Happy New Year! I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year! We had a small celebration at my parents house and had a blast. It's always so nice to bring in the new year with family and friends.

Now that 2018 is here, this is when I actually start taking down all of the Christmas decorations down. Right after Christmas, I try to do a quick sweep of the house and take down all the decor that is easiest but after we bring in the new year is when I really start to take all of the decor down and prepare it to be stored away for next season. 

I used to get very overwhelmed by this process because it seemed like A LOT of work to do in just one day. But I think I have finally created a process that works and believe it or not, I DON'T spend an entire day doing it. Read on if you want to learn my tricks!

Gather all of your Christmas decor in one Location

I usually use our dining room table because it's a spot where I have the most surface space that won't interrupt anyone else's routine (which is why I don't use our kitchen counters). I start in one room and remove ALL of the decorations bringing them back into the dining table. At this point, I also begin to put like items together so that when the time comes to begin packing, all my like items will all ready be in the same spot.

Purge

Yep. You read that right! I have so little storage space that I make it a point to look through my decorations and decide if it's something that I'm no longer loving. I either decide if I'm going to keep, donate, or throw away. Since I've kinda just started my Christmas decoration collection, I don't tend to have a lot that I'm getting rid of, but I always seem to have one or two items that I decide to pass on.

Move on to the next room and follow steps one and two from above.

I continue to follow the above two steps all throughout my home to ensure I've collected everything holiday related. My dining by this point begins to look a little cluttered which is great motivator for me to get this all cleared out and put away. 

Large Bins

Since we store our Christmas decor in the attic, we use large plastic bins like these to help us keep everything clean and safely stored away. I like to use clear ones because it allows me to quickly see what's inside without having to rummage through the box. I try to put as much decor as I safely can in these boxes.  If there are any smaller items that need to go in these boxes, I save all my little one's shoe boxes and use them to keep smaller items safe. For less delicate items, I use zip lock bags to make sure I keep them together and make it easier for me when I start decorating for Christmas next season!

Tissue Paper

I use tissue paper from the dollar store and wrap anything that is fragile or has small parts that may come undone. Also, anything with glitter I also wrap in tissue paper to prevent the glitter from getting on everything! If you have something that is extra fragile, I use stuff like my stockings to wrap the item with so that it provides some extra padding.

Invest in a good Wreath Storage Container

If you've ever purchased a wreath, you know that they can get quite pricey. So I like to make sure that I protect mine by storing them in a wreath plastic container. I make sure to get the plastic containers rather than the cloth ones because this gives me the piece of mind that if someone places something on top of them, they will still be protected. As I mentioned, we store our Christmas decorations in the attic, so we have to be smart with how we store our decor. I usually have two of those containers because I also tend to store the wreaths that I DIY in here. It's such a great way to keep things nice, clean, and most of all protected so they are ready to be used next season!

Tree Storage Container

Living in sunny Florida, storing our faux Christmas tree in the cardboard box it came in is out of the question. (The cardboard box attracts all kinds of critters) so we have invested in a tree storage container like this one. The good thing about having one of these is that I can also typically store any outdoor lights along the sides of the tree. Yay for multiple uses!

Delicate Ornament Organizers

Since I have a young baby at home, most of our ornaments are plastic, but we do have a few ornaments here and there that are made out of glass. I like to make sure I keep these safe by storing them in a ornament organizer like this one from Target. These boxed are great because they come with dividers inside so it protects the ornaments on all four sides. 

How do you organize your holiday decor? Leave me a comment below, I would love to hear from you!