Tips For Putting Away Those Decorations

When I was a little girl, my mother would leave the Christmas tree and all the holiday decorations up until King's Day (January 6th). Nowadays, I usually have my decorations put away before New Year's. Chances are with the holidays falling on a weekend, you're probably starting to put away a few things too. Save yourself some hassle next Christmas - put your decorations away properly!


Start by putting everything away in an organized matter. Put the outdoor decorations away in one bin or box, the lights in another, and tree decorations in their own box. Be sure to label any bins or boxes that you can't easily see into. If you put up your outdoor lights on Thanksgiving weekend, but don't put the tree up until closer to Christmas, make sure that the lights box is on top of the tree ornaments box so you aren't moving boxes around so much to get to what you need.

Do you get depressed when you pull out the ornaments and find each year that one or two have been broken in storage? stop that from happening next year! Safely put away ornaments. Did you know that egg crates can be easily used to keep small fragile ornaments from being crushed? Empty tissue boxes can used to store small strands of lights or fragile longer ornaments. Save the tissue paper from gifts for wrapping ornaments and decorations that can be easily scratched. Stack these boxes and containers into a hard sided tote or bin for extra protection from being crushed. If you have thin garlands that can be easily tangled, slide them into a Ziploc bag (they even have the XL size bags for large garlands!) the beauty of these bags is that they can be used again and again each year if they are taken care of, and they will protect your decoration from any water or element damage while they are in storage. (Tree through the roof into the attic, anyone? It won't save them from being crushed by the tree if it lands exactly on them, but if there is rain coming in, it will help save them from that!)

Take a moment to go through your decorations as you are putting them away: is there something in the bottom of the box that has stayed there for several years and not been on display? Does it have no sentimental value? If not, then put it aside to be donated to Goodwill or other thrift shops. It's the end of the year, so it's the perfect time to get a little tax donation, and you'll have more room for the decorations you care about - packed too tightly, your ornaments can be more easily broken.

By the way, for those of you who live in a more rural area, and had a live, unflocked Christmas tree - put it up on Freecycle or Craigslist. Many folks with goats may want to snag your tree as a snack for their goats!