What are you packing away for the holidays?

Around this time last year, we shared our top tips for storing all of those holiday items. (You can revisit the article here.) This year, we are sharing our ideas for making next year’s holidays a little easier.

1. Ask adult children if there is anything they would like for their own holiday decorating. This is a perfect time to pass heirlooms from one generation to the next.
2. Check out all your storage containers and clean them before putting items back in. If any are broken or even if you have the wrong size, replace them with new ones.
3. Before you pack away every item you used for the past month or so, double-check that it’s not damaged or broken. There is no need to store items that cannot be used again next year.
4. However, if you have lightly used gift bags, boxes and ribbons, you can store them away for next year to extend their use instead of discarding them, thereby keeping with the spirit of recycling and repurposing.
5. Visit the post-holiday sales. January is a time when most holiday items go on deep discount, which means it’s an ideal time to stock up on things like hostess gifts (such as scented candles or ornaments), Christmas cards, wrapping paper or boxes, and string lights.

Next year, when you take it all out to prepare for the festive season, decorating will be much easier knowing that everything is working and in perfect condition, because it was all stored properly and either discarded, shared, or replaced as needed.

All my best,
Claudia