Best Ways to Store Seasonal Decorations
Storing your holiday decorations securely frees up space in your home and ensures your lights and ornaments are kept intact, ready to use the next time a big celebration is on the horizon. Here are our top holiday ornament storage tips to help you keep your decorations organized.
Categorize by Holiday
Categorizing your holiday decorations is a simple way to keep them organized. You may use some items, like strings of lights, for lots of different celebrations throughout the year. So, keep those to the side.
Other seasonal decorations that are specific to a particular holiday can be stored separately. That way, it’s easy to find the right decorations based on the season, whether it’s Thanksgiving, Diwali, Eid, Halloween, Christmas or Hanukkah.
Label Each Bag
Good labeling is one of the easiest, but most effective, holiday decoration storage ideas.
Even items in clear bags and boxes are more easily retrieved if there’s a helpful label on the front. It’s so easy to stuff items away at the end of the holidays in a rush and to convince yourself you’ll remember what’s in each bag. In reality, when you need them again, perhaps in a year’s time, you probably won’t recall what’s what.
You’ll be grateful for the few minutes you spent listing the contents of each box and bag clearly on a label. To save time, label all the little bags and boxes within your larger containers too.
Shrink Wrap Your Tree
Artificial Christmas trees can be difficult to store but shrink wrapping them is a great solution. This can be done tightly to reduce the overall size of the tree and help it fit into a smaller space.
You could also wrap the tree without taking the ornaments off, to save decoration time in the future. The next holiday season, the tree can be unwrapped and with a little fluffing up of the branches, it’ll be ready to go again.
To shrink wrap a tree, get a new roll of plastic stretch wrap, begin at the bottom and roll it around until you reach the top. Wrapping a decorated tree is only a viable option if you have plenty of storage space to keep it at its full height.
Find Storage Near You!
Invest in Storage Bins
Invest a little in storage solutions, such as bags, bins, shelves and/or stacking units. It’s a great tip for home organization generally and especially useful for holiday decorations.
Clear plastic see-through bins are particularly helpful as you can always see what’s inside. These work well when you are storing holiday decorations somewhere out of sight, like an attic, garage or storage unit.
Get bins, tubs or boxes in an array of sizes to allow you to keep smaller, more delicate items together. Bins and boxes made for the job may be better than some recycled options, like old cardboard boxes or paper bags. They aren’t as sturdy or may not be moisture-proof. You don’t want your holiday decorations destroyed by mold.
How Do You Store Large Outdoor Decorations?
Got a selection of bulky decorations that need to be kept safe? A garage, shed or storage unit is useful for large outdoor items, like festive lawn ornaments. Make sure the area is weather and damp-proof, or your decorations may get ruined by mold or damp.
If you use your storage area for other items that you’ll need throughout the year, you may wish to pack your holiday decorations at the back. Having them in the way of garden mowers and household tools that you need regularly can be annoying. And it can lead to your decorations getting damaged due to constantly being shifted around.
Wrap Holiday Lights Around Cardboard
Strings of lights can easily get tangled and broken if they aren’t stored carefully. A simple and low-cost tip is to grab a rectangle of rigid cardboard and wrap your lights around it.
Cut a small incision in one end, then push one end of your lead into it to hold it secure. Ensure it’s not cutting into the wire, damaging it or the insulation in any way. Then, wrap your lights around the cardboard. Try not to overlap your rows, otherwise it can cause a tangle.
Make another incision in the cardboard at the other end, then push the other end of the wire into it to hold it all in place. Store your lights together in a box lined with some bubble wrap or other impact-absorbing packing to ensure the bulbs don’t get damaged.
It’s a great idea to check your lights are working before packing them too. Packing a couple of spare bulbs and fuse bulbs with the lights is a simple tip to make sure they are ready to go next time.
Find Storage Near You!
Garage Storage Tips
You’re likely to want to use your garage for other functions apart from just storing seasonal decorations. Consider fixing up some shelves and hooks to create a home for everything.
Special holiday decorations, with sentimental value, may be best stored indoors or at a storage unit to protect them from the cold, damp and potential damage from vehicles. It’s heartbreaking to discover these items ruined due to poor storage.
Whether you are storing your holiday decorations in your garage or elsewhere, having a declutter each year is wise. Get rid of anything broken or that you no longer like and pass on anything useful to a thrift store.
Use a Storage Unit
Items that take up a lot of space, but aren’t needed often, are perfect for a storage unit. Pack up your seasonal decorations and keep them in a self-storage unit. This way, they’ll be well protected until the big day rolls around again, saving space in your home and making sure they stay in pristine condition.
