Organizational Tips: Gifts

The last few months I have talked a lot about gift giving planning as well as gift ideas that are quick and easy to make ahead of time for last minute emergency gifts, but I haven't talked about how to store/organize these gifts. This week's tips are are devoted to organizing and storing gifts. I have gifts for specific people in my life, birthdays or other celebrations, as well as emergency gifts for unexpected events. These gifts are stored together while gifts for Christmas are stored separately. I store Christmas gifts separately because the gifts only really need to be accessed once a year while other gifts are constantly being used throughout the year. If you have a large family consider storing each person's gifts separately.

Tip #1: Store gifts in storage bins, boxes, and baskets. Choose your storage so that it matches other storage in your craft area. If you have snoopers then blending it with your storage is great, but also consider not labeling the boxes or bins. I chose photo boxes that matched my craft storage. Currently I have 4 photo boxes devoted to gift storage: family gifts that are small, emergency gifts for unexpected celebrations or events, charity donations, and Etsy sales. Granted charity donations and Etsy sales are not traditionally gifts, but I have stored them with my gifts because I access these boxes the same amount and they are typically the same type of things stored. 

Optional Tip: Large gifts can be stored in larger bins or baskets, but don't go overboard. The majority of my gift storage is meant for smaller gifts because that is the majority of the gifts I ended up storing for long periods of time. However, frequently some aspect of the gift is usually larger than what will fit in my photo box. I don't really have storage set aside for large gifts and store the gifts as I accumulate them, mainly because I usually purchase large gifts closer to the birthday or celebration. That said, if you have the space and the need, then store larger gifts in bins or baskets, but don't purchase too many boxes.

Tip #2: Create an inventory of your gifts or items. Depending on your needs or preferences, type or write a simple inventory of items in each boxes. Include who the gift is for if you think you might forget. Finally include an envelope for gift receipts. This may not be necessary for you, but it is helpful if you have lots of store bought gifts. If you tend to purchase gifts in advance then be aware that gift receipts are only good for a set amount of days before items can only be returned for store credit. 

Optional, but helpful tip: Have many different gifts saved as emergency gifts. This isn't really an organization tip, but will help save you stress throughout the year. Personally, I never had the budget to just go out and shop for emergency gifts, but I have also never had a shortage of gifts. I keep my emergency gift box stocked through reward programs and choice shopping during annual sales events. If you have extra time on your hands, or even 5 minutes once a week, online surveys are great for accumulating gift cards or small cash rewards that can be stored away or used to purchase gifts. My favorite online survey, shopping rewards, and participation points website is MyPoints. I have been using MyPoints for the last few years and have been rewarded with many many gift cards, including Starbucks, Macy's, Red Lobster, and the Rainforest Cafe. The total amount claimed, between all of the gift cards, is something close to $100.

With MyPoints I am rewarded through online shopping, survey taking, and general participation in clubs. 

The other online shopping reward company I love is eBates. eBates gives you cash back for shopping online through their website. Unlike MyPoints, eBates gives rewards in the form of a check or PayPal. 

I am really bad about just cashing the check and spending the money, but if you can resist the temptation then eBates checks are great for spending on emergency gifts. 

I know there are people reading this and wondering what gifts I have in my emergency gift box and what gifts make great last minute gifts so hopefully I can help answer those questions. The gifts in my box are headphones with bag (I have about 6 pairs), iTunes gift card ($10), Victoria's Secret Fantasy lotion and perfume set, bath salts, and an assortment of beanies. The headphones were actually free gifts that I received when I ordered off of  the Greater Good Network's websites: Animal Rescue Site, Breast Cancer Site, The Hunger Site, The Literacy Site, Autism Site, and The Veteran's Site. These websites frequently offer promotions with purchase that would make great gifts. I have received the headphones, socks, coin purses, bracelets, necklaces, ornaments, and a purse as free promotional items. The Victoria's Secret Fantasy lotion and perfume set were left over from a larger set of perfumes and lotions, which I used as gifts at Christmas. Emergency gifts are any small gifts that you would like to be gifted as well as small gifts associated with specific interests. The iTunes gift card and headphones will make a great gift for someone who loves music while the bath salts, lotion, and perfume are a great gift for someone who likes to be pampered (pair with a gift certificate for a spa service, massage, or manicure for a more luxurious gift). 

