Q: Can you post about how you store all of your Christmas decorations? Since you rotate the ornaments on your tree each year and have a large tree and a smaller tabletop one as well as exterior decor and mantel stuff I wondered how much space it all takes up. I have an attic like you, which I think is where you store yours, but I don’t really have a system so it feels chaotic. Any tips for getting mine under control? Thanks! – Meghan
A: We get this question a lot, so you’re definitely not alone, Meghan. We store all of our holiday decorations in roughly a 6-foot by 5-foot footprint in the attic. Our attic is larger than that, but the stacked bins and boxes in the photo take up about that much space. Everything is stacked and labeled so it’s easy to find later.
Our guiding principle is “like with like.” We keep cords and plugs and window candles together in one bin, tabletop pieces in matching bins, mantel items in another set, and so on. Grouping items by function makes retrieval simple and avoids the chaos of random bits scattered across multiple containers.
Here’s how we pack up our large dining-room tree. We remove the ornaments and place them in long, shallow plastic bins. We keep a second identical bin in the attic for ornaments that are out of rotation this year (for example, themed pieces we don’t always use). Many ornaments do get reused year after year — classic white, silver, and soft-pink pieces often make repeat appearances — so having everything separated by set helps when decorating the next season.
Because those bins are only about 5″ deep, they stack easily without taking up much floor space. For cherished, fragile ornaments we wrap them in newspaper before packing, but most of our pieces are sturdy enough to be laid in the bin without individual dividers. After more than five years of using shallow plastic bins, we haven’t broken a single ornament in storage or in transport. We treat the bins carefully when storing and retrieving them from the attic, which helps prevent damage. If items were to be shaken or moved frequently, we’d add extra padding.
For the small tabletop tree we follow the same idea but on a smaller scale. Special mixed-and-matched ornaments go into a smaller Tupperware bin. The most delicate pieces get wrapped; the rest nestle in together. Using a container that matches the scale of the tree helps avoid over-collecting ornaments that could never fit on it. Items we no longer love are donated, sold, or passed along, while ones we might reuse on the full-size tree are moved to the larger bins.
Tabletop and mantel decorations are stored together as well. Freestanding items such as wooden reindeer or feather trees don’t always need extra wrapping; they’re placed directly into bins or shelved. Smaller loose items are grouped in large zip-top bags, labeled with where they belong (for example, “kitchen cake stand ornaments” or “console lamp decor”), and then placed into the matching green bins. This keeps small pieces from getting lost and makes it easy to pull together a display.
In short: group items by where they’re used, use shallow stackable bins for ornaments, keep a small dedicated container for your tabletop tree, and put small items into labeled bags before dropping them into larger bins. This approach saves space, reduces clutter, and makes decorating each year faster and less stressful.
How do you store your ornaments? Do you use plastic bins, original boxes, or cardboard dividers? There are lots of systems that work — share what’s worked for you.
Update: You can see our favorite holiday decor finds in our shop page for more inspiration.