My mother is a hostess like none other.  If a soiree (really, that's how you spell that?) is to be thrown my mother is the queen of presentation.  She can make anything seem fancy.  I marvel at her seemingly endless collection of serving dishes (some handed down from generations gone by, others bought at JC Penny).  I mention this to frame my mother's ability to be prepared.  She is kind of like a Social Etiquette Girl Scout.

During my teenage years, when my ability to prepare for anything other than sleep or video games was non-existent, my mother always had anything I needed in the Present Closet.  The present closet had cards for any occasion, all manor of wrapping paper, gift bags, and of course all kinds of little knick-knacks and gifts.  The present closet saved me so many times it is hard to count.

Now as I have grown up I have started my own present closet.  If I see something the wife might want I just buy it and keep it in the present closet.  If I see a good gift for my brother, I just buy it and put it in the present closet.  If I receive a package of something I ordered on Amazon that I don't remember ordering because I was drinking near the internet then I just put it in the gift closet.

The results of this process means that at any given time I am ready to provide a gift at a moment's notice and it has saved me time and time again.  Didn't have time to go shopping for a friend's present, not to worry already had it in the gift closet.  Need a last minute host gift so that I can look like the best guest at a friend's dinner party, not to worry have it in the gift closet.  Wife gets mad at me for snoring, give her a gift from the gift closet.  About the only problem it won't solve is if a wild badger gets set loose in the apartment, but let's be honest, that only happens once a year right?

The gift closet is one of those little tricks that has helped me be more prepared.  I really enjoy shopping for friends and with the closet I can do it year round so holidays don't creep up on me.  Plus I am always on the look out for stuff the wife might like so that when her birthday comes up everything is handled.

-TheHusBlog