I like keeping beanies, booties, and receiving blankets as emergency gifts as well because you never know when you will need a baby gift. For instance my coworker, who I met when she was already 7 months pregnant, had her baby early, which meant that I wouldn't have had enough time to make a nice baby gift had it not been for the baby gifts in my emergency gift box. These gifts also work great for the baby shower you forgot about or the unexpected invitation to a baby shower you weren't planning on attending. If you don't have a lot of babies in your life, but do have many young children or soon-to-be recent graduates, then something similar will work for you too. For young children, accumulate a lot of party favor type gifts, such as crayons, coloring books, and games, as well as dolls, Legos, and cars. Obviously for a child you knew well you would find more personalized gifts, but small toys work great for that child you weren't planning on gifting to. For graduates I suggest gift cards and small items that are either functional for college or sentimental. Young adults are very adamant about picking out their own items, especially for college, so I wouldn't suggest too many functional items, but you could always purchase laundry bags with silly sayings and a roll of quarters. Great sentimental gifts include Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go" with an encouraging note written to them inside or a collection of your own favorite recipes you made in college. 

When I graduated high school, and actually college too, most of my gifts were impersonal in the form of cash or gift cards with more personal sentiments expressed in the form of cards, but I did receive one sentimental gift, which was a College Humor book of college experiences, and would have enjoyed receiving similar gifts. Everyone has their own preferences though so don't feel bad if you just want to stock up on various cards and gift cards as emergency gifts for graduation, or any other event you may have to attend. 

Charity of the Month: Valentine's for Seniors

It is the 7th, which means it is time to introduce this month's charity, Valentine's for Seniors. 

DoSomething has paired with Meals on Wheels to deliver Valentine's cards to seniors. Individuals make one or more cards, using card stock, and then mail these cards to their local Meals on Wheels or another location of their choice. Meals on Wheels then delivers the cards to seniors in the area. DoSomething is offering an entry to a $4,000 scholarship for every card mailed to Meals on Wheels as an extra incentive to participate in this campaign. For every card you make, take a picture, and then submit these pictures to DoSomething for your entries into the scholarship contest.

The Supplies

DoSomething provides a few guidelines and ideas for making Valentine's cards in pdf form, but I also have made a tutorial of the cards I have made and donated to Meals on Wheels. When I first started this project I had a grand plan and thought of many wonderful ideas, but very quickly I ran out of time. Plus I didn't have all of the supplies I thought I had like cardstock, doilies, and good markers. The Dollar Store has been very good about having a large variety of seasonal craft supplies, which is where I ended up going to to get doilies, foam stickers, and ribbon. However, I forgot to buy cardstock and new markers so I ended up using the supplies I had, construction paper and dried up markers.

Recommended supplies:
Cardstock in red, white, and pink. Construction paper works too.
Markers, bright vivid colors, in red, pink, and gold or silver
Doilies in red, white, or pink
Heart Stickers or stamps
Glitter, optional
Glue, I used a glue stick


For card designs 1 & 2:
Take cardstock or construction paper and fold it in fourths. Unfold once and cut along the fold line to make 2 cards.
Card 1: Paste doily to front of card. Write LOVE in pretty letters across the inside of the card. In upper right corner write a Valentine's message. DoSomething recommends you include 3 things in the message:
1. Location, but only your state, 2. Hobby or interest, and 3. Future plans

Card Design 1 & 2

Card 2: Adhere 3 heart stickers to card front. Using a gold or silver marker draw lines from heart point to card bottom to look like balloon strings. With a red or pink marker write "YOU BLOW ME AWAY
 in lower left corner. Left inside of card, write a quote or saying and decorate with scrolls. I wrote, "Live, Laugh, Love". Right inside of card, write your valentine message.

For card designs 3 & 4:
Fold cardstock in half and turn to make a vertical card. Paste a doily on the bottom of the card, cut around the doily to create a heart shape. DO NOT DISCARD SCRAPS.
Card 3: Cut ribbon and tie a bow. Glue bow to front of card on doily. Open card. On left side write a quote. I used "Spread the love everywhere you go." On the right side write the valentine message.

Card Design 3

Card Design 4

Card 4: Cut a folded strip out of cardstock scraps. Write LOVE in pretty letters, but omit O and replace with a heart sticker or stamp. Open card, write SPREAD THE LOVE across the inside of card. In upper right corner write a valentine message.

