Keeping Christmas: Elf-Storage … sorry … Self-Storage for Christmas Decorations

Feeling Festive?

Ebenezer Scrooge once said; “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” 

He didn’t say where he’d keep it though.

Long gone are the days of the tea chest in the attic full of tinsel and shiny ceiling chains. These days, we’re more likely to rock around a couple of artificial, fully-lit-and-decorated Christmas trees, along with enough indoor and outdoor lights to drain the national grid. Not to mention the full-size Santas, sleighs, reindeer, nativity scenes, snowmen and penguins. ‘Tis the season, after all! 

This Christmas, chances are you’ve decked the halls with all things shiny and sparkly. Whether tasteful or tacky, new or nostalgia-filled, it’s great to see all those baubles, garlands, wreaths and bells-and-whistles again – even if it’s just for a month or so. And your Christmas decorations work hard, so they deserve a good eleven(ish) months of peaceful hibernation. Where better to tuck them all into bed than a self-storage unit?

Home ‘til the Holidays

Christmas decorations are …well… not for life – they’re just for Christmas.  

Imagine how nice a year spent Home Alone without all of those untidy trimmings would feel in your house or apartment? A self-storage unit will guarantee that you don’t have to tussle with tinsel or battle a blow-up St Nick every time you go into the garage or attic. Plus, if you store everything like a pro, you’ll rest easy all year round knowing that your festive fal-lallery (which is actually worth quite a bit in financial and sentimental terms when you add it all up) is safe and snug.

Not Just For Nativities and Nutcrackers

The Christmas season is very much about stuff. So even when you’ve spruced up your home with all your decorations, your self-storage unit can still step into Christmas:

• Secret Santa: Combat that Christmas Curiosity by stashing special gifts of all sizes safely in your self-storage unit in the build-up to the big day. From bikes to Barbies, racecars to those telltale receipts – there’s no chance of discovery if everything’s under lock and key.
• Clearing Clutter: Putting an advent clearout on your calendar can make sure all is calm until things get back to New Year normal. Store the items you don’t need over Christmas in your unit and make more space for games, toys, family and friends. 
• Space, The Final Frontier: Christmas brings visitors so unless you like topping-and-tailing with the rellies á la Charlie Buckets’ Grandparents, clearing some space for a camp-bed or two is a good idea. Storage units are the solution for stowing your home desk or those side tables so you can squeeze in another couple of loved ones. 
• See also: 
  • Delicate items: keep your record decks safe from budding DJ, Cian – age five.
  • The Good Treats: After all, you might get snacky when you have to just ‘pop out’ and check you’ve locked up properly …

Top (Frosted) Tips for Storing Your Christmas Decorations.

So, you know how every year you untangle the lights in December? And you swear that, come January,  you’re going to *bleep* store them  *bleep* properly next *bleeping* year so you don’t have to … you get the (snow) drift. 

Booking your self-storage unit is a fantastic New Year’s resolution and your chance for a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Yet-To-Come to tell you what a wonderful job you did in putting everything away last year. 

Boxing Day

Invest in good quality storage boxes. Clear, stackable, solid plastic tubs are ideal – they’ll stand like a tin soldier in the corner, and you’ll be able to tell your garlands from your globes at a glance. 

Easy on the Stuffing

Taking the decorations down is never fun, so it’s always tempting to just fire as much as possible into boxes and hope for the best. Resist the temptation and don’t overfill your boxes. Separate heavy from light items, cushion carefully with bubble wrap and tissue paper and stack heavier boxes at the bottom of the pile.

Apart for Christmas

There’s something genius about the idea of clingfilming your entire artificial Christmas tree and popping it in the corner of your unit but it’s not ideal – and not everything’s so easy to store. Many larger decorations, including trees, are designed to be dismantled and it’s worth taking them carefully apart, and wrapping the components separately to ensure extra protection and avoid ‘fusing’ if damp, mould or dirt gets into the connections.

Who’s Washing Up?

Your decorations will lie undisturbed, in an enclosed space for the best part of a year. Remember to make sure everything is clean and dry so you’re not hosting a year-round party for mould, mildew, rust and pests. 

Sent With Love

The best gift tag you can write this Christmas, is the one for yourself for next. Label your boxes with information like whether the contents are fragile, for indoors or outdoors, or even what room of the house they go in. 

Those Christmas Lights

It must be mischievous elves who do it, but those lights, that you put away so carefully last year, have somehow tangled themselves into a frustrating mass that may just drive you over the edge. As well as being the ultimate in exasperation, this jumble can lead to cracked cabling, damaged and lost bulbs and an overwhelming desire to tear your own hair out. Invest in a cable spool for next year or even use the cardboard tube from the foil you wrapped the turkey in to wrap your Christmas lights around. This will not only save your time, money and sanity – it will make sure those same lights are safe to use year after year. 

Gravy situation

Christmas is the time when the best tablecloth and those linen napkins make a sighting rarer than Santa. And as lovely as the table looks before the starters, by dessert, they’re a mess of gravy, custard, cranberry juice and something green that you hope is a Brussels Sprout, but can’t be sure. 

Christmas linens really are subject to wear and tear so before you put them away for next year, spot clean those tough stains, wash them well according to instructions, dry them thoroughly to prevent mildew and mould and iron and fold neatly.  

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas …

… this year, and for many years to come by taking care of your festive festoonery (we may have made that up). Not only is it good for the planet to reuse your decorations, it also establishes special traditions and creates precious memories for years to come.

So make a list, and check it twice, of some great ideas for perfect year-round self-storage that will make you very merry when it all rolls around again next year. And have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

“Unlock the freedom of extra space. Get in touch with Storage World today or get a quote online.”