Best Results Organizing

It’s not yet July, but some people are already thinking about the holidays! This tweet, from a fun-loving scientist I know, illustrates eagerness to get started on shopping and wrapping:

pretty sure I’m the only person who during this break before work dinner wrapped Christmas presents.

— Kelly O. Sullivan (@KellyOSullivan) June 18, 2014

And though it turned out to be a mistake, a post office branch in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York actually started promoting Christmas stamps this week!

While it’s not a paper and productivity topic we touch upon often, eliminating gift wrap clutter and organizing your wrapping options is definitely something we’ve discussed previously:

• It’s a Wrap! Wrapping Paper Alternatives, Furoshiki & Frogs
• Paper Doll Wraps Up the Holidays and Makes It All Stick (Part 1)
• Paper Doll Wraps Up Some Alternatives to Wrapping Paper (Part 2)

THE PROBLEM

Birthdays and holidays and baby showers. Oh, my!

Anyone who has ever tried to wrap a series of gifts of varying shapes and sizes knows that wrapping is not a one-size-fits-all experience. In the pre-gift bag era, I once tried to wrap an unboxed, stuffed lion for my best friend’s toddler, and there is photographic evidence (which I will not share), indicating that I failed wrapping school. A roll of shiny tape and perhaps two pounds of tissue paper later, it looked like a lump — maybe a soccer ball, maybe a chemistry set. Trust me, it looked better once unwrapped.

The options are almost endless. Wrapping paper comes in different lengths, and the volume on each roll varies. Sometimes wrapping paper comes flat, folded in squares, so that it takes up less space (but has an annoying crease, usually just where you wish it didn’t). And tissue paper is packaged altogether differently, folded like pre-GPS gas station maps. Sometimes, a gift bag is more apt, but bags come in multiple heights and widths, and then there are the ribbons and bows and furry/fuzzy/sparkly/twinkly stuff sold to adorn the gifts you give. (This is where Paper Mommy excels. All presents for children, and some for adults, are decorated with lollipops and similar candies. Twice the fun, none of the glitter.)

With so many different kinds of wrapping supplies, you end up needing different kinds of containers. Sometimes, an under-the-bed, flat-ish lidded bin will work, but it can be hard to find one to accommodate the longer rolls of wrapping paper. There are a variety of standing solutions that emulate trash cans, but unlike Weebles, when they wobble, they do fall down. I’ve seen many of my more artsy/craftsy clients peruse Pinterest for DIY-solutions to sew or glue or create themselves, but that can take a lot of labor.

Then there are the supplies. Tape — you want the non-shiny kind so that it’s invisible against the wrapping paper. Scissors. Those little noodle-y things that help you make ribbons curl nicely! Do you store them with your wrapping station (if you have a wrapping station more robust than “in the closet” or “under the bed”) or do you borrow from the office supply/school supply/miscellaneous drawers of your house? And if you can’t find what you need and end up buying duplicates, you’re worse off than if you hadn’t had any supplies in the first place!

It’s enough to make you want to give everyone a gift card and call it a day!

At this year’s NAPO Expo, however, a new product came to market for keeping all of your gift packaging supplies under wraps.

THE SOLUTION

WRAP iT™, developed by New Yorker Adam Levine (pictured below), is designed to create a

solution for neatly organizing and storing all gift wrap supplies. I have to admit, I was dubious. I’d seen what amounted to zip-up garment bags for wrapping supplies before, and in the end, everything tended to fall to the center of the bag, like hockey sticks in a duffel. (Am I betraying my Buffalo, NY roots?)

But Wrap iT really is different.

Wrap iT comes in two color schemes (blue and copper) and two sizes: Deluxe and Original. The interior of both versions can hold 26 rolls of wrapping paper, up to half of which can be the extended-length rolls (in the Deluxe version (pictured below)), which are often too long to fit in any standard paper organizer. The wrapping paper is held in place with heavy-duty elastics. When you’re done wrapping, slide the roll into the elastic bands at the top and bottom, twirl your roll about one-half a turn, and the loose ends remain tucked in place. No straggling ends to rip or tear.

In addition to the interior section, the Wrap iT has multiple clear PVC pockets to accommodate folded wrapping and tissue paper, gift bags in multiple sizes, gift tags and greeting cards, bows, ribbons and wrapping tools, as shown below.

Wrap iT Deluxe

Wrap iT Original

Adam and his people refer to the Wrap iT as similar to an “Armored Gift Wrap Tank” made extra-sturdy to protect those delicate bows and frilly ribbons. In addition to the high-grade elastics, the clear PVC is water-repellent (in case you’re schlepping through snow to get to a gift-wrapping party) and has a heavy-duty, all-the-way-around nylon zipper. Velcro closures clasp the nylon flaps to the PVC pockets.

The Deluxe Wrap iT measures 44″ long by 19 1/2″ wide, and fully stuffed is 4″ thick. Empty, it weighs only 1.8 pounds, but has a maximum storage capacity of 22 pounds. (That’s a lot of wrapping!) The Original Wrap iT is the same width and thickness when packed, but a touch shorter at 33 1/2″ long. It’s 1.6 pounds empty and 19 pounds at full capacity.

Thus, storage is easy, as the bag lays flat enough to slide under a bed, but the build-in hanger lets you easily hang it vertically in whatever closet has four inches of adequate width and enough depth to handle a winter coat.

The Deluxe sells for $59.97; the Original for $54.97; you can also get a combo pack of one of each or a two-pack of either size for $99.94.

See the Wrap iT in action:

Paper Doll has to be honest. I’ve long since given up on wrapping presents. If it fits in a gift bag, I’ll surround it with some pretty tissue paper; otherwise, I’ll probably have it shipped directly from Amazon and that charming A to Z logo will serve as all the wrapping it will have. But if I were a wrapper, especially one with lots of tiny tot birthday and holiday gifts to decoratively wardrobe, the Wrap iT would be hanging in my closet.