excel spreadsheets? lists? rooms dedicated to wrapping? Sheesh that's far too organized for me. I thought just getting the ornaments organized by tree was a HUGE undertaking! For wrapping I use the desperately rushed, christmas is in 4 hours, need a bottle of wine approach. I spread out the entire mess of crap with a hole in the middle for me and the wine, and begin digging my way out carefully :p I actually am organized when it comes to the decorations though. I have one attic for trees, one for ornaments that go on the trees that are on the 3rd and 4th floor as well as the decoration, and then I store the decorations and ornaments for the first floor and second floor are kept on the second floor. Less hauling down (and up) stairs that way :) I also label the boxes for the appropriate tree which is helpful when distributing boxes around the house. WHile I can obviously see what's vintage and what's traditional as well as all the other themes of a tree through the plastic boxes, I don't know how many vintage go to each tree unless I put them in separate boxes. THat leaves me just enough ornaments for each tree without taxing my little brain. I wish I could apply that kind of organization to presents LOL I do actually wrap all but the Santa ones in advance (so that's the 23rd verses the 24th btw) and those can go out under the main tree. I have been known to buy the same thing more than once...perhaps that list idea is a good one LOL Gad a room dedicated to wrapping and holiday storage...well I'm a bit nutso over christmas (major santa barf is in EVERY room) so that would have to be a big big big room! But it's a lovely fantasy!

We're planning a closet -- typical hall closet size -- that'll have a lock instead of a doorknob; thus, it'll be accessible only to me and my husband. This closet'll have shelves top to bottom, and maybe basket type shelves on the inside of the door for bows, ribbons and so forth. The closet will serve a couple purposes: - gun safe - purchased-ahead gifts - gift wrap - a small amount of cash that we keep on hand As for buying ahead, I do pretty well with it. It's rare that I buy something that just sits around forever and ends up at Goodwill. When I wrap things, I just do basic wrap and use a sticky note to remind me what the item is. I add the bow at the last minute so that I can stack boxes without messing up th wrappers. I like the idea of putting your gift wrap items near the dining room. Practical and efficient.

Thanks for all the great ideas and resources! As with many projects, I think I need to think more about this. Right now Christmas wrapping paper is stored in a plastic upright bin, and holiday ribbon, labels, tape and sharpies are in one of those stackable set of small bins that latch together. Holiday gift bags, boxes, envelopes, and miscellaneous supplies like gift card boxes are in a separate bin. Holiday bows in their own box. All that is stored in my loft , each box numbered according to my master list of holiday supplies, taken down each holiday season and returned after the holidays are over for another year of storage. Birthday and general wrapping paper consists of a few rolls that are stacked/shoved into a corner of my bedroom closet. I've got birthday/general bows, boxes, bags, etc. stored in an under bed bin in the same room. Since I am the last woman in America still sending holiday cards ;), those are stored right now in a drawer of my filing cabinet in our home office. Random birthday, sympathy, get well etc. card are in an accordion folder stuck in a corner of the same drawer. Tape and scissors are in various drawers in my kitchen and home office. need to give some thought to how and what exactly I want to organize in this new space. Hadn't really considered whether paper should be displayed on dowels or tucked into drawers, or whether a hutch and a flat table are a good combination etc. Had no idea Home Depot carried a Martha Stewart gift wrap storage line. Thinking maybe IKEA would be a resource since they seem to have a lot of modular storage type pieces. So this will be a fun mental puzzle with a decorating slant--hurray!

Thanks for sharing that article, Moni, some really good ideas there! When my grandkids were little, I always wrapped their birthday gifts in the Sunday comics, and they loved it. They always knew which gifts were from Grandma, even amongst a big pile of gifts at a birthday party. One of my grandsons has even hinted I should continue that 'tradition' with his kids now, but alas, I don't get a newspaper, nor do I know anyone who does. Years ago, I went 'all out' wrapping Christmas gifts a few times, but it seemed few appreciated it or even noticed, for that matter, so I gave it up. Now I use mainly gift bags, because they are so easy and quick. And almost everyone else in the family uses them, also. Rusty