Happy Wednesday everyone! We’ve been having some really beautiful warm December weather in Iowa the past week or so which has left my boys with some serious concern about Christmas not coming if there hasn’t been snow. I will admit that I’m usually all about the snow in December! The feeling lasts until mid-January when I am OVER all the snow and ready for spring. My older boys have been super annoyed about having to wear a winter coat in the morning to school and then – and I quote – “roasting like warm marshmallows” in them by recess time. I think this warm weather is about over and I think we are all ready for the weather to feel like Christmas time too.

It was time for my annual trip to the Dollar Store for Christmas wrapping paper last night and made out like a bandit. 😉 I love getting all my wrapping supplies there: paper, tissue paper, boxes, ribbon/bows and TAPE. All. The. Tape. Partially because I go through a lot and partially because I always misplace half of it. Tell me I’m not the only one.

I love buying wrapping supplies at the Dollar Store because then I can afford to buy a bunch of different pretty papers plus the character wrapping paper that our kids love without spending very much. Our Santa always wraps his gifts in gold paper (or puts big gold bows on larger items) so I dig through the wrapping paper bins and buy up all the gold too. 😉

One thing I never buy there though is gift tags! I love me some cute gift tags and the ones in stores just don’t really do it. I created these gift tags for  our gifts this year and you can download this FREE printable too! Right here! Print them, cut them out, tape on or string them on a ribbon and a super cute gift you have! OR you can buy this label paper and print them on that instead. I love using label paper because you cut them out, peel off the back and they are stickers ready to go!

And don’t forget about those gifts from Santa!

PLUS, I also created these cute Santa gift tags! You can find those to download here.

Update 2021: This year, there is even more Christmas Gift Tag Printables for you to choose from! PLUS, these are editable in Adobe Reader (free to download) to add your child’s name! Click the photos or links below to head to my Etsy shop for these expanded choices! $3 instant download!

Editable Santa Gift Tags

Editable Christmas Treat Tags

I considered trying to have all my wrapping done this week so I didn’t have to worry about it but then I realized that wrapping to me isn’t a chore. I love to wrap gifts! Josh and I always settle in with a Christmas movie and hot chocolate while I wrap gifts a little every night the week or so before Christmas and I like it that way. 😉

Do you dread wrapping gifts or look forward to it like me?

Don’t forget to pin for when it’s time to get your wrap on. 😉 (Hover over or tap the upper left corner of the images above.) Happy wrapping!

If you like these gift tags, check out the Christmas printables in my Etsy shop!

A couple weeks ago, I talked a little bit about how we try to control our school year paper clutter by letting our kiddos choose what they want to hang on our DIY Art Display Wall. We enjoy their art for as long as they want it to hang and then recycle it. It’s worked great for us to cut down on refrigerator and paper clutter. I didn’t mention though what we do with the really special stuff that we want to hang on to for them to look back on when they are grown. Until this year, I was keeping some things in a tub in their closet that we wanted to keep and kept putting off taking the time to organize it. This past school year for the first time, we had two kiddos bringing home projects and I knew I needed to figure out a better way before we didn’t even know what belonged to which child anymore.

I created this printable (which is here free for you to download!) to put with each year’s folder of things to keep. It has a short end of the year survey, a place to put a 3 x 5 school picture from that year and (my favorite) a place for them to sign their name. I love the idea of being able to look back on how their ‘signature’ changed each year. **The font on this printable is the adorable Pea Alesa from Kevin and Amanda. I love, love their fonts!**

I glued the completed sheets to the front of a file folder, labeled it with the school year and put all their items to keep in it or behind it. For each kiddo, I kept report cards and notes from their teachers, their class picture, the yearbook and some of our very favorite work they did. Eli had some adorable projects with his hand print on them that I couldn’t resist keeping and Caleb had a few books they had put together in kindergarten (a daily journal, a birthday book with pictures from all his friends, and a scrapbook of their class trip to ‘China’) plus some amazing art projects that I know we will love to look back on. It’s not a lot of things but enough for us to remember this school year and the progress they made.

For now, their papers are in a printer paper box that I covered in leftover fabric from other projects but eventually as they grow, I will probably buy plastic tubs like these to store their things in. My goal is to hang on to a small folder of things from each year of school that they will take with them someday when they are on their own.

If you still have stuff from last school year you want to keep or you want to be ready for this coming year, download my free printable or pin it for later!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!