Peace of Mind Organizing

Gift wrap: Keep it simple

23 October 2008

Lately I’ve been having conversations with clients about storing their gift wrap. Personally, I bought a couple of organizers from the Container Store that hang from the rod of a spare closet. One is for rolls of gift wrap and the other for flat wraps and gift bags.

They’re working great and accommodate pretty much all the wrap I’ve accumulated.

However, today I was inspired when I read a post on Unclutterer (part of a “one year ago on Unclutterer” entry) which talked about keeping gift wrap simple. In his book, It’s All Too Much, according to the Unclutterer post, Peter Walsh recommends using brown kraft paper to wrap all packages, and keeping just a few colors of ribbon around to fancy up the packages. I remember his recommending that on Clean Sweep. The idea fascinated me then and it’s fascinating me now.

There were some great comments in that Unclutterer entry, including the suggestion of using white or any other solid-colored paper instead of kraft paper, and wrapping packages with old road maps or the comics section from the Sunday paper. (I remember when I was a kid wrapping gifts with aluminum foil.) One reader said that she keeps a roll of paper on an IKEA easel and after her kids have drawn or painted on it, she uses the art as gift wrap.

One commenter suggested the site Paper Mart, where you can buy 100-foot rolls of solid gift wrap very economically (as low as $18 for a two-foot wide roll). They sell printed gift wrap as well, along with 1625-foot rolls of kraft paper (two-feet wide for about $35).

I love these ideas and I think they boil down to a principle that’s easy to remember. When it comes to gift wrap, keep it simple. It will pay dividends in easy storage as well as in time it takes to wrap a gift. Just think—you could be free of the decision of which wrap to use when it comes time to wrapping!

I’m seriously tempted, after I finish using the paper I’ve already purchased, to buy a single large roll of wrap and use it for my default wrapping paper. I’ll probably buy a wrapping paper roll dispenser, once I figure out where I can store it for easy use. And I’m also going to keep my eyes out for ways to wrap with attractive paper (like maps) that might otherwise be thrown away.

Tagged with: gift wrap, peter walsh, unclutterer

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