I’m getting really excited about the holidays. Last week was Collin’s birthday…so now I can officially turn my attention to the holidays. Hooray!

Last night I went through my gift-wrapping supplies, took inventory (not literally) and tidied things up a bit. This is a good thing to do before heading to the store for gift wrap…as I discovered. I have lots of stuff left over from prior years. So this year my goal is to use up some of what I have. I will have to purchase one special-never-before-seen-Santa-wrap, per Collin’s request. (We’re trying to keep the magic of Santa going…despite knowing. First year for this…it will be different.)

Back to the gift wrap.

Last year I shared this post which shows my five gallon paint bucket that I use to store rolls of gift wrap. Of course, if I can find a way to use a bucket…I’ll do it. I’m happy to say the gift wrap bucket is still going strong…and it seems to look about the same as last year. Although I did discover today that what I thought was red lint in last year’s picture is in fact a red scuff mark on my bucket. (I haven’t a clue why I thought you needed to know that, but if you’ve been worried about the red lint, worry no more. Note to self…don’t blog when tired.)

Anyway, the bucket usually lives in the closet off my scrapbook room / office. This closet used to be my scrapbook room, before I kicked the kids out of the playroom and the guests out of the guest room and claimed that space as my very own. The closet formerly known as my scrapbook room is now home to a host of things…organizing supplies, file cabinets, shelves of magazines archives, business projects, creative projects, and holiday decor. It contains an eclectic mix of storage solutions, such as the wooden shelf shown below from my college dorm days and Collin’s old red dresser. (Hence the loose, truck-shaped knobs.)

Anyway, sandwiched between the dresser and the file cabinets sits my gift wrap supplies. The wraps are in the bucket which is easy to carry into my scrapbook room for wrapping sessions. The basket holds tissue paper and packing paper. And the box on top holds flat boxes, gift bags and small packs of tissue paper.

Wrapping paper

Here’s a close up of the gift wrap box. Notice that the bags and boxes are in the storage container vertically…makes it super easy to sift through the storage box and find an appropriate bag or box to use. Easy, cheap solution.

Gift bags

Here’s another doozie of an idea. Last night while tidying up I had this idea…use a paper clip to keep the loose ends of your rolls neat and tidy. You’ve probably been doing this for years…but I just figured it out last night. Makes the rolls look so neat in my bucket…and that of course makes me happy.

Paper clip on gift wrap

What about my ribbon you ask? Well, on top of the red dresser is a three-tiered wire basket thingy, and this contraption holds my ribbon. Here are two of the tiers, the ones which happen to contain the non-Christmas ribbon.

Ribbon

Last but not least, the essential gift wrapping tools such as tape, scissors, pens and recycled tags from prior holidays, are stowed in this little basket.

Gift wrapping essentials

Alright, that’s a wrap (ha ha.) Unless of course you want to share how you store and organize your gift wrapping supplies. Yes, that would be fun. I’d love to hear from you…