Week 2: Holiday Decor & Wrapping

Man, two organization posts in one week… I’m on a roll! This was supposed to be Monday’s post, but since I was behind on Week 1, this post had to wait. Next Monday we should be back to our regular schedule for the 26 Weeks to an Organized Home series.

Since the holidays just ended, I wanted to be sure we hit holiday decor and gift wrapping pretty quickly, mostly since it was all still out. Why not organize as you put stuff away, right?

We’ll start with gift wrapping.

• Separate all your supplies into different piles. For me, Christmas and Other (Birthday, Wedding, Baby) were my categories. You can divide your gift wrapping into more categories if you want, separating birthday-, wedding- and baby-themed items into their own piles.

Christmas Wrapping Supplies

Birthday, Wedding & Baby Wrapping Supplies

• Get rid of any supplies you think you may not need or use again. For me, it was essential to get rid of bags that were crumbled, wrapping paper that was torn, tissue paper that had been used too much and bows that were smushed. I also got rid of bags that I didn’t like because I’m pretty picky when it comes to stuff like that.
• Once you declutter and clean everything, choose your method of organization. I chose to use bins because right now, the best place for storage for me is under the bed.
• I laid my wrapping paper rolls at the bottom of my bins, organized my boxes by size and lay them on one side on top of the paper then put bags and tissue paper on the other side.

• Bows, gift tags and ribbons got their own little bin so I could easily access them and so the bows wouldn’t get smashed by all the other supplies.

• In the end, I was left with two under-the-bed storage bins and four rolls of wrapping paper that were longer than normal. Those I just slid in between my two bins once they were under the bed.

Some other gift wrapping storage ideas I’m loving include this behind-the-door storage from Stefanie at Brooklyn Limestone…

Source: brooklynlimestone.com via Samantha on Pinterest

and this pegboard organization station from Delightful Order…

Source: delightfulorder.blogspot.com via Samantha on Pinterest

and this hamper turned gift wrap station from Home Made Simple.

Source: homemadesimple.com via Samantha on Pinterest

I also really like this cart from The Container Store, but I think it can be DIYed for a little cheaper with a different type of cart and some supplies from the hardware store.

Source: containerstore.com via Samantha on Pinterest

Next I organized all of our holiday decorations, including all of our fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decor. I followed the same process… first I divided out the decorations into holiday then went through and donated any decorations that we haven’t used in the last two years. Since we keep moving houses and our space to decorate changes a little with each house, I kept things I knew I would use in the future. After dividing and determining what to keep and what to donate, I used bins that we previously stored everything in and repacked them.

With my Silhouette, I made some really cheesy labels because I didn’t want to spend that long on them. We store all of our bins in the laundry/utility room on a shelving unit we bought at Home Depot.

In the black bag between the bins are all of our wreaths. Super fancy, I know! I didn’t feel like spending money on special wreath containers, plus I would have needed about six of them, and a trash bag works just fine for me! One day, we will have an attic where I can have a little more room to organize and store stuff, but until then, this shelf works perfectly.

For more ideas and suggestions about organizing your gift wrapping supplies and holiday decor, be sure to check out my inspiration posts here and here from Home Storage Solutions.

To see more from our 26 Days to an Organized Home, be sure to check out:
1. Week 1: Family Calendar