A new year, a new room, a new system. I took the existing supplies from last year and moved all of the essentials into what was formerly the dining room. (New dining room is the formerly unused and much larger receiving room.) The struggles last holiday should all be overcome, except for the inevitable and unavoidable overwhelming surge of volume at the last minute. Other obstacles and their solutions include:
- I experienced fatigue from wrapping on the floor, so this year’s large table will be a blessing.
- Finding the perfect decor to adorn each gift amounted to dumping a box, searching for the ideal match, and putting it all back. With the exception of the birds, which had their own box, it was a complete time suck. This year I purchased some additional small wood crates, several with interior cubes for organizing. Learning what I gravitate toward the most will be valuable information this year. I had good luck with items which clipped on, so these I have strategically clipped these accessories where they are easy to grab. Using the wine rack is working well.
- I found the perfect table with color-coded drawers, a salve for last year’s struggle with ribbons. I didn’t have them organized at all in 2016, just jammed them into boxes. This year’s system takes me straight to the shade and style I need. Small, thin ribbon and string fits perfectly in a box above.
- A crafters Lazy Susan is what I am going to try for most of the tags. Like with the adornments last year, there was a great deal of dumping and sorting with each wrap to find the perfect tag. Taping a few unusual ones to the side of the table allows me to see the assortment at a glance.
In the end, having so many different papers, ribbons, tags and decorations is both creatively inspiring and a little bit difficult, because it is time-consuming to make so many decisions. The cool thing is that this mix makes each gift unique.
This year I am adding a couple of additional components to further differentiate one of my gifts from others people receive during the holiday. The first comes in the form of a motivational quote. My hope is that this part of the gift will remind us all to look for more meaning behind the gesture and enhance the opening experience.
The other is the periodic inclusion of the new Orange Cat Wraps logo, either in the form of a tag or sticker. The goal here is to differentiate the gift, hopefully making it special by letting the recipient know that it was custom-wrapped. I am grateful to Samantha with Design Persuasion for creating the logo, and helping me decide on the name. It fills me with a sense of pride when I think of any package receiving the logo, as I aspire to build a brand based on a unique whimsical approach and personalized presentation.
Looks like the Orange Cat Wraps room is ready! Let the wrapping commence.
Orange Cat Wraps 