Q: Can you write about how you store all of your Christmas decorations? Since you rotate ornaments every year and have a large tree plus a smaller tabletop tree, along with exterior decor and mantel items, I’m curious how much space it all occupies. I have an attic similar to yours, which I suspect is where you keep yours, but I don’t have a system so it feels chaotic. Any tips to get mine under control? Thanks! – Meghan
A: We get this question a lot, so you’re not alone, Meghan. We store our holiday decorations in about a 6-foot by 5-foot footprint in the attic. Our attic is larger than that, but everything shown in the photos below fits within that compact area. We stack bins and containers efficiently, and we label each one so it’s easy to find what we need each year.
Our basic rule is to store like with like. That means all lights, plugs, cords, and window candles live in one bin; tabletop decorations are grouped together in matching bins; garlands and mantel items go in another area. Keeping similar items together prevents random shoving and makes it quick to grab everything you need when decorating.
Here’s how we pack up the big dining room tree. We remove all ornaments and place them in long, shallow plastic bins. We also keep a second bin in the attic for ornaments that are out of rotation this year. Some pieces are rotated regularly—white and silver ornaments, for example, show up on several different trees over the years—while others are set aside until we want to use them again.
Those shallow bins are only about five inches deep, so they stack easily without taking much floor space. For priceless or especially fragile ornaments we wrap them in newspaper or tissue before packing, but most ornaments simply lay flat in the bin. After more than five years of using this method, we’ve never had an ornament break in storage or transport. Part of that success comes from the fact we handle the bins carefully—storing them once a year and retrieving them carefully the next—rather than tossing them around or moving them frequently.
Now for the tabletop tree: we use the same idea on a smaller scale. The mixed, special ornaments for that tree go into a compact Tupperware bin. Delicate items get additional padding, but most simply nestle into the container. Keeping ornaments for the small tree in a container sized appropriately to the tree helps prevent clutter. If we find ornaments that won’t fit or that we no longer love, we either donate, pass them along, sell them, or relocate them to the larger tree’s bins if they might work there.
Tabletop and mantel décor follows the same principles. Freestanding items like wooden reindeer or feather trees don’t need individual bags, but many smaller items do. We group like items in large zip-top bags with a simple label indicating where they belong, then drop the bags into larger bins. For example, ornaments and accents that belong on a kitchen cake stand, a console lamp, or the mantel each get bagged and labeled before being stored together.
Those labeled bags slip into the green tabletop bins alongside the freestanding pieces. Keeping all tabletop and mantel items together makes decoration day straightforward and prevents rummaging through unrelated boxes. It’s an intuitive system that saves time and preserves the decorations.
So that’s our process for storing holiday decorations: group like items, use appropriately sized shallow bins for ornaments, label everything, and protect the most fragile pieces. This approach keeps our attic footprint small and makes decorating each year much easier. How do you store your ornaments—do you prefer plastic bins, original boxes, or cardboard dividers? There are lots of effective methods, so pick what fits your space and gives you peace of mind.
Update: We also keep a running list of favorite holiday decor items we enjoy using—many affordable picks that we return to year after year.