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My Blended Family Christmas Wrapping Paper Hack

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Christmas is a big deal ’round these parts. Having such a big family, I am working double-time to make sure that I stay organized and within my budget. I heard about this wrapping paper hack in the past, but never thought it was necessary for me. (Keep reading to see how I was wrong about that!)

Part of my Christmas organization is maintaining a budget… but why? Don’t my friends and family deserve full-price goodies? Let’s clarify. I give high quality gifts, but I pay discounted prices. I stick to my budget (usually $20-30 per person) and get as much as I can within that budget. I usually end up with about $100-150 worth of presents for a single person in that budget.

Do I have your attention now? 🙂

 

What in the world do I do with SO. MANY. PRESENTS? I know, you’re really curious. I come from a blended family, so I have my brother and sister on Dad’s side, my brother and sister on Mom’s side, stepsiblings, stepparents, grandparents, and then I have all of my husband’s family: brother, sister, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews, parents, grandparents, etc. AND THEN there are the white elephant exchanges.

I repeat. SO. MANY. PRESENTS.

My Blended Family Christmas Wrapping Paper Hack

2 years ago, I forgot a present. How utterly embarrassing, right?

My sister unwrapped her goofy T-shirt I purchased for her but was missing the more lavish present—the eye shadow palette she’s had her eye on!

We had driven to Houston to celebrate with my mom, stepdad, and my siblings on her side. My sister’s present was so small it had gotten lost in a stack for another Christmas celebration later in the month. Because all of my presents looked the same, I didn’t even realize I was missing anything! Until she walked away from Christmas nearly-empty-handed…

Necessity drives innovation. I refuse to be embarrassed or make anyone feel bad on such a joyful holiday ever again. So here’s what I do now.

I choose a color scheme for each Christmas celebration. So, for Dad’s house I have black, white, and red colors in my wrapping papers. For Mom’s house I have green and white wrapping papers. For my in-laws I opt for navy and red. Finally, my little family will celebrate with baby blue and red.

I use two different wrapping papers within the same scheme to keep things pretty for each celebration. Simple math: 2 wrapping papers x 4 celebrations. I end up with 8 different wrapping papers for celebrations alone. I also need two different wrapping papers for our Christmas book advent calendar. That’s 10 papers in total!

Then I can set the presents around the Christmas tree with the celebration they correspond with. When the time comes, I scoop up the appropriate stack and head out the door, confident I’m not forgetting anyone’s presents. Plus, it looks really awesome!

The Wrapping Paper

If you already have tons of corresponding Christmas wrapping paper, you can completely disregard this section.

If you don’t have dozens of rolls of Christmas wrapping paper lying around, check out these beautiful collections available on Amazon. They’ve taken the work out of it and already paired papers that complement each other!

Thinking Ahead to Next Year

Now that you have a plan in place, you can start planning ahead for next year. How many Christmas celebrations do you have? How many different wrapping paper color schemes will you need? And how many wrapping papers per color scheme will that equate to? Okay, perfect!

Now, hit up the store on December 26th and grab those wrapping papers for next year. They’re usually discounted about 50% off the day after Christmas, so it helps ease the blow of purchasing so many rolls at once.

 

What are your blended family Christmas hacks?

PS: Need more help getting ready for the big day? Our Sanity Saving Christmas Organization Binder can help!

4 thoughts on “My Blended Family Christmas Wrapping Paper Hack”

  1. Now, why haven’t I ever thought of this? 🙂 This is a great organizational idea! I hate trying to sort through all the presents to make sure I didn’t miss one right before heading to the car.

  2. When my brother & I were children, my Mom started wrapping our presents in two different wrapping papers, so that we could tell them apart. I continued to do this with my daughter, and am now doing it with my grandchildren. I also stack all of the presents that go to certain destination together, so that I can just grab the appropriate stack, and go.

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