How I Organise my Christmas Wrapping Paper …

 

Now that Christmas is over, it’s time to pack away all the wrapping materials that you’ve used to wrap and decorate presents/gifts. Things like ribbons, string, baubles, cards and gift tags are easy to store because they are small enough to pack neatly into a plastic box or crate. Wrapping paper on the other hand is a little more challenging because of its size.

 

This is also the time of the year that I tend to stock up on wrapping paper at hugely reduced prices … sometimes up to 90 % off. So although it’s a great way to save money, now you have to store it.

 

Here’s a little trick that I’ve been doing for years:

 

• Grab a roll of Christmas paper … I usually choose one that has a cardboard tube in the middle as it makes the roll a bit more solid.

 

• Now take a second roll of wrapping paper and carefully roll it over the top of the existing roll. The leftover cardboard tubes can either be thrown out in the recycling bin or kept for craft activities for the kids.

 

• Continue until you have worked your way through all the rolls and the result will be a single roll of wrapping paper instead of multiple rolls.

 

• Attach an elastic band to each end of the roll to stabilize all the layers of paper and to prevent the roll from unraveling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This technique will save so much space as it’s much easier to store a single roll. It also works because I’m storing wrapping paper for a single theme i.e. Christmas. I generally then store the single roll of wrapping paper in the corner of one of the wardrobes … out of the way until it’s needed next year.

 

Another great idea is to store Christmas Wrapping Paper in the same box as the Christmas Tree. Both will be needed at the same time of year and the Christmas Tree box will be large enough to store even the longest roll of wrapping paper. This tip was suggested by one of my lovely Instagram followers … well done!

 

You may also find that you have loads of smaller, offcut pieces of Christmas paper leftover … you know, the bits of paper that are left over when you cut paper to size to fit the present you’re wrapping.

 

Years ago, I used to simply throw these away until I realised how much was ending up in the bin and I used to feel it was such a waste. Now I create a new sheet of wrapping paper by simply taping all the offcuts together. It’s a bit like scrapbooking or putting together a patchwork quilt … some of the most unlikely combinations of pattern and colour just seem to work! Don’t worry too much about the size of the scraps left over, just mix and match, sticky tape them together to create a new sheet and then neatly trim the edges. This can then be rolled onto the single roll of wrapping paper. It’s the perfect way to eliminate the waste and save money. I’ve shared this tip previously for birthday wrapping paper but it works just as well for Christmas wrapping paper and you can read more here.

 

 

 

 

So tell me, how do you store your wrapping paper and do you like to stock up during the sales?