It will not be long before we start thinking about packing up the Christmas decorations and putting them back in storage for another year. Doing so is always an adventure, knowing that things could break between now and the day we pull the decorations back out next December. But you don’t have to accept breakage as normal. A little creative packing can go a long way toward preserving your decorations.
At My Divine Concierge, we are experts at packing and storage. We have helped countless numbers of homeowners reclaim limited storage space through creative solutions that both protect their possessions and reduce the amount of space needed to store them. As a holiday public service, we have put together a list of great ideas for packing your Christmas decorations. Enjoy, and happy New Year!
Pack Light Strings in Freezer Bags
Whether you use new LED light strings or the old incandescent kind, you know how easy it is for strings to get tangled in storage. Despite all your best efforts to wind the strings carefully, they seem to find a way to get entangled in the attic. The solution is simple: pack individual light strings in freezer bags.
Gently coil one string at a time and put it in a freezer bag, then lay the bags in a box. If you do this for all your light strings, you’ll find you have no tangles next December. And if you make sure not to pack anything heavy on top of the box, you will not have any broken bulbs either.
Put Candles in the Refrigerator
How often have you pulled out the box of decorations only to discover the candles you stored over the summer melted from the heat of the attic? Again, there’s an easy solution: put your candles in the refrigerator. That’s right, in the refrigerator. Get a plastic storage container just big enough to contain your candles and place it in a back corner where it’s out of the way. Your candles will be ready to go when it’s time to redecorate.
Use Egg Cartons for the Ornaments
Glass and plastic ornaments can be very fragile. If you’ve long since lost the contoured boxes they came in then you can substitute with Styrofoam or paper egg cartons. You may have to cut away a little bit of material to accommodate larger ornaments, but smaller ornaments should fit just fine. When you’re done filling a carton, wrap it in newspaper or bubble wrap, then store all the cartons in the same box for safe keeping.
Compress the Artificial Tree
If you use an artificial Christmas tree, the best way to store it at the end of the season is to compress all the branches as tightly as you can. Just grab it and give it a good bear hug, then rotate it and hug it again. Keep rotating and bear-hugging until everything is nicely compressed.
Compressing your Christmas tree makes it possible for you to get it back into the original box. If you don’t have that box, use a couple of garbage bags over the top to protect it. You can then lay the tree in the back corner of the attic or basement without any worries.
The key to storing Christmas decorations safely and efficiently is how you pack them. Look for solutions that protect against vibration and shock. If summer heat is going to be an issue, look for solutions that will protect your decorations from temperature extremes. Lastly, your storage solution should be stackable without damaging the contents within.