DIY Holiday Decoration Storage Ideas

These storage hacks will make storing holiday decorations a (winter) breeze.

Stop – take a deep breath – the holiday rush is officially over. Now that the guests have gone home, the dishes are done, and you’ve had your fill (or chosen not to have your fill) of fruitcake, it’s time to take down and store your holiday decorations. Before you release an exhausted sigh and retreat to the couch with your box of leftover holiday chocolates, here are some simple storage ideas to make breaking down holiday decorations easy – and reassembly next year even easier!

Ornaments

If you managed to keep your ornaments safe from swarms of excited children rushing the christmas tree in search of gifts, you definitely want to keep them safe during the transition from the living room to the storage area. Empty egg carton containers make perfect DIY storage boxes. Just place the ornaments where the eggs usually sit, close the box, and place the box in a storage container with the rest of your decorations. If you don’t have any empty egg cartons, try using some of your leftover plastic cups to make this Plastic Cup And Cardboard Storage Container.

Garland

Whether you hand-string beads and pom poms, or you purchase a strand at your local department store, you don’t want your garland efforts to go to waste due to haphazard storage systems. That’s why using leftover plastic water bottles, like this Bottled Bead Garland Container, is the perfect way to store holiday garland. Just insert one end of the garland into the bottle, and slowly drop the rest of the strand into the bottle, leaving the end of the strand at the top of the container so that you can easily pull it back out next year.

Lights

One of our fondest holiday memories is of mom yelling “Well, we just won’t have Christmas this year!” as she unhappily attempts to detangle a string of holiday lights. Save yourself the holiday hassle by using an empty paper towel roll, panel of cardboard or clothing hanger to store your lights. Just start by wrapping one end of the lights around the object and don’t stop until the entire string is securely wound around your makeshift holiday light holder.

Wrapping Paper

Although grandpa always advised us to “save the wrapping paper!” the festive wrapping doesn’t look quite the same after spending a year in basement storage. To keep your wrapping paper looking fresh through the seasons, try this Cup Hooks And Dowels Wrapping Paper Hanger, or this Plastic Garment Bag Wrapping Paper Holder.

How do you store your holiday decorations? Do you save used wrapping paper? Tell us about it in a comment!

How To Cover Your Basement Cracks With Decorations

Vertical, horizontal or diagonal cracks in your basement walls are warning signs of weak foundation walls. One of the best ways to ignore signs of serious structural damage is to cover your basement cracks with holiday decorations.
Now, we recognize that you can’t sacrifice your favorite holiday decorations to your basement, so here’s how to hide your basement cracks with all those old and damaged decorations that you can’t put outside, but don’t have the heart to throw away.

The Broken Reindeer

Grandpa’s wooden reindeer sat next to the Christmas tree and watched over the presents every year since you can remember. And every year, the reindeer’s role as guardian of the gifts took a bigger toll on its little wooden body. First with a lost eye, then with a broken ear, now the three-legged, one eyed reindeer sits, almost unrecognizably, in your basement. You can’t put it outside because it will frighten the neighborhood children, but you don’t want to part with grandpa’s memory. Well, your broken reinder is the perfect decoration to help hide your foundation wall woes. Just prop its mangled body against the base of the crack. You’ll be so happy about rekindling old holiday memories that you won’t even notice that the structure of your home is crumbling.

The Half-Lit String Of Lights

Any seasoned holiday decorator knows that there will be at least one string of lights that doesn’t make it through the season. Never fear, you have the perfect reason not to throw away a string of half-working lights. Just place the strand of lights along the cracks in your wall. Your basement will be so illuminated with holiday cheer, you’ll forget that the safety of your home may be in jeopardy.

The Left Over Gift Bows

How many times did Aunt Pam urge you to save the bows for next year? (But they don’t stick anymore, Aunt Pam! Darn it, they don’t stick!) Well, you may finally have a use for those adhesive-less gift toppers. Just grab a roll of tape from your stash of gift wrap and tape the bundles of ribbon over the remaining cracks in your wall. How can you focus on the concerns of a structurally unsound home when your basement walls look like a giant holiday gift?

Do It The Right Way

Decorations may brighten your home, but what really makes your home special for the holidays is the safety that it provides you and your family. Cracked or bowed foundation walls can threaten the structural security of your home. Let us cover your cracks this holiday season, the easy and effective way, with Keystone Basement System’s Carbon Fiber Straps. You’ll feel so secure in your home, you won’t even notice when Aunt Susie brings over a puppy as a family holiday gift.