How to Pack Away Christmas Ornaments

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Learn how to pack away Christmas Ornaments. I’m sharing my favorite organizers and tips in this post. No broken ornaments to date with this method!


As someone who is obsessed with organizing and decluttering, I actually get a little giddy when it’s time to take down the Christmas decorations and pack them away.

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I put on some music, get my Christmas Storage boxes back out, and just organize my heart out for the next couple of hours.

By the way, when do you take down your ornaments? I’m usually beyond ready by the time Christmas is over to get my house back to normal! I start to feel like the walls are caving in on me by New Year’s.

Anyone else with me on that??

How to put away christmas ornaments

how to pack away christmas ornaments

I wanted to share how I pack away Christmas Ornaments. Not a broken ornament to date!

use Ornament Storage Boxes

Find out how to Pack Away those Christmas Ornaments properly.  #organizationtips #organization #storageideas #organizationideas
Find out how to Pack Away those Christmas Ornaments properly.  #organizationtips #organization #storageideas #organizationideas

In years past, I tried to get away with just a plastic tub and some tissue paper but frankly, it was a jumbled holiday mess in there.

It was like an archaeological site – I was just digging and digging through the tissue paper to find those precious ornaments.

So I went ahead and purchased an actual ornament storage box a few years back. And let me tell you. It’s the best thing I could have done for these precious ornaments of ours.

I’ve seen these ornament storage boxes everywhere, from Walmart to Target. They make a huge difference so it’s well worth it to get one!

350 - Decor Hint

I love that this ornament box is not heavy. It’s made of canvas material that keeps it lighter, but it’s still very sturdy. The handles on each side make it very easy to carry.

How to put away christmas ornaments

This ornament box comes with a set of cardboard dividers which make it very easy to wrap each ornament and place it in its own little cardboard square.

I occasionally put more than one ornament in each square, as long as I feel they won’t break each other being together like that.

wrap ornaments in tissue paper

I wrap each ornament carefully in a bunch of tissue paper or bubble wrap or you could even use soft cloths or batting. Anything soft that will give those ornaments some protection in the box will work.

You can reuse the same tissue paper year after year too. If the ornament is really fragile, like salt dough ornaments or old ceramic ornaments, I stuff a little tissue paper around the sides as it lays in the cardboard square. I do this with each ornament until one whole divider is filled with ornaments. The really fragile ornaments get their own special square!

Then, I lay a piece of sturdy cardboard on top of that layer (this cardboard piece also comes with the ornament storage box) and lay a new divider layer on top of that to start again. The process keeps going until I reach the top. Make sure it’s not overfilled and that the top will still fit properly.

I do feel the squares are generously sized, but honestly, not all of my ornaments fit in each square. Some are too big or long. In which case, I make larger slots out of the cardboard dividers (rectangle shapes or big squares). All you have to do is take away a section of the cardboard divider and you have a much bigger space to work with.

Ornament storage holder
Christmas Ornaments
Find out how to Pack Away those Christmas Ornaments properly.  #organizationtips #organization #storageideas #organizationideas
How to put away christmas ornaments

how to store Christmas balls

I have a number of glittered and shiny Christmas balls that I use every year. Any Christmas Ornament balls that don’t make it on the tree get donated away. If I’m not going to use it, why store it? And I do this with our other ornaments as well, as long as they are not too sentimental.

To store Christmas balls; I use your standard plastic tub with a lid to store these ornaments. NOTE: My Christmas balls are the plastic unbreakable kind!  

If I had the glass or ceramic ones, I would use an organizer with dividers made for storing Christmas balls.

I also throw my very large wooden snowflakes in this bin and my candy cane ornaments. These are not fragile items, but they are really big and too clunky to fit into the ornament storage box.

Storage Bin for Christmas Balls
Storage Bin for Christmas Ornaments
Empty Tree Christmas
Our empty tree!

And that’s it! My ornaments are safely packed away every year. And when Christmas rolls around again, it’s a joy to get those boxes out and unwrap each ornament again.

I think part of the key to organization is keeping your ornament stash manageable, which is why I am a fan of donating away whatever ornaments you don’t seem to use year after year.

How do you guys pack away your Christmas ornaments?

xo Karen

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