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Some helpful storage ideas

Christmas isn’t over by a long shot, but some people like to pack it up and get on with life shortly after Christmas Day. Here are some ideas you might find helpful.

Fragile Ornament Storage

The video suggested putting them in a plastic cup. Not so sure I agree. If they’re fragile, you don’t want them rattling around a plastic cup like that. Sure, you could give a bit of bubble wrap or some tissue paper to be safe, but that can be cumbersome and the packaging can shift. If you want to be truly safe, think about getting sheets of spongy cushioning. The soft sheets will form around the ornaments and hold them in place.

If you’re storing spherical or nearly spherical ornaments, you might want to consider egg-crate foam sheets. The indentations in the egg crate foam surface create nestling nooks for the ornaments to settle into, but I’d still recommend a flat sheet for the top in order to hold them in place.

If you’re dealing with antique glass ornaments, you might want to consider individual velvet pouches to prevent the paint from being brushed off by friction from the foam sheets. It won’t happen immediately, but damage can occur over successive years.

Wreath Storage

Only do this if you’ve got a wreath made of artificial greens. If you have a fresh wreath, you can get another one next year! That being said, you could very well hang your wreath in an oversized shopping bag in the closet like they show in the video. If you don’t mind dusting the wreath off next year, that’s great.

Let’s consider that there are circular boxes available for the specific purpose of storing wreaths available at most retailers for a modest price. As with your delicate ornaments, you’re going to want to protect your wreath from bouncing around in the box. If your wreath features attachments such as pine cones, plastic fruit or other doo-dads, you’d do well to secure the wreath with a sheet of foam beneath and on top.

Wrapping Storage

The hangers shown in the video are interesting, but that’s going to be hanging on the back of your closet door all year long? Who can spare the space for out of season items? Actually, I’d recommend putting that setup together at the beginning of your holiday shopping so that it’s conveniently available for wrapping gifts as you acquire them.

Another great idea for storing your tubes of wrapping paper during the holiday season is to use an over the door shoe organizer. If you cut the bottoms out of all but the bottom row of shoe compartments, it acts as a sheath for your wrapping paper rolls.

As for storage, you can lay your wrapping tubes side by side in a garment bag. It’s going to keep the dust off and will be long enough to accommodate wrapping paper tubes. You can also flat pack gift bags, rolls of ribbon and bags of bows in with the tubes. You might even choose to use a vacuum seal bag to save space and keep the items fresh and dust-free.

Tangle-Free Light Storage

The most important point of storing lights is to wind them up in such a way that they won’t be tangled when you need them next year. There are a variety of perfectly good options, including the clothes hanger depicted in the video. There are some that look like little plastic ladders, wheels, reels and planchettes that you can safely wind your lights on and unwind them with ease next holiday season.

Lazy Man’s Tree Storage

I guess that’s one way to do it. You could definitely shrink wrap your tree as is and cut it free next holiday season, but what are the chances you’ll cut something you don’t want cut when you go to open it again next year? It may be lazy when you wrap it, but it’s going to be crazy when you go to open it back up.

There are plenty of excellent options. I prefer to put it right back in the box it came from. The artificial tree is structured to come apart, fold up and store away with ease. If your tree’s storage box has become damaged with age, there are a variety of bags and boxes available commercially that you can use as substitutes.

It ain’t over ’til it’s over

I hope you found these tips helpful, but just remember that Christmas isn’t over until Epiphany! It’s only the Fifth Day of Christmas, for pity’s sake. Don’t rush it! Savor the season and enjoy the holidays with your loved ones.