Time to put those decorations away!
No one wants tired decorations next year. Keep them fresh and perky with these tips:
1. To Keep the lights or not. No, is my professional advice. Twinkle lights are only good for about 1000 hours- 1000 hours undisturbed. So, I suggest that you ditch the lights rather than storing them for next year.
If you decide to keep them, wrap them around a cardboard tube to keep them from tangling.
If you decide to keep lights on the artificial tree, remember that boxing up the tree may break bulbs. My experience is that two years is a pretty good lifetime for the lights on a tree. Plan on relighting the tree at least every two years.
2. Bows: When you can, untie them and roll them up in a spool. If they are fancy loopy bows, clip them on to a hanger with a clothes pin, and hang them in an un-crowded closet. Easiest? Lay them loosely in a box or storage tub- with nothing else in it. No crushing, or creasing- usually.
3. Ornaments: Glass ornaments are fragile. This from Mr. Obvious. Pack them back in their original boxes if you can. If not, wrap individually, and lay in horizontal layers between newspapers. Kinda like an ornament sandwich with newspaper bread.
4. Wrapping Paper; Assign a drawer or trunk to keep all your wrapping paper together. Bows, tags, tape and scissors all in one place make it easier all year for wrapping. If you put it away in storage, it will most likely be; a. forgotten, b. damaged, c. replaced because you forgot that you already bought it last year.
5. Garland, Wreaths and Greenery. This is the artificial type, of course. I vote for big storage tubs that FIT the items. Big is better. Those giant tubs really are great for long garland and such with out smashing the ‘evergreen’ needles for next year.
6. Holiday music; I love my Christmas CDs. But, I don’t want them hogging up space all year. Pull all the CDs together and put them away in the same drawer with the wrapping paper. Don’t store them with the decorations in the attic. Heat kills.
7. Artificial berries, fruit and such- made from plastics and vinyl, don’t respond well to attic or garage heat. They tend to blister and discolor. Avoid loosing your fruit by using the top shelves in cabinets that are underused. I keep a holiday arrangement in the vanity, under the hall bath sink.
8. Label, label, label. It sure helps next year when you are pulling boxes out of storage. I keep it simple- ‘Christmas/Hanukkah/Ramadan, Kwanzaa/Poker Party 2010’ and either a brief description (i.e.; ’Garland’), or ‘box 1 of 6’.
Happy Packing!
