6 Tips to Easily Store Holiday Décor and More

The holidays are over and the new year is right around the corner—waiting on the other side of that new year is a fresh start, clean house and a new take on the upcoming year.

If you’re like most, taking down all of those holiday decorations are not as fun as they were putting up, huh? Unfortunately, the stockings aren’t going to hop off the mantle, the ornaments are going to jump back into their boxes and those packs upon packs of lights are not going to wind themselves up.

From the tree and lights that hang about the inside of the home to the outside yard décor set in place to show everyone just how much spirit you have, putting them up for storage until next time doesn’t have to be a drag.

In fact, there are quite a few handy tips that can make putting up this year’s holiday decor a breeze. You heard right putting them away may not be fun to do, but it doesn’t have to be a hassle either.

Prioritizing Decorations: The Biggest Holiday Decoration Headache Most Face

Over the years we’ve seen friends, family, and other groups handle putting up and taking their holiday decorations down differently. Some have a method and will not touch their seasonal décor until the New Year. Others have rituals where they fear a year of bad luck if they enter the new year with a cluttered house.

Some use cardboard boxes, while others use accumulated gift boxes and other crafty ways of storing their ornaments, lights, trees and more. The problem is that when we go to pack our seasonal beautifications up until the next time, we usually give it little thought and end up placing things in whatever we have available and will stack neatly.

But, what happens when next year rolls around and you’re sitting looking at a mountain of boxes with no idea where to start.

Essentially it is easy to say you should start with organizing your items, but then again what does that mean. Enough waiting, let’s get these tips into action!

Tip 1: Storing the Décor

Cardboard box—toss it! Clothing gift boxes—those are outta here too! One of the best ways to store holiday decorations is to use clear containers or bins. Plus, it’s the holiday season, so many of these storage bins will be on sale or at least have reduced prices.

In my house, we like using clear storage containers. Not only do they stack and pack extremely well, but you can see right into the box, so there are no surprises on what’s in the container.

Okay, so now you can see directly into the box, but that still doesn’t get them organized. What it does do is allow you to quickly identify what is in which container. That is a pretty simple storing tip to remember, so let’s get to the more creative storing tips.

Tip 2: Making Light Work of Lights

Probably one of the next biggest holiday hassles are the lights. You’ve spent hours hanging them and now it’s time to put them away until next year. If you’re looking to avoid the dreadful headaches of detangling lights for next season, try this:

Cut a flap from a cardboard box and wind the lights around it. This keeps them neat, in place, and hang-ready for the next time it’s used.

Who would have thought it would be that simple to put your lights away for next year.

Tip 3: Extension Cords: How Far Away is the Tree?

Some people do an amazing job at hiding the fact their seasonal décor is powered by handfuls of extension cords. Let’s face it, it’s almost essential to have extension cords these days when putting up decorations. When it’s time to store them, it is like a formidable foe is fighting you. A tangle here, kink there and a knot there, bundling cords can become very frustrating and fast.

Fortunately, you can acquire zip ties for not that much at all. These will keep your bundles tight and tangle free. Since everyone may not have access to zip ties, consider this: You know the twisty metal tie that comes on your bread? This works perfectly for keeping cords bundled and neatly kept.

If this is not an option, use the cardboard box flap trick we used for the lights. Same principle and works like a charm.

Tip 4: Ornamental Stowaways: Avoiding the Crunch of Delicate Decorations

Rarely do we keep the same box any of our items come in. It’s no surprise and nothing new, so how can we get our ornaments stored safely until next season. Lucky for you, we have a couple things to try here that have worked perfectly for us:

1. Using bubble wrap or gift wrapping tissue will add a layer of protection around the ornaments in case they are banged around.
2. Glue plastic cups to the bottom of a box and neatly place the ornaments into their own storage area. This completely protects them.
3. Try adding padding to the bottom and sides of the storage box that has your ornaments in it. This helps absorb and moving, vibrations, and roughhousing damage when pulling them out again next year.

Tip 5: Wrapping Paper: Didn’t We Have Some Left from Last Year?

This is another one of those headaches. Each year we always find ourselves buying new rolls of wrapping paper on to find a stash of last year’s rolls under the bed or in the corner of the closet, safely tucked away.

They actually make containers for wrapping paper and they can serve to store things other than your gift paper. Garlands, ribbons, gift tags, scissors, and even tape. This keeps them from getting crushed, creased or torn while providing a practical way to store this disposable seasonal present wrap.

Tip 6: Real or Fake: The Tree Needs to Go!

Okay, now I know so far all of these have been proclaimed headaches and for certain individuals, they are, but what about the tree. When you get a real tree, you have to find a way to discard of it, every year. Whether you elect to save it for a bonfire after cutting it down or maybe tossing it into the wood chipper to condense the amount of space it takes and simply throw it in the recyclables bin.

When you use a fake tree, several more factors arise and it isn’t as simple as just tossing the old tree out to the trash. We buy these artificial trees to save money and time, but how much time are we really saving when we have to battle color-coded tiers, pieces that won’t fit properly and finding a way to store such a large item.

If you want to easily take down and put up your tree in a breeze, try the following packing tip to make sure next season goes much smoother:

1. Start by taking the top section of the tree and flipping upside down.
2. Take your time and arrange the wired branches so that they rest along the center support pole.
3. Follow this step for the remaining sections.
4. Now carefully tie down each section with twine or string.
5. Take an old bed sheet and individually wrap each tier of the tree.
6. The only thing left is to place the tree into a box and let it rest until next year.

Hooray, We Survived the Holidays!

Once the decorations are up, the only thing left is to enjoy the new year with a clean, clutter-free house. That is until next season.