One 5-Minute Thing You Can Do This Weekend to Make Wrapping Gifts Easier Later

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I love having a stack of presents to wrap, whether it’s for birthdays or holiday gifts. My husband and I make a night of it, with a super simple charcuterie board and “The Office” after the kids have gone to bed. There’s something very tender about concealing lovingly selected gifts and piling them up for eager faces.

You know what really extinguishes the warmth, though? The frustration of running out of paper or hitting the end of your last roll of tape and having to trek out to Walmart at midnight.

This weekend, we’re going to make sure wrapping night isn’t so jarringly interrupted.

Assessing your wrapping supplies early in the month gives you enough time to buy what you need without having to scurry to the store at the last minute or scruff around to wrap a hostess gift right before the party.

In addition, by taking inventory of what you have and don’t have, you won’t be tempted to grab that super cute but totally unnecessary pink paper scattered with closed-eyed, smug-looking zebras. (Okay, that one might be necessary no matter how much paper you have at home.)

As you’re going through your wrapping supplies, go through a mental checklist of everything you’d need to wrap your presents, including:

• Paper. Make sure you have enough for all your occasions and giftees. You may differentiate recipients by using various papers, or you may with to keep everything extremely simple by only using one timeless palette. If you like to choose holiday-specific wrapping, you may want to make sure you have plenty for Hanukkah and Christmas.
• Gift tags or stickers. Simple tags help keep track of which presents are for whom, especially if you’re using all the same kind of paper.
• Scotch tape. Make sure you have plenty. If not, grab a multi-pack or two.
• Ribbon. Whether you opt for a package of stick-on bows or you curl your ribbon by hand, knowing ahead of time that you everything you need in coordinating colors makes wrapping night even more fun to look forward to.
• Boxes, gift bags, tissue paper. Make sure you have enough of the miscellaneous wrapping supplies you may need.

If you’re feeling motivated after your inventory, take the opportunity to organize your gift-wrapping supplies so they’re not only stored nicely, but are efficiently set up for when you go to wrap your gifts.

This one’s going to be the best gift-wrapping year ever.

You can catch up with weekend projects right here. Share your progress with us and others by posting updates and photos on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #atweekendproject.

Remember: This is about improvement, not perfection. Each week you can either choose to work on the assignment we’ve sent you, or tackle another project you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s also completely okay to skip a weekend if you’re busy or not feeling the assignment.