This afternoon I took a few minutes to wrap two Christmas gifts (shown at right). These are the first of just a few gifts that I will purchase or assemble for the holiday.
I must be honest that I do not really enjoy wrapping gifts and am not particularly good at it, but I do think my tips can help the average person keep their wrapping supplies organized and at hand when they need them.
My strategy at Christmas (and for birthdays) is to buy one jumbo roll of a seasonal pattern that will work for just about everybody. This avoids the clutter of multiple rolls of leftover wrap for the remaining 11 months of the year. If this is too boring for you, you can purchase one pattern for each family member.
For all those odd ball shaped gifts (and for giving gifts while traveling), I use gift bags that I occasionally buy but in most cases I just reuse the ones I have received in good shape. The red bag in the photo contains my gift bags and tissue paper. I also like to reuse ribbons, bows and tissue paper. I keep those items in the tall bag, but as I use it up I will eliminate the tall bag and combine those items with the gift bags. All of my wrapping supplies are stored together in the corner of a closet.
If I lived closer to Royal Oak, Michigan (and if her services were affordable) I would probably give up the gift wrap altogether and use Lisa's Gift Wrappers. Lisa also has a blog with many for tips for gift wrapping.