Open Accessibility Menu
Hide
Seasonal Cleaning

Holiday Decor Cleanup

The gifts have been opened, Christmas dinner was a success and Santa is ready for a nice vacation. But the most wonderful time of the year isn’t quite a wrap yet... you still have to put away your holiday home décor. 
Get your new year off to a great start! The following Christmas decoration storage tips will help you pack up efficiently and make decking the halls much easier next year. 

Ornament Organization

The method you use to store Christmas ornaments will depend on what materials they’re made from. After all, plastic snowflakes won’t need quite the same treatment as ornaments that you’ve had since your kids were born or those that have been in the family for years. These ideas might give you some Christmas decoration storage inspiration: 
  • Invest in a hard-sided ornament box or storage bag for your more delicate baubles or ornaments with sentimental value. You can find both bags and boxes in a wide variety of materials and sizes.
  • Stash sturdier plastic ornaments in old shoe boxes or paper bags.
  • Save tissue paper and sturdy cardboard boxes from gifts. Use these to wrap and store fragile ornaments.
Tip: The Christmas decoration storage methods used for delicate ornaments will also work for breakable holiday home décor like nativity scenes, candles and snow globes.

Bright Ideas for Light Storage

The headache that accompanies untangling a snarl of lights can turn even the cheeriest of Christmas elves into a major Scrooge. Though you may be tempted to yank them down and toss them into the first available box, putting them away with care will help you maintain your holiday spirits when decorating next year. These light storage approaches could save you a lot of trouble: 
  • Take a sturdy rectangle of cardboard and wind Christmas lights around this. Cut grooves on the edges of the rectangle to keep the plugs in place so lights don’t slip off. You can also wrap lights around other household items such as coffee cans or clothes hangers.
  • Purchase a Christmas light keeper that comes with a storage bag and several spools for wrapping up strings of lights. It might just be the best gift you ever gave yourself.
  • Store lights using a power cord spool. This way, you can keep the strands connected to one another. Simply wind them up when it’s time to put them away and unspool them when the holiday season swings back around.

Linens

The most important aspect of storing holiday linens is making sure they’re clean before you pack them away. Otherwise, they’re more prone to permanent staining or attracting unwanted visitors like moths. Learn some ways to keep your seasonal tablecloths and tree skirts in good shape for years to come: 
  • Always store seasonal linens in a part of your home that is climate controlled or they could mold, mildew or dry rot.
  • After washing, pack linens in an air-tight plastic storage bag or an old suitcase.
  • Keep holiday tablecloths, runners and placemats in the top shelf of your linen closet where they’re out of the way until needed.
Regardless of what you’re packing away, make sure you always label your Christmas decoration storage bags and ornament boxes. In addition, take care to keep holiday home décor stowed in parts of the house where boxes and bags won’t be jostled frequently or subject to having other containers placed on top of them. Need more tips for post-yuletide tidying? Learn how to take down a Christmas tree then pick up some pointers on cleaning artificial trees and wreaths.

Seasonal Cleaning