Holiday Gift Wrapping Tips for a Stress-Free Holiday

The holidays are on the way and before you know it the holiday will be here. Like millions of people I used to wait until the very last minute to wrap my gifts which always stressed me out before the big day.

Last year I got my holiday gift wrapping in-order and figured out a system that worked really well for me. Every weekend leading up to the holidays I spent one hour wrapping gifts & addressing holiday cards, so that I didn't have to give up an entire weekend right before the holiday to get them done.

Here are a few tips that I wanted to share with all of you.

1. Set up a small area in your home to be your gift wrapping station. In my case, I have a large rectangular table set up in my basement near one of our large basement windows. You want to make sure that your area has proper lighting.

2. Head out to the store and buy everything you think you will need in one shopping trip. For me, I headed to my local dollar store and picked up numerous rolls of wrapping paper, several packs of holiday print gift bags, ribbons, bows, gift tags, colored tape and regular gift wrapping tape. I also picked up a pack of fun colored gel ink pens for doing my gift tags in fun colors. I always make a point to buy a little more supplies than what I think I will need, so that I don't have to run out again.

3. Organize all of your supplies onto your table so that things are kept neat and tidy. I purchased small plastic bins (at the dollar store) and have all of my ribbons in one, gift tags in another, bows in a third and so forth. If you are organized, the gift wrapping will go much quicker and you won't get stressed out trying to find something.

4. Designate an area in your home for the wrapped gifts to go! I have four large plastic bins in that room (our laundry room) and each bin is labeled for the family. ie. Hubby's Family, My Family, Friends, etc. Once you got the gifts wrapped, you want to place them into the appropriate bin to keep things organized.

5. Once a week (for me that is on the weekend) I spend 30 minutes to 1 hour wrapping gifts and addressing holiday cards. I play Christmas music or I will pop in a holiday DVD while I am wrapping gifts, addressing cards and doing other necessary pre-holiday tasks. Setting the mood, reduces the stress!

By the time the Christmas eve rolls around you should have all of your gifts wrapped, sorted and be ready to go come Christmas morning! It's a great way to cut down the stress and a fantastic way to get the most enjoyment out of this important holiday season.