Today I’m sharing my best tips to organize and store holiday decorations. Organizing Christmas decor when you pack it away saves loads of time the next year when it’s time to put up the holiday decor
Most of the time we decorate for the holidays early. Especially as a blogger so I can get my holiday DIY projects and decor posts published early. So, a day or two after Christmas and I’m ready to organize and store my holiday decorations away.
Save space and make unpacking a lot easier next year when you follow a these tips to pack away Christmas decorations.
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Tips to Organize and Store Holiday Decorations
It’s taken me years to get some of these holiday packing tips down to a quick science. I start packing away Christmas by packing and storing holiday decorations into small sessions.
I usually start on the inside of our house and pack up the everything but the Christmas tree and the front door garland. My next un-decorating task will be taking down the outdoor Christmas decorations and lights. Last, I tackle the Christmas tree.
- Pack each area of un-decorating together in the same container. That way they’ll all be together when unpacked next year.
- De-clutter and weed out broken items or what you won’t use again.
- Use sturdy boxes. We use the extra-large plastic containers with locking lids and smaller ones that fit inside the big ones.
- Use the same size storage containers so several crates will stack and nestle well together.
- Label the contents of each box at the end and stack them with the labels outward so they can be read.
Christmas Decoration Storage Ideas
Pack away a tree
Modern faux Christmas trees look so real and they can be pricey too! I protect our investment with a heavy duty zippered tree storage with wheels. Best of all, it’s lightweight so I can take it out and put back in the garage myself.
Ideas to store Christmas garland neatly
- String faux greenery garland through large plastic garbage bags end to end (like a sausage) and gently fold it into a storage box. Taking out intact is a breeze! This works especially well when you have lots of ornaments on your garland.
- Layers using newspaper in between each one to protect and prevent tangles.
- Plastic water or soda bottles keep bead garland tangle free.
Source Tip Junkie
Creative Christmas Ornament Storage
- Use plastic cups to store individual ornaments.
- Use egg cartons to store small and delicate Christmas balls safely.
- Use ornaments storage boxes with dividers for individual ornaments.
How to store Christmas string lights without tangling them
Try one of these ideas to store Christmas lights tangling them.
- Prevent tangles in lights by putting each strand in a separate bag. Plastic bags from the grocery work great!
- Wind string lights around extension cord holders.
- Wrap Christmas string lights around pieces of cut up heavy cardboard and line up in a large box.
Source A Real Life Housewife
How to Store a Christmas Wreath
- Protect large wreaths with a heavy-duty plastic bag and hang in an out of the way place like a garage or attic wall. Contractor bags are heavy duty and last for years.
- Store wreaths in a hard plastic or nylon zippered wreath storage bag.
Source Good Housekeeping
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Organizing and packing away our holiday decorations becomes much easier when I break it down into smaller tasks. Next year when I am ready to redecorate for Christmas, I will follow the same process and tackle decorating in small steps. It’s quick, takes a lot less time, and best of all, my decorations are organized and easy to find.
Update: It’s been a year, we unpacked and decorated our tree and home in record time! What a time saver these tips to organize and store holiday decorations were!
Need more organization help? These are my top organization posts…
5 Creative Ways To Deal With Sentimental Clutter
How To Organize A Small Kitchen And Get More Space
Organizing Strategies For A Small Home
Do you have a favorite tip to share for Christmas decoration packing?
Lisa says
Great tips. I just put my decorations away and I wish I had read your post before I did. Organization has never been my long suit. I’ve pinned this so maybe I’ll do better next year. Thanks for partying with us on Share Your Style.
Wendi says
Hi Lisa and thank you so much! Organizing did not come naturally to me until we downsized and it became a matter of sanity! LOL I hope these tips are useful to you next year! Thanks so much for your visit and Happy New Year!
Julie says
We took our decorations down today and I did do a bit of a purge so we are only keeping the good stuff. Some of your suggestions have come in just right, thanks.
Sandra says
Love the tips thanks so much! As I took down wreaths today I was wondering how I could store them differently.
Wendi says
Hi Sandra, So glad you found the tips helpful. Happy New Year and thanks for visiting too!
Kimberlee says
Thanks for the tips. The bag idea for the lights works well – we have been doing that for years. I need to go through and get rid of a few things we didn’t use the last couple of years.
Wendi says
Hi Kimberlee, The bag idea does work, especially over throwing everything in a bin and having a tangled mess the following year. Weeding out my stuff was the hardest to do, but it made the biggest difference! Thanks for your visit and Happy New Year!
teresa says
Great tips, thank you for sharing! I especially need to use the bags idea for the lights. I always try to pack them carefully and them face a huge mess the following year and spend half a day untangling them!
If you have time, I would love for you to come and share this post over at the Holidays Celebration Link Party that is live right now (keepingitrreal.blogspot.pt/2015/12/holidays-celebration-link-party-6.html)
Happy Holidays!
Wendi says
Hi Teresa, I’m glad you enjoyed my tips. yes, the bags work really well on the lights. I’m sure I was breaking my lights as I was trying to untangle them because I’d get frustrated and just start tugging at them:( I’ll try to stop by and thanks for the invite. Thanks for stopping by & Happy New Year!
Lynn says
Hi Wendi…I’m already thinking ahead on storing my ornaments this year. I’m getting ready to start a serious declutter and this will be first on my list. Thanks for the great ideas.
Pinning for when I need to refer to your suggestions after Christmas.
Have a very Merry Christmas
Lynn
Wendi says
Hi Lynn…and may the force be with you! As you can see I tackled that task last year after putting it off way too long! You’ll be happy you did it. This year unpacking ornaments was such a breeze and it was so easy to find everything. Merry Christmas & thanks so much for your visit!