7 Christmas Ornament Storage Ideas To Help You This Holiday Season

Are you tired of your cluttered, tangled mess of Christmas ornaments? If you’re searching for practical Christmas ornament storage solutions, these tips will transform your jumble into an organized system where every precious, memory-filled ornament is protected!

I always find myself feeling conflicting emotions when it’s time to put the Christmas decorations away. On the one hand, we have enjoyed having our house overrun with a festive holiday spirit. But, on the other hand, even though it feels a little sad to put them away, it feels good to get the house back to normal.

For the longest time, I didn’t organize my Christmas ornaments and other decorations very well. So then, when I would go to decorate the tree, I would find them in a tangled mess so bad that Houdini himself wouldn’t be able to straighten it all out.

Something had to change, so I started organizing my Christmas ornament storage!

That not only made the task of hauling them out more accessible, but it also had the unexpected benefit of protecting my memory-filled delicate and odd-shaped ornaments from damage.

If you search for “Christmas ornament storage,” you’ll find many results showing different types of Christmas ornament storage containers. Yes, containers are essential, but I find practical solutions to be even more helpful!

7 Christmas Ornament Storage Solutions You Can’t Live Without

Here are my top Christmas ornament storage tips and tricks to keep ALL your baubles, ornaments, and knick-knacks safe and sound and ready to display on the tree again next year.

Clear Plastic Christmas Ornament Storage Box

I DID mention that storage containers are essential, right? I remember the year that dampness got into my stored Christmas decorations and ruined some of my favorite homemade ornaments and decorations.

Ever since then, I have used clear plastic bins because there are so many benefits: 

• The plastic keeps the critters out (make sure you use tight-fitting lids!)
• I can see through the clear plastic to know what’s inside
• The sealed plastic container keeps moisture out
• Save on storage space because the bins are stackable

It may seem like an unwanted upfront investment to buy several of them, but it’s worth that amount of money many times over. Trust me.

Add Dividers To Your Christmas Storage Container

If you need to purchase plastic bins to store your ornaments, make sure you get ones that already have dividers in them. If you already have containers that don’t have divisions, you can quickly create your own with cardboard or paperboard.

The dividers are great for both organizing and protecting your ornaments!

You can put larger ones in their cubbies and fit two smaller ones in the same cubby. Plus, the dividers act as a little bit of padding to keep your ornaments from shifting around too much or bumping into each other and breaking.

Those benefits are enough to use dividers on their own. But, my favorite part about using walls with my Christmas ornament storage is how easy it makes pulling them out AND putting them away!

Wrap Especially Fragile Ornaments

The clear plastic container and dividers will be enough to protect most ornaments. But what do you do with very fragile ornaments? 

I recommend wrapping them in tissue paper (or newspaper) and storing them in your bin with dividers.

Organize By Color

If you’re like me, you’ll organize by color! I like to keep ornaments and knick-knacks I display around the house separate from the ones I put on the tree. This makes it easier for me to find what I want and put it out where I like it.

Now, not everyone will need to organize by color. But if you like to decorate your tree all gold one year, a different color the next, and so on, it helps to dedicate different clear bins to other colors. Then, no matter what color you want to dazzle your tree in, you can pull it out quickly.

Keep Homemade Ornaments In Their Own Small Bin

Those handmade ornaments kids make at school (or with grandparents) are often odd-shaped but need to stay flat. So I have a small clear plastic bin dedicated solely to handmade ornaments that won’t fit anywhere else.

They usually stack pretty well, so I can fit all of ours into a small bin.

Use A Special Box For Very Long Ornaments

If you have very long ornaments such as icicles or other long glass ornaments, you know just how hard it is to keep them safe as you store them. Well, now I have a super easy tip that will make it so much easier!

Go to your local liquor store and ask for a wine box. They come with dividers and are just the right height to hold even the longest of ornaments! However, those long glass ornaments are fragile, so make sure you wrap them in paper before putting them in the box.

Store Ribbon With Your Ornaments

If you like to decorate with ribbon, I recommend adding your same-colored ribbon to the bin of ornaments with the corresponding color. For example, store your gold ribbon with your gold ornaments. This simple practice will go a long way toward keeping you organized!

+ One Bonus Tip! Christmas Light Storage Solution

Wrap your twinkle lights around an 8×8 piece of cardboard. This prevents the lights from tangling and allows you to stack your lights easily instead of tossing them in a bin. If you ever spent half a day untangling lights from a quick holiday take down – this is the trick for you.

This tip also works for larger outdoor lights. Use a larger piece of cardboard.

Christmas Ornament Storage FAQs

Here are some answers to questions I frequently see from readers about storing Christmas ornaments.

Is it OK to store Christmas decorations in the garage?

Due to the more significant temperature variation and moisture levels, I do NOT recommend storing Christmas ornaments in the garage or a storage shed. Instead, stack the Christmas ornament storage containers in a basement or spare closet.

How do you store expensive ornaments?

As a general rule of thumb, I prefer to get rid of individual ornament packages and consolidate all my ornaments into larger bins to keep them organized. However, costly ornaments are my exception to the rule. 

When it comes to storing expensive ornaments, I like to keep them in the boxes they come in. Those boxes are specifically designed to protect those fragile ornaments. Just be gentle with the boxes, so they stay in good shape for a long time!

Should I remove batteries from Christmas ornaments?

When you leave batteries in ornaments and then store them, you can end up draining them so that when you display your decorations, the batteries are dead. I recommend taking the batteries out and storing them in a plastic baggie or small plastic container with your ornaments. 

Another benefit of this simple practice is that it will prevent corrosion.

I hope these tips and tricks for adequate Christmas ornament storage helps you take your jumbled mess or decorations and sort it out into an organized system that keeps those ornaments looking brand new for years to come!

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