In this guide, you’ll learn how to store your Christmas decorations in a way that will bring order and a sense of calm to your holiday season year after year. With these tricks and systems in place, setting up and storing away the holidays each year won’t feel so overwhelming.
When holidays are over and the New Year is here, it’s time to tuck away the festive decor. You may look around you and wonder where to start. Christmas has taken over every corner of the house.
Not only do you have all of your family’s favorite Christmas decorations from years gone by, but some new items, like special homemade ornaments, have also found their way into your home this year.
Now is when the overwhelm seeps in. You might even be considering shoving everything in boxes with no rhyme or reason, anything to get it all packed away. The organizing, sorting, and making sense of it all can be done next year.
You don’t have to resort to chaotic storage that will cause you even more stress when you unpack it all next year. I have a lot of easy-to-implement tips that will help you store Christmas decorations without losing your mind.
Once these organization set-ups are in place, it is easy to unpack and repack year after year. Reducing stress and creating calm amidst the busy season.
Step 1: The Sorting
This is the most important step when organizing Christmas decorations, and the one most people find so overwhelming that they choose to skip it. That single choice is what creates a difficult unpacking the following year.
“The Purge”
Not everything needs to be kept. Sometimes things need to be discarded or donated, and that is an ok choice to make. Throw away anything broken, donate the things that you don’t love, and recycle what you can.
Focus on keeping the things that bring you joy or hold a special place in your heart. Even if the joy is simply how good a certain piece of decor looks in a certain location of your home, like how much your new Christmas farmhouse centerpiece brightens up the whole dining room.
“Form Groups”
Find a place where you can lay all your Christmas decorations out around you so that you can sort them into groups. A folding table or a large dining room table works well for this. The floor in a wide open room can be another good option.
Not everyone likes to organize things into the same categories, and that is ok. What works best to create order and a sense of peace when you envision unpacking these next year is what is most important.
One popular idea for Christmas decoration storage is separating items by type: ornaments, lights, tablescapes, etc. Another option is separating the decor by room: Christmas kitchen decor, bathroom decor, porch decor, etc.
Step 2: Choose the Right Containers
This is the second most important step for keeping your Christmas decorations tidy and orderly. No matter how well your items have been sorted, if you don’t have the right containers to house your decorations, they will still end up shoved together haphazardly so that they fit.
Clear Plastic Bins
Clear plastic bins come in seemingly endless shapes and sizes these days. The large clear bins are usually equipped with sturdy handles and lids that make them perfect for long-term storage.
They are available on Amazon, but can often be purchased at your local big box store even cheaper. These are ideal for storing your large sets of items (that you have a lot of after sorting) or outdoor decor.
There are even specific, Christmas ornament clear storage bins that provide smaller spaces within the bin, offering your ornaments further protection.
IRIS USA Ornament Storage Box with Attached Lid
If you are tucking away Christmas decor in narrow places like under the bed or at the back of a closet, there are thin clear storage totes for that as well.
Red and Green Totes
If you aren’t a big fan of clear totes or they simply don’t work for your storage situation, consider large green or red totes. You will never lose the Christmas decorations in the garage when you know to look for the Christmas colored boxes.
Space Saving Bags
Soft fabric decorations can be stored together in Space Bags. These bags are made of thick plastic and shrink down much smaller than they begin when you use a vacuum to suck all the air out of the bags. You can store these items directly in the bags, or shrink them down and place them inside your plastic Christmas totes.
Special Containers for Large Items
Some items, like wreaths and artificial trees, are best stored in their own dedicated storage bag or box.
BALEINE Wreath Storage Container
Step 3: Protect Fragile Items
- Before packing them away, wrap glass and fragile decor in bubble wrap, newspaper, or cloths. (Do this even if using a plastic ornament box.)
- Keep lights tangle-free by wrapping them around a paper towel roll, a piece of cardboard, or even a coat hanger. If you have certain lights that fit perfectly in certain places, label each set of lights with a piece of masking tape with the location written on it.
- Use the same methods to store garland so that it doesn’t tangle. (A very thick garland is better off just placed gently into a tote.)
Step 4: Label Everything Clearly
Having dedicated bins and boxes for your Christmas decorations helps you locate them much more easily next year, but labeling them clearly adds another layer of mental peace next year. You will know exactly what is in each tote because you have already sorted, separated, and clearly labeled everything.
Step 5: Choose the Storage Spot
If space allows, the best place to store your Christmas decor is all together. A place that is out of the way, cool, and dry is ideal.
Last Step of Storing Your Christmas Decor
Give yourself grace.
This process doesn’t have to be perfect… it just needs to work for you. To bring you additional peace and joy next holiday season.
With one year of thoroughly organizing your holiday decor, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of seasonal simplicity. It becomes very easy to add a few additional storage bins each year if needed. It even becomes easier to sort out the things in your Christmas decorations that no longer serve you when you begin following these steps year after year.
