Storage for Christmas decorations etc

[kaitlinktm]

After yet another year scrabbling about in an assortment of boxes and bags in the loft, I was just wondering what people recommend for storing baubles, other tree decorations, other non-tree decorations and the tree itself. Do you have a dedicated box for them, or just ordinary boxes - or have you got a better idea?

I still have the cardboard box for my tree but it won't last that much longer. I used to have one of those bags, but it ripped after what didn't seem very long.

My tree baubles are in ordinary big tupperware boxes, but I was wondering about getting something more like this:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CHRISTMAS-TREE-BAUBLES-DECORATION-XMAS-STORAGE-BOX-balls-store-bag-dividers-new/232616919937?hash=item36290c8381:g:Oc4AAOSwXaRaE0bh

or this:

www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk/home-storage/christmas-decoration-storage-box-large

Has anyone got any ideas/recommendations please?

I have a motley collection of:
couple of suitcases bought for the decorations, layers of bubble wrap between the delicates

the fir swags go in binliners with sticky labels (so they don't get thrown out )

Space saver bags for anything else (just squish a bit of air out of anything non fabric )

We got two 84 litre Really Useful boxes which have proven to be perfect for the job!

We have about 3 quite big clear really useful boxes that stack on each other. I have been putting the decorations into carrier bags based on their colour and then in the spaces around these bags I put other christmas items like CDs, tags, ribbons.

I also have two wrapping paper storage bags like this

wrapping papers

I have a couple of the bauble storage cubes like the one in your first link. I bought them in home bargains and I’m fairly sure they were a lot cheaper than the one in the link.
I use shoe boxes lined with tissue paper for the wooden decorations.
I then put all the boxes including the box of lights in one large cardboard box.
We still have the original box for the tree which is over 20 years old. It always looks like it’s on its last legs but every year I tape it up with parcel tape to hold it closed and it’s fine.

Thanks everyone for your replies!

Glad there is hope for my tree box Chopchop! I have got a few boxes and have just spent this afternoon being ruthless with the tree decs - and I actually found a couple I thought I had lost. This is because they are all wrapped in paper napkins in a big tupperware box and I must have missed them. Some really tatty ones have been binned and others not quite so bad have been donated to my Dad's church.

I have a wrapping paper bag similar to yours Stealth and this year I am definitely going to remember to keep it out of the loft so that I can wrap presents up a bit earlier than I did this year - ditto with cards!

I thought that by the time I got into my 60s I would have this Christmas malarkey sussed, but apparently not. Pleased I have found this section of MN though.

I've got four really useful boxes with lids.

One has my wreaths and swags

One has my mantle decorations.

One has my baubles and lights for my dining room tree.

One has my baubles and lights for my lounge tree.

All my baubles are packed into empty sweet tubs and ice cream tubs inside the useful boxes.

Trees are in a tree bag. Everything is labelled and stacked on shelves in the garage.

Wrapping paper rolls are in a drawer in the kitchen with my tablecloths, tree skirts and the DC's stockings.

My paperwork is a chaotic mess but Christmas is organised

My secret......

Every year I go to the local garden centre Christmas sale on day after Boxing Day.

They have all the boxes behind the till that the large baubles arrived in and are now empty.

I always ask if I can put my few breakables in a box and in doing so, I get a proper storage box with secure segments and lid, designed for glass baubles.

I now have 5 that hold 16 each.

It seems a bit cheeky, but they are for customers to take away baubles.

I have a plastic decoration box for my special ones. The rest go in carrier bags, and they all go in one big strong cardboard box.

Leave the decorations on the tree and collapse it ready trimmed. This was my mother with her work tree.

I only have a smallish tree so the its kept in the original box which i then slide under the bed.
I never really bothered decorating when i left home as i spent most of christmas at my parents anyway so my baubles are in the original box they came in, just one of those sets with different baubles in matching colours. I always look at the pretty delicate baubles around christmas but storage is the main reason i resist buying them!
My wrapping paper goes into the broom cupboard in the laundry. I had some wire (picture wire i think) laying around and pinned it across the back of the cupboard, wrapping paper gets slid in between wire and back of cupboard. Can fit about 10 rolls without it taking up too much room, although i usually only have a couple of xmas and a couple of birthday rolls at a time

I just take the angel off the top, throw a sheet over the tree & push it into the understairs cupboard.
It always comes out with the lower branches a little squashed, but it's so much easier than the million & ten boxes of bits of tree, lights, baubles etc... I used to have & doesn't actually take up that much more space.
All the rest of the decorations go into a couple of big plastic lidded boxes I picked up in Wilkos.

