Christmas is only one short week away which means it’s time to start wrapping.  Here are a few tips to help you get a handle on your wrapping this season.

Tip 1.  Get Rid of the Extras

Toy packaging is ridiculous these days – wires everywhere, screwed-in battery compartments, impossible-to-cut plastic packaging – it’s a huge pain.  Rather than mess with these tedious problems on Christmas morning, I remove them all before I wrap.  I open all the toys, remove the wires, insert batteries, get rid of excess packaging and make everything as ready for play as possible.  Generally I like to use the same boxes, so I use sticky tack or loops of tape to keep the toys in place.  However, if that’s not possible, I just ditch the original packaging and put the toys in a gift box.  It saves me tons of time and trouble on Christmas morning.

Tip 2: Make Your Own Gift Tags

When you’ve got four kids to buy for, it can get tough to keep things even.  It’s hard to remember what you’ve wrapped and how many presents you’ve purchased for each.  To help me keep things organized, I make my own gift tags.  First, I check my gift planner and figure out how many tags I’ll need for each child.  Then, I print out a sheet of gift tags on address labels and store them with my wrapping supplies.  The sheet makes it easy to see how many gifts I’ve wrapped for each person in the family.  It also helps me make sure that all the kids have the same number of gifts.  I do mine on the computer (you can find the free file download below), but you could use this same technique with traditional store-bought sheets of tags as well.  Just fill in all the tags and staple the sheets together before you start wrapping.

Tip 3: Use Hairbands on Your Papers and Ribbons

Tired of trying to keep your wrapping supplies from unwinding?  I’ve found that the best tool for keeping wrapping paper and ribbon under control is an inexpensive hairband.  I slip one of these cloth elastic hairbands (don’t use rubber or plastic – they tear the paper) around every tube of wrapping paper and every spool of ribbon before I add them to my wrapping organizer.  When you’re using the paper, slip the hair band around your wrist.  When your finished, just slide it back down onto the roll.

There you have it.  Three simple and inexpensive strategies for happier wrapping.  Good luck!  Just thought I’d pass it on.

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