Refold all cards and put in a manila envelope addressed to the Meals On Wheels location of your choice. DoSomething recommends not including a return address to protect your identity. Remember to take a picture of your cards if you want to enter DoSomething's contest. If I have more time then I will make more cards using cardstock and more creative ideas so stay tuned. In the mean time be sure to leave your own ideas in the comments below.

Christmas Preparation: Theme

On the night before January 25th, all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, except for this busy blogger prepping for Christmas. 11 months until Santa makes his midnight run and there isn't a minute to spare to bring some Christmas cheer.

Alright, in all seriousness I know Christmas is many months away and most, if not all of my readers, are not even thinking about Christmas preparation for this year. The last few years I have been like my readers and not given much thought about Christmas until October or November. However, last year was so stressful waiting until the last minute that I decided to revert to my old ways and start planning Christmas earlier. Every month, on the 25th, I will post a Christmas preparation idea or tutorial. The tutorials will either be a gift idea for a loved one, a themed decoration, or a party idea (baked good containers, party favors, etc). I hope these posts will allow my readers to get a head start on Christmas.

Every year, even the last two years, I have started my Christmas preparation the same: the theme. I love having a different theme for every Christmas. It allows me to stay focused on ideas for Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and containers for baked goods. This may not be necessary if you only ever have Christmas celebrations with your immediate family, but my family has a Christmas Eve party with relatives and friends every year and a theme is definitely necessary. As I said before, it keeps me focused. Over the last few years my themes have been Sweet Candied Men (Gingerbread men in their candy homes), Frosty's Winter Wonderland (everything snow related),  Santa's Village, and Candy Cane Lane (stripes, lots of stripes). This year my theme is whimsical as A Whoville Christmas, which is essentially a play on How The Grinch Stole Christmas. 

The next thing I always do is design and order my themed Christmas cards. When I actually do this varies every year because I usually wait for "10 cards free" or "$20 off your order" deals on Shutterfly. If you don't use one of these deals then custom photo cards can get really expensive. There are a lot of photo sharing sites with deals of their own so don't be afraid to shop around. I don't always have time to take family pictures that are theme related and sometimes I just don't want to bother with it, which is when I just make the card itself themed, rather than the family photos. Christmas cards are a chance to be creative, a chance to be silly, and a chance to send memories to your loved ones so have fun. 

Boxed In Collage Christmas Card

Bubbles of Snowflakes Address Label

A Whoville Christmas is a really hard theme to order custom photo cards without using themed photos. However, I managed to find Christmas cards and labels that fit my theme. The Boxed in Collage Christmas Card allowed me the space and layout to tell a story. I used silly family photos from this last Christmas and told the story of how the Grinch stole Christmas. A few weeks after purchasing my cards, I received a promotion for free address labels, which I have just ordered. I ended up choosing these Bubbles of Snowflakes Address Labels, which I felt were whimsical and fit the color theme. 

When you are thinking of and planning your theme it is helpful to also specify a color scheme. A Whoville Christmas can be designed in several ways and using several different colors. If I were to use all of the colors that could be used it would end up feeling overwhelming. I actually used two color schemes, but I feel the colors integrate really nicely. The first color scheme is red, green, and white, which is the main color scheme used throughout and the second color scheme is pink, white, blue, and green. The pink, white, blue, and green are accent colors that will be used in gift wrapping. These colors were actually chosen by accident while I was shopping the post Christmas sale. This year I was fortunate enough to find many of the little details, think gift wrap and food containers, after Christmas instead of searching for the perfect items closer to Christmas. I will of course be posting my after Christmas finds at a later time.

There are a lot of pieces that go into Christmas planning from the cards to the food to the presents and it is easy to lose track of your ideas throughout the year. I know there are quite a bit of posts on other blogs about Christmas planners that are available as tutorials or for purchase and I encourage all of my readers to do a Google search for Christmas Planners to find a planner that best fits their needs. Personally, I have never used a Christmas planner and just use a notebook, but I definitely see the need for a planner and have even saved templates over the year to try.

If you want me to make a Christmas planner and show how I use it to organize my Christmas this year please leave a comment below. I look forward to reading your own ideas for organizing Christmas as well as what things you want me to post in future Christmas Preparation posts.