Christmas decorations are great while they’re on display. All that glitter and sparkle sure outshines the panicked feeling of seeing all your relatives at once and spending more than you could afford on gifts.
But what’s your plan of attack when it’s time to put a lid on the Christmas cheer?
Avoid broken baubles and a trashed tree with these tips for storing Christmas decorations.
How to Store Christmas Ornaments
Whether they’ve been passed down through generations, made with love by your kids (like these DIY Christmas decorations perhaps), or bought in bulk at the cheap store, the ornaments on your tree say a lot more about you than you think.
Keep your Christmas ornaments around for as long as possible with these storage tips.
Dust Clean
Detergents or even just plain water can cause damage to your ornaments by removing paint on glass baubles or warping paper and cardboard materials. Clean your ornaments by dry-dusting them instead. You can use a clean cloth, soft paintbrush, or cotton swab.
Wrap Fragile Ornaments
You can’t just dump your precious ornaments together in a box and hope for a Christmas miracle. Wrap fragile ornaments separately using acid-free tissue paper (you can find that here) to prevent them from knocking against each other and causing breakage.
Store in Acid-Free Archive Boxes
Once safely wrapped in their cocoons of protection, place ornaments in a single layer in an acid-free box. Don’t forget the cardboard dividers/partitions to keep ornaments separated. You can grab an archive box here.
Use Clear Resealable Bags
Those Glad resealable sandwich bags were destined for more than just your Vegemite sanga. If you’ve got a mountain of plastic baubles that don’t warrant special attention with tissue paper and whatnot, keep them in resealable sandwich bags instead. These are great for organising plastic baubles by colour and size, so you know exactly what to reach for next Christmas.
Avoid Extreme Temperatures
Your favourite glass ornaments don’t stand a chance going from hot to cold too quickly. Try to keep your ornaments away from extreme temperature changes to avoid cracking and warping.
Wrap Christmas Lights Around Cardboard
Hanging lights is pretty straightforward, but do you know how to store your Christmas lights to avoid the dreaded de-tangle next year? Keep string lights tangle-free by wrapping them around a rectangle of cardboard, then wrap with tissue paper for extra protection.
How to Store the Christmas Tree
Throughout December, the Christmas tree is the Eiffel Tower of your living room. If treated with a little TLC, you can hold onto your artificial tree for years – even decades – to come.
Remove All Ornaments and Lights
Do you think we shared the above ornament-storing tips for our health? No. Ornaments and lights should be removed and stored separately from the tree to avoid breakage. This also makes it easier to dismantle and handle your tree for storage. Win-win.
Disassemble It
If your tree comes in a few sections, carefully disconnect it starting from the top, and place each section on the ground. This will make your Christmas tree storage a lot easier.
Fold in the Branches
Fun? No. Necessary? Yes. While this may be a prickly and somewhat boring task, it’s well worth your time to fold all the branches in to protect them and make your tree more compact (and double check you’ve removed all ornaments).
Wrap It
Moisture and fluctuating temperatures can damage and discolour your artificial Christmas tree while in storage. Instead of simply shoving it up against the cardboard inside its box, wrap it in an artificial tree cover or a white sheet.
Place It in a Box
Gently place your tree back in its original box, or buy a big plastic tree box. Boxes are sturdier than a bag, and they can protect your tree a little more if it’s accidentally knocked over or has something heavy fall on it. Take a look at our extensive box shop here.
Running out of storage space for all your Christmas stuff? We’ve got a self-storage unit for that.
