Organizing Your Gift-Giving

Keeping things organized is key to in gift-giving. It helps make sure you don't overspend by losing gifts or having to pay for expedited shipping, keeps things in one place, and makes things more stream-lined. In addition to writing reminders on the calendar on my fridge, I have a few ways of keeping myself organized.

To the left, clips for each of us in the household with whatever reminders we need attached to them and a wedding invitation. To the right, birthday cards for the next month and a half, scrap paper, and colored pens for writing calendar reminders.

My favorite organizer is where I keep my stationery and birthday list.

Front of box

This file box has a folder for each month of the year plus one each for addresses and stamps, birthday cards, thank you cards, blank cards, and envelopes. I bought the white board and circular magnets on Amazon.com (the file box at Staples). I painted the magnets with acrylic paints and labeled each on with a person's name and day and year of birth. The white board has the months of the year written on it, and the names are arranged chronologically. November, the most full month, has birthdays on the second, twelfth, fifteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, and thirtieth. I think it makes a pretty visual for what birthdays are coming up.

Inside of box

Here's the inside. Each month holds cards for the people having birthdays that month, and for other celebrations, like Father's Day and weddings. I get most of my cards either at thrift stores (usually ten cents a card) or dollar stores (usually two-for-a-dollar birthday cards and eight packs of thank you and blank cards for a dollar). About the end of December, I fill in cards for the year after next--that is to say, I have cards in each folder for this year and the following one.

September--three birthdays, one wedding

I like to think a month ahead. The first weekend of a month, say August, I pull the folder for the next month--September, in this example. I can see by my magnets on the front that I have at least that one birthday to think of. I also happen to have an aunt turning 60 (I give aunts, uncles, and cousins cards on their milestone birthdays), a wedding, and a birthday for one of my daughter's friends. When I got this folder out last weekend, I started thinking about what presents might need to go with the cards. For the wedding, I bought an item from the couple's registry. The friend will get a gift card. The birthday of the person who has the magnet is also getting a gift card. I only send cards for milestone birthdays, so that one just needs a stamp and an address; I can find both in the front folder. I can get the gift cards the following week, and the wedding present is coming in the mail. All that's left to do is write in the cards and have the rest of the family write in them. If I won't see the recipient in person, I mail the cards or packages one week before the event (longer if it's going internationally).

Because I keep several extra cards, I can pretty easily be prepared for last-minute things, whether it's a birthday party one of my children was suddenly invited to, or a need to send a condolence card. Having a list of addresses in the same box helps too--while I have that same list on my computer, I can pull out the paper faster than I can turn on the computer.

If I'm really on the ball, I also get the birthday person's Christmas gift ready (obviously not a concern for people who don't celebrate Christmas). I can usually manage this if I'm not planning to give a perishable gift. If I'm planning to give the same gift to more than one person, like the present I have in mind for my brother and his wife, I give myself until the later birthday--so while I've made part of their Christmas gift, I really have until September to finish it, because one's birthday is in February but the other's is in October. This only works if you're fairly certain the recipient's interests won't change, though. In those cases, I set aside some money instead.

Of course, if you're planning ahead this much, you're going to need to store gifts for at least a few weeks. Some people dedicate a shelf of a closet for this, or a drawer. I keep two containers under my bed: one for Christmas, one for other events.

You can see yarn for my knitting guild's party, presents for Mother's and Father's Day, and some hot chocolate mix to send to a friend who's deploying next month in the left box, and yarn for the guild Christmas party and  throw pillows for my nieces' and nephew's Christmas presents in the right box (I sewed the cases with fabric in their favorite colors, then hand-stitched on some crocheted squares their great-grandmother made)

These boxes are big enough to hold quite a bit, and slide nicely under my bed. The white and silver boxes in each hold small items, like gift cards and jewelry; while larger items surround them. I keep a few extras in these, too--ten dollar gift cards for ice cream stores, a few books, and other small things. Again, if there's a sudden invitation, I can be prepared.

You'll notice the boxes are clear--presents for my kids are hidden somewhere else. And in case they read this, I'm not telling where!