Holiday Ornament Storage

[Ellen Griswold]

How do you store your holiday ornaments? I'm looking for some solutions for the mess I have. We've been married 11 years and it seems as though we get several ornaments a year, plus all the ornaments that we collected before. I could fill several trees. I've given away anything that I didn't like. And now what? I want them out of cardboard boxes. Do you use a big tub or what? This is something I'm a little sentimental about. Something I'm not ready to just toss. Help please?

[luv-my-boys]

We literally have hundreds of ornaments We get one for each family member a yr to remember that yr by and then if we go someplace on vacation or whatnot we get others. We only get oranments that mean something, we got rid of the "knick knack" non sentimental ones yrs ago.

I have the ornaments sorted by family member or "theme" as we have now branched out to several trees in our home. For instance I have a tree that has all our college team ornaments on in the family room. For instance DH has a tub full of ornaments that are "his", his baby ornaments the ones he made in school or all the "dad" ones he has.

They are each placed in a bubble wrap envelope unless they have a box (I usually only keep the Hallmark boxes and any collectible or fabric type boxes) the Bins are labeled.
I got the bags at a big box store Duck brand makes a 100 bag assort. that I got at walmart but they look similar to these:
http://www.staples.com/office/suppli...Feed-_-listing
We are a point that we have several large tubs. The ones that are not too many are sorted in smaller tubs placed in a larger tub that we keep the tree skirt,stockings and angel in.

[mamababamba]

I like the bubble wrap bags idea for some of the flatter fragile items. We also have one big rubbermaid container for lights and two rubbermaid containers of ornaments and decorations. The ornaments are sorted and separated into plastic shoeboxes to protect them. I have tossed most of the original packing and use some tissue paper to pad them. I am going to add a desicant this year, as moisture is a problem where we are.

[sunnysandiegan]

We pared down a few years ago when we ran out of room in the really old (even then) cardboard ornament box. I finally got tired of lifting out every layer to get the whole tree decorated and undecorated a couple years ago. I purchased a four-drawer rolling plastic cart on sale in January. I kept the cardboard things that separated the ornaments and trimmed them a bit to fit the drawers. We store the ornies in bubble wrap envelopes or the original boxes or just in the "cubby" (depending the type of box and type of ornie)...one layer per drawer. We only have 3 loose drawers full and love it! The tops of each drawer (the three with ornies) hold flat lightweight Christmas decor. The bottom drawer holds the heavy Christmas decor. That one cart rolls out of the storage closet through a room and down the hall into the living room and back. IT IS SO NICE!!!! We keep the wrapping supplies in a cloth underbed box in our master bedroom (upstairs). We keep the stockings and holders and other bulky decor in those large popcorn tins in the storage closet near the rolling cart.

We had a major flood last May (2009) and I have never been so happy to have made the switch away from cardboard to plastic!!!! The wheels on the cart made all the difference, also, between ruining all those sentimental items and NOT. We had very little personal property items (less than $1000 worth) ruined in the flood because I had taken the time to get most items off the floor and out of cardboard boxes for storage over the years. (The total claim was ~$30K, which was nearly all structural damage/repair/replacement.) We did lose about half of the collector boxes for other items I have throughout the house, but the items themselves are/were in use and it was just the boxes that got pitched. Our downstairs was ankle-deep in water from the original flood and then we had a second flood upstairs a couple weeks later. The insurance adjuster (we only placed a claim on the first flood, but she was here twice and saw the effects of both) told me water damage is a "when" not an "if" and that 80% of the claims she has at any given time are water-related. Something to think about in your planning!

[kdabbler]

For the extremely fragile ornaments, we'll keep them in their original packaging with tissue paper. They then go into clear plastic tubs that are labeled good ornaments, bottom of tree ornaments... This year, dh got a bunch of those ornament organizer tubs on sale from Home Depot. After realizing that we don't need to pack all of them as if we are shipping them (bubble wrap and tissue paper), we were able to downsize about a tub's worth of non-essential packing material.

[lucyem]

About 15 years ago I bought a bunch of cardboard ornament storage boxes. They are still doing their job and quite well. We have a bunch of glass antique ornaments too. Each has a little section they sit in. These boxes have been through a 4 moves (with movers handling them) and nothing has broken yet. I have wrapped a couple of more fragile ones in tissue paper in their little spot before the moves.

