How To | January 29, 2015
The holidays will soon be over and it will be time to start thinking about taking down the holiday decorations and storing them for next year. Our “12 Days of Holiday Storage Infographic” was created to help with big and small holiday decoration storage. Holiday decorations can take up a lot of storage space in a home. It is important to have a plan in mind when you are storing your holiday decorations, so you know what you stored and where you stored them. Storing holiday decorations in a self storage unit is a great solution to keep your home uncluttered. Holiday decorations tend to clutter up closets, attics, basements and garages. These spaces should be utilized for the organized storage of other items. Seasonal items can be stored in the back of a storage unit and then switched out throughout the year.
Packing and unpacking holiday decorations can be quite a hassle every year. If you take a few steps now to properly store the items this season, then it will help eliminate some of the hassles and broken decorations! Begin with segregating your decorations into different boxes. Keep all indoor/outdoor lights coiled, but stored together in one box. Keep all of your Christmas tree ornaments stored together in another box (or boxes, depending on the ornament size). Before you pack away the decorations for another year, check for broken ornaments, lights, or other decorations. If they can’t be fixed, then discard them and add them to your inventory list to replace for next year.
First make sure that your wrapping supplies are organized! Keep all of the items, including wrapping paper, boxes, bows, ribbons, scissors and tape, which you would need for wrapping presents together. There are great wrapping paper storage ideas and products from plastic storage bins and boxes to hanging gift bag organizers that you can find at your local home store. Choose the one that best fits your storage space. Consider reusing gift boxes and bags from previous years whenever possible. Boxes can be expensive to produce; so many stores are no longer giving them out to their customers. Fold down holiday boxes flat and store in a box or a large plastic bin with other boxes.
Candles should be stored in a dry, cool environment. Do not store them in places where there could be high temperatures or humidity as they could melt. Wrap candles in cellophane, newsprint or tissue to give more protection during storage and prevent them from collecting dust.
Christmas lights should be stored neatly coiled to keep them from being tangled. There are many great DIY solutions for storing holiday lights for example: wrapping lights around the outside of a coffee can or wrapping them around a pant hanger. You can make your own light storage reel out of a piece of cardboard. Cut out grooves along the top and sides of the cardboard. Wedge the beginning part of the lights in one of the slots and then start winding the lights around.
Storing ornaments can be a challenge, because ornaments can come in all shapes and sizes from glass to hand-made bulbs. Most ornaments hold special places in our hearts as they were homemade by family members or are heirlooms and require special treatment when it is time to put them in storage. There are specially made boxes you can buy to store ornaments that you can find at your local home craft stores. If possible, keep the boxes for larger or oddly shaped ornaments. If you don’t have the boxes, then carefully wrap the ornaments in tissue paper. Smaller ornaments can be stored in an egg crate to make for easy and protected storage.
A Christmas tree can take up a lot of space when you put it back in storage. If possible, try to store the tree in the original box. If that isn’t possible, take the tree apart and put the different branches in plastic bins for easy storage. Tree bags are also good for Christmas tree storage which can be easily purchased at a local store. Some of these come on rollers, so you can easily transport the tree to its storage spot. A great tip to save time when putting the tree up at the beginning of the holiday season is to store the tree partially or even fully assembled, even with lights. This would require a larger amount of storage space, but it is worth the time and the battle of trying to put the tree together.
Place holiday wreaths in their original boxes whenever possible and store them horizontally on a shelf. If you don’t have the original box, then place a bag over the wreath and hang it in a closet or behind a door. You can also use a garment bag to store your wreaths or larger holiday decorations. Do not store bags of wreaths on top of one another, as the wreaths could get damaged.
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