It’s that time of year again when we have to embark on the tedious and somewhat mournful task of taking the Christmas decorations down. Our houses will once again become bare and bereft of glitter, baubles and all things magical. However it needn’t be as gloomy as it sounds, having the right packaging and storage for your beloved decorations could brighten up the chore just much as all those fairy lights and tinsel brightened up your house.
Being packaging experts here at Britwrap we thought we’d compile some top packaging and storage tips to help you with the task.
Firstly, we recommend clearing a bit of space for sorting your decorations so you can create orderly piles of baubles, lights, fragile items etc. We then suggest gathering some equipment to help you glide through the job stress free, here’s our list –
- Packing Tape
- Scissors or Tape Dispenser
- Heavy Duty Boxes
- Wrapping Tissue
- Labels
- Heavy Duty Bags
- Original Decoration Packaging
THE TREE
- So you’re ready to begin, we recommend starting with the Christmas tree. Any delicate or fragile items should be removed first and sorted. Wrap them carefully in either wrapping tissue or wrapping news paper, empty egg boxes also provide great protection for glass baubles or ornaments. Our advice would be to store these items in a double walled cardboard box for extra protection, then add any labels or inventories, depending on how organised you want be, and seal with fragile tape.
- Next begin to take the non fragile decorations off the tree and sort into piles. Sandwich bags are great for storing smaller decorations in, as for the bigger ones you may want to store them clear plastic bags and label accordingly. Instead of storing all these bit and bobs in a cardboard box why not try a heavy duty bag with handles, they’re great for storage and the handles make carrying a lot easier.
- Now it’s time to deal with the dreaded lights, our answer to this is cable ties. Simply take the lights off the tree, wrap them around your hand and secure the circle/ring you’ve made in three places with the cable ties, pop them in a strong plastic bag and voila you’re done. Cable ties are inexpensive and it’s a guaranteed way to prevent tangling. For additional cushioning add some void fill paper to the box or bag you store your lights in.
- Once your tree is cleared of all its trimmings you can begin to dissemble. Most people tend to put their tree back into it’s original packaging, however those boxes do tend to suffer from wear and tear quite easily. Why not try our heavy duty carpet storage bags? They double up as excellent bags for storing Christmas trees and can be easily secured with cable ties, allowing air to circulate during storage. Alternatively you could invest in some cut to size layflat tubing (see here).
GENERAL CHRISTMAS STORAGE
Gift Wrap – Gather all of your leftover tags, cellotape, bows, paper and cards together and store them in a separate packaging box or bag to your decorations – you never know when you may need them!
Wreaths – Use a spacious storage bag to store your wreath, this will help to preserve its shape. You may want to add light void fill paper to give some extra protection.
Battery Operated Decorations – It’s important to remove any batteries from your decorations when you put them into storage. Firstly it will prolong battery life and secondly batteries can leak especially when kept in cold climates i.e. in a garage. It would be a crime if your singing Santa and reindeer fell victim to a leaking battery.
Christmas Linen – Store Christmas linen such as blankets, pillows, table cloths etc in a breathable storage sack. One with a drawstring closure is ideal, as it will protect contents from dust and dirt.
Pictures, Ornaments, Candles etc – It’s best to use either bubble wrap or tissue wrap for these items and like the fragile Christmas tree decorations store them in a double walled cardboard box.
Finally, you may want to make a little list of all decorations you have stored and ones you have had to ditch because they haven’t survived the festive fun. Doing this will ensure no duplicate buys once Christmas 2017 comes around and you’ll know exactly what replacements you need to buy.
And that’s it you’re done, all thats left to do now is store it all somewhere cool and dry and start counting down the days till next Christmas…
