Set Up A Holiday Gift Wrapping Station

Gift wrapping can be a great outlet for your creativity, if you have the materials and supplies you need to work your magic. But if it’s something you leave until the last minute, only to discover you can’t find the scissors, you’re out of tape, or you only have a small amount of curling ribbon left, it can make for an exercise in frustration and futility. Consider setting up a gift wrapping station in your home and avoid this last-minute stress, not only during the holidays, but for any gift-giving time of year.

Holiday gift bags with handles are a quick and simple fix and come in assorted sizes that will fit everything from the smallest jewelry box to the bottle of wine you’re taking with you to your sister’s Christmas Eve dinner party. Clear, colored or printed cellophane or cellophane bags also work nicely. Wrap around a coffee cup filled with holiday candies or a tin filled with fudge for a festive touch.

Colored tissue paper can also make any gift seem more festive. Collect several colors to use when lining gift boxes or bags, to cushion delicate items, or even inside cellophane bags. It can easily be jazzed up with holiday themed stickers, or a bit of spray-on adhesive and some sprinkled glitter.

And though there’s many great decorative Christmas wraps available, try to keep an adequate amount of solid color wrapping paper available as well. This can also be easily embellished with glitter, ribbons, raffia, markers or yarn. In addition, red will come in handy for Valentine’s Day gifts, and green can be decorated with soft pastel-colored egg stickers for a wonderful Easter gift.

Keep a hole punch available at your station to punch holes in your gift cards and tags. A round hole punch can be found in the office and school supply section of any store, and crafts stores have shaped hole punches available in their scrapbook departments. Specialty scissors can add a nice touch to any gift, and can also be found in the scrapbook department. Stickers can be found there as well. They’re a fun way to decorate plain gift bags, tags and paper, or can also double as tape when wrapping gifts depending on their size. While there, you might also want to look at their rubber stamps. Some holiday-themed stamps and some red, green, silver and gold ink stamps are a great way to embellish plain wrapping paper, gift cards, or tissue paper wrap.

Curling ribbon is affordable and simple to use, since it can be curled with the blade of a knife or scissors. Be sure to leave a nice length on your gift in order to get nice, loopy curls on the ribbon.

Last but not least, be sure your wrapping station is equipped with plenty of both single- and double-sided tape. Have both adhesive-backed and regular gift tags available, as well as colored pens, markers, a ruler and a measuring tape.