Creating a Gift Wrapping Station to Ease Holiday Stress

This is the first year that my little one has truly gotten into the holiday spirit. When you are young it is a time of excitement and magic, but it doesn’t always feel that way as an adult. Recently a friend and I were lamenting the general sense of stress that pervades this time of year. The to-do list seems to get longer and longer by the day. There is an endless list of holiday parties and events to attend. These can all be wonderful, but when all of it happens together, they can also become a lot!  As I see the magic in my daughter’s eyes, I remembered that the holidays should not be stressful. I vowed to approach this year a little differently and follow her lead. To do this, I realized I had to tackle the thing that brings me the most trouble: gift wrapping!

 

I always feel such a pressure to find the perfect gift for everyone on my list. Even after I have finished my holiday shopping, I still need to wrap them all! Wrapping presents is one part of the holidays I could really do without. It takes a great deal of time and is quite temporary. The wrapping is removed in a few seconds and quickly ends up in the waste bin. Even knowing this, I still continue to try to make each gift look perfect: a bow here, brightly colored ribbon there, the stress of figuring out if you have enough wrapping paper to fit around that box. To wrap all of the gifts for my large extended family takes hours- hours that I would much rather spend eating all of those Christmas cookies I have been baking!

 

So this year, I have decided to reduce the stress of the holiday by organizing my gift wrapping. My goal was to have everything I needed in one spot so that I could quickly find it. I wanted to wrap a present here and there leading up to the holidays so that I did not need to be up late on Christmas Eve as I have in years past. To solve this issue, I decided to make one area of my office into a gift-wrapping station. Now when I find myself with an extra 15 minutes, I can quickly gather my materials and wrap a present.

I stocked up on scissors, tape, and gift tags to make sure I had everything I needed close by. By taking some time to get organized, I have found that the idea of wrapping presents no longer seems like such a chore. In fact, I’ve already gotten the majority of my gift-wrapping done and it’s only the middle of December!
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Staying stress-free at the holidays definitely helps make the whole family happier. What tips do you have for staying organized during this season? Please share in the comment section below!