3 Easy tips on how to take down Christmas decorations and make it easier for next year set up!

Personal/ Organization

I love decorating our cute little apartment for Christmas and how it makes our place feel so warm and homie. Once Christmas is done and January comes, it’s time to clean and all of the beautiful Christmas decorations get put away and stored until the next year. While I get excited for a clean start in January,  I hate having to put all of the pretty shiny things away. I dread the process of taking everything down every year and since I’ve never really had an organized system for taking things down and efficiently storing them, it creates a lot of frustration. This year I decided I needed to figure out a better way of packing my Christmas items away to protect those items and make it easier to assemble for next Christmas. So in this post I will be sharing those exact steps that I took in packing my items away this Christmas!

 TIP #1

Get storage bins specifically for your Christmas items!

I tried for so many years to just use random boxes or bins to contain all of my Christmas items. Many times not having specific boxes or storage bins to place items in made packing more frustrating, trying to fit items in and not crush anything. I so wish I would have taken a before and after for you to see the craziness of the closet beforehand! It was insane! I’m surprised my tree was not completely destroyed and trying to get the items out of the closet without everything falling on me was a miracle.

This year I got 3 bins to place all my Christmas items in.
I placed all of my greenery (3 long sections) from above the doorways in one storage bin to help keep them safe. As you pack the greenery, make sure that none of the pine cones or other additional items are stacked on top of each other- this will help them not get hurt.

The second bin I used for all of the ornaments. I have two Christmas trees in our apartment with different types of ornaments, so I packaged the ornaments in plastic bags based on color, and then placed them in the bin. I also put the beads and the fabric that I use on the Christmas tree in this bin too. No more searching boxes for the ornaments!!!

The third bin was used for all of the fun trinkets, sculptures, picture frames, small wreaths and small trees. I made sure to wrap the items really well with tissue paper, but i think i may use a newspaper next year to add more cushion. I tried to lay the heaviest pieces or biggest pieces on the bottom and then I placed the smaller items around the sides and top.

Don’t forget to label the top of the containers- Christmas and what items are contained.
(Also- I thought about this post after I had already packed everything away, so I don’t have a lot of pictures of the packing process- so sorry! )

 TIP #2

Place lights on the Christmas tree section by section. (only works with artificial trees 🙂 )

As far as the Christmas tree goes, I love putting it up and decorating it, but my least favorite part is putting on the lights. I get so frustrated going around the Christmas tree making sure I have the lights even and enough of them throughout the tree. But what really gets my blood boiling is taking the lights off of the tree when Christmas is over. Somehow every time I try taking the lights off of the tree, I find sections where the light cord is twisted up and it makes it so much harder to take apart. As I was putting the lights on the tree this year, I really thought about my method and decided to add lights to each section of the Christmas tree before placing the sections together.

I have actually never had a real Christmas tree. ( I know right?! So sad) Well growing up my mom was allergic to the pine scent, so my parents decided to just go artificial. So I’ve always had artificial trees and never really had that “pick your Christmas tree moment!” I am definitely looking forward to that moment in the future. Well anyways- since we have an artificial tree, I can take the sections apart and work on each section before building the tree. I started with the bottom section, placing it where I wanted the tree, and plugging the lights in to see all the lights as I wrapped the bottom largest section. As I got closer to the top, I added the next section on to start wrapping it. I still had a little more lights to use from the first section, so I tried to wrap just the bottom couple of limbs with the remaining lights. The same thing happened with the very last section, but because I only wrapped the lower part of each additional section, it made it super easy to take the three sections apart and keep the lights on. YASSS! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I strongly suggest adding lights to the Christmas tree like this… it was so much easier and less frustrating. AND the lights are still on the tree for next year!!!

TIP #3

Buy items you can reuse for other seasons or holidays.

This is a big one for us since we don’t have a lot of space in our little apartment to store items. Anytime I buy something new, I ask myself if i can reuse it for another occasion. This last Christmas I really wanted to decorate my table for Christmas, but in buying items I asked myself my question, “ Can I reuse these items for other occasions?” I decided to go with white plates with some cute pearl accents for the table decor. White dishes are so versatile- they go with everything, look beautiful and can be reused over and over again. I also bought some red sparkly napkins, knowing that I could use them for Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, and any other elegant dinner parties I wanted to throw. I can not wait to show you all how cute my Valentine’s Day table setting is!!! Stay tuned to see all the cuteness and how I reused some of the same items from Christmas!

Also this wreath is a wreath that can be hung all year long! Add different ribbons or take the ribbon off!

Hopefully these simple ideas will help you in the future as you take down your Christmas items.

Got any simple tricks or tips you can share?? Share below!

Here’s to staying organized and less frustrated- Erin Ruscel