The end of the year holidays are such a cozy, festive time and it’s always hard for me to say goodbye. I mean, you all know how much I love holiday decorations. But there comes a point when it’s a little late to keep up that Christmas tree, or those adorable holiday wreaths.
It can be a little overwhelming, I admit, especially when decorations are often odd shapes and sizes, not to mention fragile. That’s why we’ve decided to help you out this year with some tips on how to put away holiday decorations. Hopefully this will help make the new year organizing a bit more manageable and even enjoyable!
How to Put Away Holiday Decorations
The key to putting away holiday decorations is having an organized system you can replicate. I know I’m not the most organized person to begin with, but it helps immensely to keep your holiday odds and ends organized. That way you can find them without too much of a headache next year!
Boxes
The first thing you’ll most likely want are some clear plastic storage bins. I can’t emphasize enough how helpful it is to have a few clear storage bins you can see into, especially for the bigger bins. So! Here are some great options that should give you the size variation you need:
You’ll probably also have a hard time saying no to these adorable keepsake boxes. They’re the perfect solution for those odd items you can’t quite find a place for but want them to be somewhere intentional and special. They’re also wooden, which means they’re durable enough to stack up while protecting your precious holiday keepsakes at the same time.
Our DreamBox
We couldn’t talk about organizers and boxes without including a shout out to our much-used and much-beloved DreamBox! If you have a lot of decorations like we do, this DreamBox will probably be a dream come true. It’s perfect not just for storing the smaller finished crafts, but the works in progress and supplies you need to keep crafting your heart out!
Now, you may be wondering how to put away holiday decorations now that you have these storage bins?
How to Organize Holiday Decorations
The next step after you have your storage bins/containers is to organize. Again, not my strongest suit, so if I can do it, so can you! I’ve found that the method that works best is to organize by category and size. That way, you maximize the space you have and it’s also easier to find things again later. For example, here’s how I usually categorize everything:
- Wreaths
- Tree
- Lights
- Ornaments
- Garlands
- Nativities/other small decorations (bottlebrush trees, etc.)
- Tablecloths/linens
- Books
- Other miscellaneous items
And here’s the breakdown of what I do with each item:
Wreaths
Wreaths can be some of the most tricky to put away from our list of how to put away holiday decorations. They’re often a bit bulky and delicate, so take extra care. If you have the space, I would recommend hanging them on hooks in your storage area. That way, they won’t get crushed. Then you can simply cover them with an old bed sheet or piece of plastic so they don’t collect dust. If you don’t have the space to hang them and need to store them in a bin, it’s still a good idea to put a layer of fabric or paper between the wreaths so they don’t get tangled. And don’t put anything heavy on top! Layer them in order: heaviest on the bottom, lightest on the top. Dispose of wreaths that have real pine boughs or berries, as those might not be in the same state you left them in next year.
Tree
Christmas trees come in all shapes and sizes! Obviously, some are real, so you won’t be able to store those. And frankly, that’s a relief. You don’t want to be dealing with pine needles dropping all over your storage area. If you do have a faux tree that you want to store, though, there are a few options! I know it’s sometimes easier to leave the tree set up, but this does take up a lot of space. If for some reason you can’t or don’t want to take it apart, though, use the tree bag provided (or consider investing in one if you don’t have one). There are also plenty of options for tree bags you can use if you decide to save space and deinstall the tree, too! Basically, though, the main thing you want to remember is to cover the tree somehow, so it doesn’t collect dust.
Lights
Lights are often that thing that ends up in a tangled mess if you’re not careful. Once we stumbled across these amazing light and garland holders, we never looked back.
Ornaments
How to put away holiday ornaments? These tend to be all shapes and sizes, and, much of the time, breakable. That being said, make sure you pack up your ornaments with care so they don’t break before you can use them again! Reuse bubble wrap, or simply pack paper or plastic grocery bags around them for a little padding. Then, we’d recommend storing them in this amazing Christmas bulb organizer, so they don’t get lost at the bottom of a big bin and break when you set something heavy on top of them!
Some of our ornaments are paper (like these honeycomb ornaments). For these, make sure you put them on the top layer of the bin so they don’t crumple. Others are more durable, like our heirloom ornaments. You can use these to pack around the more delicate, glass ornaments as extra padding!
Garlands
Garlands are also one of those decorations that can be tricky to put away. They can be big, small, bulky or trim, so here’s a little guidance as to how to put these holiday decorations away. First, if the garland is thin enough to wrap up, like this one, you can wrap it up in one of these handy garland holder bins. Then you avoid pulling out a tangled mess next year! This leaf garland also wraps up well. Other more bulky garlands may have to be placed into a big bin as neatly as possible without crumpling or smashing your pretty garland, like the Christmas bulb advent calendar. The garland storage bins still come in very handy here, as they separate the garlands so they don’t tangle up with each other!
Nativities/Other Small Decorations
Decorations like our nativities are best stored wrapped in a layer of paper or something to keep the paint from scuffing or rubbing up against other decorations. Bottlebrush trees, like our other paper projects, work best when placed at the top of a storage bin so as to avoid getting smashed. This figurine holder is a dream come true and a total investment, if you’re interested in avoiding all the excessive paper!
Tablecloths/Linens
This one’s easy and pretty intuitive! All you have to do to store your linens is fold them up neatly and put them in a storage bin that’s the right size for the amount of linens you have. Don’t use a bigger bin than you need, or we suspect you might be tempted to put other decorations on top. That would mean having to take everything out of the box to find the linens next year! So avoid the hassle and use the appropriate size.
Books
Like linens, don’t use too big a box to store your books! We’d also recommend just one layer, with the spine up, so you can see the title right away when you open the box. In fact, this is one scenario where it’s probably ideal to use multiple, smaller boxes, rather than one large box. You don’t want to throw out your back picking up holiday books next December! That would put a damper on the holiday season.
Other Miscellaneous Items
Everyone has their individual items that may not fit neatly into one of these categories. How to store your other holiday decor? Just categorize it the best you can, and then follow the steps you did for the other categories!
Labels
This is arguably the most important step! I can’t tell you how much it helps me when I have things labeled, instead of trying to remember what went inside of each random box. SO! Here are some very cute label options, and colored pens to make them extra fun and eye-catching.
More Inspiration
We hope this post helped you as you try to figure out how to put away your holiday decorations! If you want to plan ahead and get a jump on your holiday decorations for next year, you’ll probably love these Christmas decor ideas.