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6 days ago6 min read

Organizing Tips and Gift List for the Holidays


 
Organization Pending's logo - a turquoise square with a gray house divided into four parts: books, balanced rocks, blocks that spell out "OPG", and silverware in trays.

November 2024 - Organization Pending Newsroom - Upper Arlington, Ohio

 
very large outdoor tree at night, heavily decorated with multicolored lights and a large off-white star on top

Welcome to Organization Pending's Newsroom, November 2024: Organizing Tips and Gift List for the Holidays edition.

This month, get ready for the holidays with Organization Pending's Gift List, a Community Recommendation Highlight with Little Gay Bookstore, and tips for organizing your holiday season year-round. Don't miss the tips for organizing gift wrap, and Upper Arlington Updates for local swap and decluttering events!

Thank you for reading! Subscribe to receive the Newsroom in your email each month, and follow Organization Pending on Facebook and Instagram for local decluttering opportunities and home organizing tips!

If you have an upcoming event, resource, or professional the community should know about, contact Organization Pending.

 

Organizing Tips for the Holiday Season

Both kids, and my partner, all have their birthdays in December - and I'm right around the corner in January - so we know the vital importance of planning for the holiday season early and often, taking notes year-round on potential gift ideas. (A great side effect of the kids getting older and spending their own chore money is you can get a lot of gift ideas, based on the things they want but decide they can't afford.)

basement aisle with organized holiday bins and wrapping paper

Some people like buying a small, special notebook that travels with them to take down gift, gift card, or gift experience ideas. Others prefer to utilize their notes app, or email themselves and add it to a folder for when they're ready - I email ideas to myself on the spot, then add them to my holiday season budget spreadsheet. This lets me easily see what gifts are already tucked away for different people, for different occasions, and lets me see what other ideas I've had throughout the year if I'm still under budget.

Another tip my family likes to use is picking up specialty items year-round. Not only is there the extra surprise of an off-season treat, but these kinds of items, or one-of-a-kind items might not be available later. People in my life often pick up antique or interesting editions of books as they see them, or do a bit of shopping around Halloween for my Christmas and birthday presents. Keeping a spreadsheet of bought gifts and gift ideas helps year-round, early, and bargain shoppers keep track of everything- relieving some of the pressure many parents feel this time of year.

organized bins of wrapping paper and outgoing gifts

With this early and year-round shopping habit, having an established zone for future gifts has been an important consideration for my own family, and many of Organization Pending's clients. After decluttering, my partner and I were able to put a set a drawers in the closet, using them to collect gifts throughout the year. Clients have used bins in their basements as one large catch-all zone, and others have used several bins to keep gifts for different households, people, or occasions separated. One client liked having bins for each household they would regularly visit during the year, and used bags inside of the bins to keep gifts separated for different people within those households.


And Organization Pending knows the importance of keeping those gift wrap supplies organized within those gift zones!

  • Keep gift wrap, bags and boxes for specific occasions in different bins, and don't forget a zone for items that could be used year-round.

  • Make sure to have a system in place for bows or other fragile wrapping items to prevent rebuying these items year to year.

  • Store gift bags vertically and by size within categories (birthday, holiday, any, etc.) to easily flip through and find what you need.

  • Keep holiday card supplies and back stock birthday, anniversary, or sympathy cards with your holiday supplies.

  • Consider keeping a foldable table with your gift wrapping supplies if they're in a room or basement - creating a ready place to wrap is invaluable year-round!

  • Save on supplies for next year - restock needed items with clearance after the holidays, and don't forget to check on your tape supply for this year!

 

Little Gay Bookstore: Community Recommendation Highlight

Rainbow book with open pages and yellow stars on either side, "Little Gay" is written above, and "Bookstore" is written below
"Between book bans and laws targeting trans people/youth, we knew there needed to be more LGBTQ+ spaces in Columbus for us to simply exist." -Reese Steiner (she/her), Co-owner

Last year, I started reading about a new local nonprofit in the news, Little Gay Bookstore, and thought we'd catch up with these fellow booklovers for our holiday season planning.

outdoor display of Little Gay Bookstore at an outdoor market

If you haven't seen Little Gay Bookstore around town - the idea for this nonprofit bookstore focusing on LGBTQIA+ themes and queer stories first sparked in January 2023 for co-owners Reese Steiner (she/her) and Lauren Branch (she/her) as they were visiting Los Angeles...and they couldn't find a queer section in a large bookstore, and no one knew of a local queer bookstore. With a mission to provide accessibility, and "be involved with our community and feel that we were serving greater purpose", Steiner first utilized her resources as a then-Ohio State University student to learn more about literature written by and covering LGBTQIA+ topics, helping begin the Little Gay Book Club OSU student organization.

co-owners are pictured together in a field, kneeling, with trees and mountains in the background - the co-owner on the right is wearing a baseball hat and plaid, and is offering an open ring box to the other co-owner in a white sweater and her hands are covering her face
Photographer: @abbyjulieannphoto

Although Steiner and Branch grew up in the same small town of Mansfield, Ohio and graduated just one year apart, it wasn't until 2020 that they connected on social media - getting engaged this past June at Glacier National Park, planning on marrying in Maine in 2026. "We never saw ourselves as businesswomen per se, but we are both very ambitious and see ourselves going with anything this life has to offer us. We never would have thought we would have been here, honestly, but we rolled with the idea and have loved it through the ups and downs ever since!" Little Gay Bookstore is currently available online and at local markets, rolling with the bumps in the road as they have consistently worked towards a permanent location. Make sure to follow them on Instagram (below), and sign up for their email list (scroll to the bottom of their website (below)) to stay up-to-date on their upcoming news!


Starting to gather gift ideas? Me too! Don't miss Little Gay Bookstore's Top Five customer favorites lists below, create an unboxing experience by gifting a Blind Date with a Book, checkout their merchandise, including stickers, bookmarks, cards, and clothing - and don't miss out on their seasonal items!


Little Gay Bookstore's Top Five Categories:

Looking for a place to start browsing? Try Little Gay Bookstore's bestselling categories: Sapphic Fiction, Achillean Fiction, Fantasy & Science-Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Adult.

outdoor display of books at a pop-up event - a white tablecloth with the logo in underneath the books

Little Gay Bookstore's Top Five Bestsellers:

Need a specific title recommendation?

Quick Picks:

In addition to the Heartstopper series and Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Reese also recommends Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston!


Find Little Gay Bookstore:

Monthly Mobile Calendar: littlegaybookstore.com/calendar

Author Contact Form: littlegaybookstore.com/authors

 

Organization Pending's Gift List:

Unique Local Gifts, Gift Cards, Memberships & Experiences

Unique Local Gifts

Gift Cards

various gift cards and membership cards in a stack

Memberships

Experiences

 

Upper Arlington Updates

collection of mugs on a coffee table

Stop by Upper Arlington Public Library's Miller Park Branch December 1 - December 31 for their Coffee Mug Swap, or head over to the Tremont Road Branch Friday, December 6, 3-5pm for an all-ages Ugly Sweater Swap for - drop off donations starting December 1.


Pumpkin Recycling in the pumpkin-only collection containers at Fancyburg Park ends December 8.





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