A Present Box is simply a place in a home where you can store presents for people over the year. It can become a real lifesaver, and is a really easy way to stay organised. This post will explain everything you need to know about a present box – from how to create one of your own, to why it’s such a useful tool…
Being an organised kind of girl, I’m usually very prepared when I go away for any number of days (I attend a few conferences for work each year to keep up to date about blogging, organising and everything else I do for work).
My hubby is more than capable of doing everything when I am away (I am really lucky), but being a slight control freak I do like to leave everything knowing that it’s all ready to go and there will be no last minute panics…
Recently though, I went to a conference for a couple of nights one weekend , and as I was unwell for the days before going, I didn’t have time to prepare as much as I would have usually.
Luckily, having read the diary, hubby realised that there would be presents needed on the Saturday for a birthday party my daughter had been invited to.
Although I hadn’t prepared these in advance, I was able to point out the perfect gifts which were sitting in our Present box. All that was needed was wrapping them and writing a card (which I had also sorted in the gift station I talked about a while back) – and things were back on track.
Panic avoided – last minute shopping trip dodged – and all was good with the world again!
I don’t know about you, but I much prefer this as Plan B than the alternative when things get forgotten….
What is a Present Box?
A Present Box is simply a place to house gifts.
Nothing more, nothing less.
My own present box is kept in our spare room under the bed, and houses a myriad of gorgeous items ready to give to the right person.
Of course, you may just say that having a Present Box means having to buy presents earlier, and means there will be more clutter to store for longer in the house – but I am a total advocate of the Box as it contains all present related items in one place so you know where everything is at any given time.
The problem with not having a dedicated space for gifts is that they can end up being lost or damaged and never actually being given as a gift at all – which is such a waste.
Basically – having a space for everything in your home is one of the best tips to getting organised, and so this is the answer to the place for your gifts!
Why would you use a Present Box?
There are any reasons to put presents in a Present Box – here are just a few:-
- Buy a present in advance when you see the perfect item in the shops – keep it safe ready for when that persons birthday comes round so you save time not having to make an extra trip to that shop again, or worry about the item not being sold any longer. (I love to start my Christmas shopping from my own Present Box as I know that I will have collected lots of great presents over the year that will be ideal to give to specific people, and I can then save time on all my shopping!)
- Shop in the sales – get a lot of presents in the sales when they are on and keep for specific people to give them when their birthday comes around. This means that if you have a budget for that person you could either save a little by getting the same present at a reduced price, or be able to give them a little more.
- Buy things in bulk – When I find a fantastic present that could be given (and loved) by a variety of people, then I buy lots of the same item. This means that I can stock up on great Christmas and Birthday presents ahead of time. This works brilliantly for books/DVDs/games etc… and was the reason I had that all important present to hand when it was needed.
- It’s a great place to store a variety of more general presents. Have a stock of things like candles, books, notepads and pens, house items etc.. that you have ready in case of unexpected guests, last minute events etc…
- The last idea is to keep any gifts you receive and are not going to make use of yourself – ready to re-gift to someone else. It’s a little controversial to some people, but I think that as long as you are gracious when you receive a gift from someone, and thank them, then what you do with it after that is totally up to you. If the present will not be loved by you, then you don’t want to keep it as it will be clutter in your home, and that’s the last thing the person who gave it to you would want. I would much rather see someone else get joy out of it.
TIP – If you do re-gift anything, please make sure that you write on it who gave it to you – if it stays in the box for a while you may forget and accidentally send it back to the original giver – which is a no-no!
Where could you keep a Present Box?
Ideally you would want to house the Present Box in a place that’s far enough out of reach that people can’t see it, but that you can get to it easily.
I keep mine in our spare room, as this also houses all our cards and wrapping items – so everything gift related is together.
Having it in our storage bed also keeps it away from guests – most don’t even know there is storage under their bed at all – but here are other places that would work well:-
- Garage – as long as it’s dry etc… – keep presents in an airtight plastic box out of reach of the kids!
- At the top of a wardrobe – a top shelf works really well
- Use a chest of drawers or sideboard in a room that doesn’t need as much storage as it has
- Utilise storage furniture – a storage bed or storage trunk would be ideal
The basic idea is to have your presents in one place, somewhere that’s secure/safe and out of the way, but still accessible when you need to get to it.
Creating your own present box will make your gift shopping and planning so much easier – and I’d love for you to give it a try if you haven’t got one already – so Christmas is the perfect time to create a place for one.
