one of the tall plastic containers made specifically to hold giftwraps.  Put all your materials, cutting tool, tape, ribbon, tissue paper, name tags and gift bags in this smaller container and you can lift it easily in and out of the larger garbage can.  Use the extra space in the large garbage can to store your purchases....the kids will never think to look in the garbage can to see if Santa has dropped something off early.  Keep your garbage can in the garage and roll inside as needed to use the kitchen table for wrapping. 

Some other tips:

• Keep a package of the elastic bands for ponytails in your giftwrap station.  These bands are ideal for slipping on your giftwrap to keep the paper contained on the roll and not have the loose ends unrolling and making a mess or getting crumpled.

• Get yourself a Scotch 3M brand pop up tape strip dispenser.  This little tool is invaluable...available for about $3-4 the band slips over your wrist and is easily accessible.  Eliminates the stretching to reach over and pull tape off of a tabletop dispenser...your hands are always close together when wrapping and you simply reach over a couple inches and pull off your pre-cut strip.  Be sure to always have an extra package of tape strips on hand.  

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  Another tool that I find more efficient and less awkward to use is the Scotch gift wrap cutter...this is a lightweight and slim tool that will replace the need for scissors in cutting your giftwrap.  Simply roll out your gift wrap to the right size needed and slip the giftwrap in the groove at the end of the cutter and slide it across the paper.  About $5.
  
  
  

I hope you find some of these ideas helpful.  Happy Holidays!!

All the best,