How to Pack Up Christmas

How to Pack Up Christmas

The Holidays are over and now it’s time to pack it up! Unless you are like my Aunt Wanda and leave the tree up until March, most of us take down the Christmas decorations around the first week of January. In Charlotte, the city will pick up your natural Christmas tree on the curb during their regular scheduled trash pickup- starting the week of January 5^th. So it makes sense to get all the decorations down before then. 

Here are some tips from the professional packers at TNT Moving Systems:

Ornaments: Try to keep the original packaging for ornaments. Storing the ornaments in the original packaging can help protect them from damage. If the packaging has already been tossed, then place each ornament in a sandwich bag and use partitioned cardboard boxes like wine or liquor boxes. If you are packing homemade dough or macaroni ornaments, store them in an empty cookie tin. This will help protect the food-based ornaments from humidity and rodents. 

Lights: First off, try to label each set of lights near the plug with the type and number so that you can easily replace bulbs next year. To store Christmas lights, wrap them around a piece of sturdy cardboard or an old coffee tin. This will keep them from tangling up and will be easier to trim the tree next year. 

Lawn Decorations: Big, Bulky lawn decorations can be tricky to store. And they tend to gather dust all year round until you use them again. To help solve this problem, pack the oddly-shaped decorations in zippered garment bags from suits or dresses. You can then hang them on a nail in your garage or attic. If storing things in your basement, be sure to store in plastic containers that have a tight seal. This will help keep moisture out. 

Linens and Stockings: The last thing you want to do before putting away Christmas decorations is laundry- but the best way to keep your fabric decorations fresh is to launder them before you put them away. Table lines, tree skirts, stockings, and Christmas towels should be thrown into the wash before you store them. Also, it’s a great idea to iron your linens before you fold them up and put them away.

Hopefully, these tips will help preserve your Christmas decorations for years to come! And if you need help moving them or storing them- give us a call at 704-523-1455.

*Sources: Real Simple and Yahoo!