Christmas ornaments & storage

[Gray's Mommy]

I have two large containers of ornaments which I store yearly. Each ornament is in the original box (many are from Hallmark). I am thinking I am going to purchase the plastic boxes that are especially made for ornaments & ditch all the individual boxes.

For some reason I keep hedging on it though. I'm not going to sell my ornaments so I don't really need the boxes, right?? I figured I would just wrap each one up in tissue paper or bubble wrap and pop them in the speciality boxes.

Has anyone bought these & regretted it? It seems so silly to be posting about this, but it is a big thing with me

[ChristyMarie]

I  just have mine in tissue paper in plastic bins.  They aren't very deep so I get about 2 layers per bin.

For very breakable/expensive ones I do keep them in their original boxes.

[ASusan]

Same here, pretty much. For fragile ones, I keep the original box. All others get wrapped in tissue. Sometimes regular nose-tissue, and sometimes salvaged tissue from presents. I use a box that citrus fruits were shipped in, so it's sturdy cardboard with a foam insert.

My parents used a box that glasses came in. that was great.

[ChristyMarie]

Originally Posted by ASusan 

My parents used a box that glasses came in. that was great.

 I used to do that - with actual "ornament boxes" that had dividers like the glass boxes but in layers.  The problem is that if you have large or unusual shapes - it just doesn't work.  So to the OP, before investing in those, take a look at the size and shape of your collection.  If they are unusual it might not be the right way to go.

[Ellien C]

I have roughly 2 big boxes of ornaments - though we may be outgrowing that. One box has those dividers - I think it's 3 layers and all of the regular shaped ornaments go in there. then another box has customizavble dividers (also 3 layers) and irregular shapes go in there - some in the original boxes, but many had not boxes at all. I think I have a third box for lights and other very fragile boxes ornaments.

[clutterwarrior]

Most of the ornaments I have bought never came in boxes, so I just store them firstly wrapped in bubble wrap, then in bags, then put these bags in a plastic storage container.

I do have a couple that came in nice boxes so I do keep the boxes, but if all my ornaments came in boxes I think it would take up too much room to store them all that way.

[hopefulfaith]

I have a bunch of Hallmark ornaments that all had boxes.  My mom's thing when we were growing up was to take us girls out shopping the day after Christmas when all of the Christmas stuff at Hallmark was marked down and buy ornaments for our future family trees.  When I married and we started putting up our own tree, I inherited hundreds of Hallmark ornaments, in boxes....

Much to my mom's horror, I finally threw away all of the boxes.  I figured I was never going to try to sell them to collectors or whatever and they were just for me to enjoy on our tree...and, WOW, was that LIBERATING. 

Last year, I bought the ornament boxes at Bed Bath & Beyond when they were discounted after the holidays, and I love them.  They're stackable, you can see what you have, they protect the fragile ones....

Now, all I have to do is "declutter" the ornaments I don't really care for and don't wind up on our tree year after year.  I'd like to get down to the ones I like and put up, and give away the rest.  Really, who needs 300 Christmas ornaments???

I vote to ditch the individual boxes and go with the organizing ones.  I'm happy I did.  :)

[ollyoxenfree]

An inexpensive solution for small ornaments is to use an egg carton. They protect well and stack nicely. The only problem is that most of my ornaments are too large or irregularly shaped to fit in the cavities. 

[ChristyMarie]

Originally Posted by hopefulfaith 

Really, who needs 300 Christmas ornaments???

Per tree?  ;-)

I don't think I ever want to count how many ornaments I have.  But, they ALL get used.

[ASusan]

Honestly? I was secretly happy when DS broke/destroyed 5 ornaments the night we put up the tree (our largest ever). And even though a couple of them were old (sentimental - ooooh, this one was mom's and grandmom's before that; this one was from the tree we had in grad school...), it was so liberating NOT to be attached/feel badly/try to salvage the ornament. Just tossed 'em.

And, of course, we had 7 new ones, so the net was +2 ornaments.

I still think I would not bother purchasing boxes specifically for ornament storage. I'd rather make do, but that's me.

[laurabfig]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree 

An inexpensive solution for small ornaments is to use an egg carton. They protect well and stack nicely. The only problem is that most of my ornaments are too large or irregularly shaped to fit in the cavities. 

This is a great idea- I have several little ones that I could ditch the boxes for and just use an egg carton.

My non-breakable ones just go into a couple of those christmas tins and into the big plastic bin of christmas stuff.  I'm determined to never get more christmas stuff than can fit into the big plastic tub we have in the attic!

[OkiMom]

Im planning on making felt pouches for each ornament, wrapping it in bubble wrap and then putting it in the bag. The bags will then be put into an ornament storage box. I know it sounds like a lot but we move ALOT (preparing to move back to the states from Japan YAY!) and the ornaments we have are special to me. 99% of them were either given to me or were my mothers, last move a bunch of them got broken (a few beyond repair) and I was upset over it. So, obviously they mean something to me. We do have a couple that came from family that I wouldn't mind parting with, those are the ones the kids are allowed to play with,bad I know but Id rather them play with those than the 50+ year old ornament that was my grandmas, then my moms then mine.

[NikonMama]

I just wrap each of our ornaments in one of the thick Viva paper towels and then lay them all together in box.  Arranging them to where there is little moving room between the ornaments keeps them from shifting around and breaking.  We have all of ours in a nice decorated box I got from the dollar store.  Our ornaments have lasted for years and we have never had one break. 

[Gray's Mommy]

The Viva paper towel idea is great! I am going to pick some up tomorrow & use those to layer the ornaments in. I am hoping to get everything in one box instead of two.

[e13lorena]

I have been wrapping my ornaments in newspaper for years. I think I finally switched everything to tissue paper the last couple years or so - place them in smaller boxes and can fit about 3 boxes in a large storage tote. One of the smaller boxes is actually a Roller Skate box that I got skates in years and years ago. I use the tissue paper that the stores wrap break-ables in when you buy them - just scrap paper and such or tissue paper from presents. I can get all my ornaments in one storage box.

I wrap all my other christmas decor stuff in tissue paper in another storage bin (same size) so the stack good. Then I have one for lights and garland and holiday towels, pot holders, placemats and one for stockings, hats, and non-breakable ornaments and decorations go in a cookie tin.

I always toss 9recycle) the orginal boxes - too much room for all of them and they always get ripped or squished when the kids tough them anyway.

Merry, Merry... undecorating...

Erin

[skreader]

I moved a fair amount when I was single, so I usually bought non-breakable ornaments (wood, metal, cloth). When I got married and had kids, I kept that up. A few years ago, I got a few breakable ones made out of porcelain, and I have one glass one. Those I wrap in newspaper& then put in a shoe-box. The rest go loose inside a plastic box which fits in the bottom of my daughter's wardrobe.

The wreath goes in a plastic bag (usually one from the supermarket). The tree-skirt & the X-mas hot-pads and the X-mas apron also provide padding for the X-mas platter and X-mas bowl.  I try to pack away the decorations on Epiphany  (January 6th).