[daytripper75]

I have two things. One is a Rubbermaid ornament box that holds about 60 ornaments and the other is plastic shoe boxes. I think the ornament box is the best way to store ornaments! http://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-3P2.../dp/B002BDV7N8 (Mine is different than this one, it has two layers and is taller.)

[Ellen Griswold]

Originally Posted by daytripper75

I have two things. One is a Rubbermaid ornament box that holds about 60 ornaments and the other is plastic shoe boxes. I think the ornament box is the best way to store ornaments! http://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-3P2.../dp/B002BDV7N8 (Mine is different than this one, it has two layers and is taller.)

Liking this one very much for the space I have. Thank you!

[Tizzy]

I have a larger plastic bin that I've filled with foam pellets - the kind that are in beanbag chairs. I carefully put each ornament into the pellets then when I use them, I carefully pull each one out. This way they are completely protected and never come in contact with eachother, plus it's easier than finding little boxes or what not to store all the different shapes. We have only had one glass ball break in the past 4 years. When this bin gets too full, I will definitely have a 2nd with the same system.

[daytripper75]

In looking for the example of what I have I also ran across one that had "trays" for the ornaments. Mine has dividers but I can't lift a bunch out to get to the bottom layers. One like this would be easier to use:http://www.improvementscatalog.com/p...L&code=MP0WFGL

[ollyoxenfree]

A less expensive solution is to re-use egg cartons for smaller ornaments. The ornaments nestle quite nicely into the cartons, and are well protected. The cartons stack well in larger containers - I use Rubbermaid bins that I was given many years ago. I don't use much plastic anymore, but these bins are good for storage in damp areas, and they stack nicely.

[Comtessa]

We have an ornament storage box like this that holds most of our ornaments. The rest get wrapped in this year's detritus of tissue paper and tucked into a cardboard box. But sunnysandiegan's experience makes me think I might want to invest in a plastic tub for our flood-prone basement!

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by Comtessa

We have an ornament storage box like this that holds most of our ornaments. The rest get wrapped in this year's detritus of tissue paper and tucked into a cardboard box. But sunnysandiegan's experience makes me think I might want to invest in a plastic tub for our flood-prone basement!

Or invest in some shelving units to keep boxes and items off the floor.

[skreader]

Since I moved around a lot in my 20s, up to my early 30s, almost all of the ornaments are wood, cloth, plastic, or metal. The very few ceramic or glass ones I pad in newspaper and put in a shoe-box.

Then I put the shoebox and the non-breakable ornaments & the string of lights in a plastic box w/ a lid. The X-mas platters and plates, I pad w/ the X-mas dish towels & pot-holders and apron and put in another plastic box. The boxes then go on the bottom shelf of the wardrobe in my DDs room.

The tree skirt gets dry-cleaned then goes in the wardrobe as well.

[EarthyMamaofDaisy]

I have the smallest size Rubbermaid bin - 10 gallons I think? Anyway I fit the tree stand in there kind of slanted and then put the ornaments around it. At this point most of the breakable ones are gone from the kids knocking the tree down so all I have are homemade unbreakable ones.

[The Hidden Life]

Short answer: tissue paper and ziploc bags

All our Christmas stuff is stored in two larger plastic tubs and two shallow plastic tubs.

Big tub #1: five strands of lights, stockings, electric candle thingy for window, stuffed Santa doll, "The Night Before Christmas" book, tree skirt, table runner, etc. Anything bulky and not really breakable.

Big tub #2: Advent wreath, Nativity sets

Shallow tub #1: family ornaments, sorted into ziploc bags of who owns them. The breakable ones are wrapped in tissue paper. Each kid in our family has a bag of their own ornaments to put on the tree.

Shallow tub #2: ornaments made by aunts, grandmas, etc sorted into ziploc bags and labelled.

Other item: tree stand

Even though we've reduced the amount of ornaments we have by a lot, we still don't use all of them every year. This year I told the kids to pick three of their favorites from their bag to put on the tree.

[elsie]

I keep most ornaments in their original boxes and keep the boxes in large rubbermaid bins. I currently fill up three, but have a bunch of those glass ball ornaments that are ok if they break a few each year.