Egg cartons are really good for storing ornaments of the right size.

I use 4 large Ikea plastic tubs (probably similar to the really useful boxes) and a couple of large bauble boxes from a local department store (each has 2 layers holding 24 in each layer). So my delicate baubles go in those 2 boxes, and then I have a few things in smaller boxes in the large tubs.

1 tub holds lights (a few sets), the tree stand and the tree topper.

1 tub holds the small boxes of long dangly baubles, a couple of heirloom ones in their original boxes, our nutcracker collection, and tubes of different coloured plain balls. And some strings of tinsel (mainly for DD to play with rather than the tree).

the 3rd tub holds my Christmas themed crockery (I have a few mugs, a plastic set of bowl, plate and glass for DD, and a small cream jug, and a couple of serving dishes for dips etc) and about 4 hand towels that come out for the couple of weeks as well. And DD's stocking.

The 4th tub comes out in early December so that has the books, DVDs, CDs (we have some Rat pack, choral music, Christmas party classics, and seasonal classical music), DD's duvet set, her advent calendar, and festive fleece blanket.

They do take up a bit of space - but it means they are all safely stowed away and stacked up and I can find what I need at the right time.

BiddyPop that sounds so organised, what with crockery and a duvet set!

Really Useful boxes here as well, some with dividers in them for delicate things, and a special long thin really useful box especially for the tree.

Tree goes in tatty box, held together with gaffer and cable ties.
Breakable baubles go in a shoe box, wrapped in bubblewrap, or in original boxes.
Non-breakable baubles go in another shoe box.
Lights go in a plastic box and other stuff (festive bunting, paperchains etc) go in a bag.
All of these, except tree, fit into a big Home Bargains storeage bag which is hauled into the loft by a sweary me, inevitably declaring that "I'll sort this lot out properly next year".

Advent calendars go in a bag under the stairs as they're needed before the other stuff.

We used to store our tree in its box, but when we bought a new one a couple of years ago, we also bought two Christmas tree bags - much easier for dh to get it into the loft than a huge box. Last year we bought a storage box for the decorations. It's plastic, but not rigid. It came with cardboard separators which mean it can hold up to 60 large individual baubles. We have a large tree (7'6") and have a decoration on virtually every branch, so have many decorations, collected over almost 40 years. Most of them are not actual balls, and they range from tiny to large. We manage to fit everything from the tree into the box - small items are packed with similar sized things in the same compartment and the top layer is full of those decorations that are packed in individual boxes. The lights and tree skirt go in the tree bags and the decorations for the rest of the house go into a box which we used when we moved house. It's very sturdy but old now, so we are considering buying another bauble box or two to replace it. The bauble box is translucent, so it's quite easy to see that it has Christmas things in and means we don't have to wear h through loads of bad and boxes in the loft.

(Disclaimer - we love Christmas in our house, DD's birthday is on Boxing Day, and our collection has been gathered over many many years, lots are relatively cheap, but things that get re-used every year).

I am hoping though, that we may eventually get rid of some of the very young DVDs (cartoons for younger DCs), and the collection of Mr Men Christmas themed books. But I am not allowed to think about that yet.....

I have one large red /green box which holds all the tree decs. Like woolly I pack mine into sweet tins. Discovered more go into Quality Street tins and wrap some in bubble wrap individually. I put baubles in one, glass in another etc. it takes awhile but I have only ever unwrapped broken ones when DH has put them away😤 the tins all stack on top of each other and two Roses ones slide down the side. Then swags go in Really Useful Boxes and anything else in another. They all go up the loft. We have a real tree which goes out for the birds to shelter in. Even cut ones offer protection for the winter then we cut it up and use the wood on the log burner. Christmas crockery goes in the 2 Really Useful boxes under my bed. I don't trust DH with it.
I like the idea of the bauble boxes but we get mice in the loft ( country) so I need the RU Boxes too.

Really useful boxes, one for each room so a box with just kitchen bits, one living room, one outdoor etc. That way I can decorate one room at a time and it's all there. Oh and baubles left on the tree but I do go around wrapping bits of bubble wrap on the baubles before I box it all up.