Packing up Christmas 2016...

[AuntJamelle]

Thought we could share our efforts to pack things up and put them away! I haven't started yet myself but probably soon. Have to take advantage of my time off with DS for his winter break!

What is your method? Throw it all in boxes as best you can? Do you have a system? Labels?

I struggle with this every year - hoping to take enough time putting things away this year to make it easier on myself next time decorating season comes around!

I do need to make sure I think about what I want to leave easy access to - like the outdoor wreaths I want to redo for next year and so on!

What are you planning for packing it up???

 

[Minta]

We have totes and they are labeled .. Living room Tree, living room decorations, Dining room & Kitchen, bedroom, indoor garland and lights. Within the totes that hold the tree decorations are boxes that the ornaments go into and those boxes are labeled with the type of ornaments. It makes it easier when it comes to decorating and packing stuff up. No more searching all those totes looking for something particular. All the indoor decorations are stored in the house attic.

We have additional totes for the outside decorations .. they are labeled .. Inflatables, garlands & wreaths, Lights ... these are stored in the garage attic.

We will pack up the Christmas decorations this weekend and set up all the snowmen decorations.

 

[MrsSoup]

I have totes and then the trees go back into their original boxes. However, I am tossing broken items or things we don't use this year and being brutal in doing it. Since we are planning for a huge move across the ocean, we really have to pare down our things and I will be doing that when i'm repacking decorations. I will also be repacking them more carefully then I typically would because packers will be moving our stuff instead of us this time so I don't want anything fragile or irreplaceable to get damaged or broken.

 

[AuntJamelle]

Good idea on the bins for each room, minta!

Such a task you have, MrsSoup! I hope things go smoothly!

All I've really worked on so far this year is gift wrap cleanup. The entire craft room area upstairs was just a mess! Now I've got all the rolls of gift wrap back in the bins, with the extra long ones in the stand up gift wrap storage container. I also kept out the neutral wraps that I can use for birthday gifts in that one as well.

My wired ribbons are all back in their own tote and I used an extra Amazon box to corral all the thin ribbons. Purchased several more of these at after Christmas sales. I used another box to keep all my package topper items together. Cute little ornaments I got a $ store or at after Christmas sales mostly.

And I ended up with one big tote and another box of paper bows, curling ribbon bows, etc. Gift bags are all together and in one of the gift wrap totes on top and gift boxes together on top of another. Haven't put all these totes, bins, etc. away yet because the North Pole is a MESS!!! But I did get a great deal of the trash, packaging, etc. picked up and bagged so things look much nicer!

May start on taking ornaments off the big tree this afternoon - we'll see!

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Not ready to pack away just yet. DS GF will be here on NYE and we have not done Christmas with her yet.
Traditionally we leave the tree up to the day after new years so that will happen again this year. I did not put out a lot of decorations this year but I really want to go through all my totes and cull anything that I don't absolutely love or need.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

I'm organizing like a mad women. lol

I am putting all Christmas items in red totes. I had several and with some rearranging it seems to be working out well. One tote is a for an artificial tree storage so it's very large. I'm using that to store all the garland and other decorations. This means next year I'll pull out this tub and be able to decorate without looking for several small totes. All christmas wrapping paper is now in it's own storage container (yes, red also). Dh picked up a Christmas light storage tote which I put all my ribbons, tags and small gift bags. Not sure what I will do with the light storage thingies that were inside.

I have one used red ornament tote. I'm going to take out the inside pieces and store all my Christmas clothes in it. This will free up some dresser drawers.

The tree was wrapped with plastic wrap and pulled into the closet. Yes, with all the bulbs and lights on it. Took us 20 minutes. Next year it will take less than 5 minutes to put up our tree. Makes it worth the space in the closet we gave up. Dh and I carried up my indoor plants (a Bay tree and mother-in-law tongue) to the spot where the tree was and he hung a plant light over them. Looks nice.

I have one more tote to organize which is my gift tote. I already have half of this tote slotted to get rid of to LC1 tomorrow. I also started a Birthday gift tote and I have a birthday wrapping storage tote done. Of course some of these items are not put back in storage so for right now my bedroom is a maze. lol

I still have my snowmen collection up. Maybe I'll be able to find another large red tote on sale to store them. Other wise these will be the only things in several smaller totes. Storage containers are not on sale at this time of year for our area.

 

[Lana]

A few years back when put stuff in totes and numbered them and I had a list that said #1 churches--#2 throws and pillows etc... It worked REALLY nice because has I wanted to do one thing I just went for that tote but then I misplaced the list and things just got jumbled around again. Hoping as we go thru stuff we will do this procedure again!

 

[angelpugs]

Just got my house packed up everything back in their totes and trees back in their boxes used leftover wrapping paper for packing those fragile items,christmas dishware back in their own boxes,cleaned through the house now just going to relax a bit what a busy holiday time it was.

 

[happy2bme]

I packed everything up yesterday. I used to label all the totes and have notes as to what was in each tote, like Lana, but I stopped for some reason. I have really pared down the amount of decorations I have and can fit everything into just a few totes, the trees get stored in a huge tote and I have another tote for all the wrapping supplies.

J built shelves up high in the garage where everything is stored and out of the way.

 

[tanya]

Christmas is still up in our home. But when it goes away I have a series of totes that everything tree and decoration related go into. The tree has a large tree storage bag. These totes live in the shed. I have the dishes, glasses etc in a separate area of my big pantry. and the home-wares like face cloths, dish towels in a separate space in my linen cupboard. I usually cull the next year when I get it all out again. So I went through everything this year before it went up. I have more patience for putting it up than I do far taking it down! I keep the linens and plates etc separate as it easier to run them through the washing machine/ dishwasher at the completion of the season all in one go. Christmas clothes also go away with the linens so I know where to find them again next year.

 

[Minta]

I have basket on the shelf in our coat closet which holds all the off season Pot Holders, kitchen towels and table runners. Makes it easy to wash the outgoing season and put them away while pulling out the incoming seasons.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Like most of you Christmas linens are kept in the large linen cupboard which in this house is in the laundry.
I have 3 crates of Christmas items which are kept in the garage attached to the house. I will pull these out in the winter and go through them all. I am a little less attached to things in the winter rather than at Christmas for some reason.
Gift wrap, cards and ribbons are in little crates in my craft cupboard and I use these all year round so I need access to them.
I do not have much specific Christmas crockery but what I have is kept in the hutch in the dining room.

I have culled quite heavily over the past few years but know that there are still a few things that I can get rid of.

 

[MinnieCo]

I have my organized by numbers already, but this year I'm going to try and cut out some more as well. IS that just an age thing..hahaha...I really wonder each year when I want less and less. I say that, but then I can't really part with too much. What I'm really doing now is putting stuff aside that I know my daughter will take eventually when she gets her own home. Then she can decide if she wants it and if not, she can get rid of it. There are some family things I know she'll want, but we do have different taste ultimately...or at least in what she says she wants her tree to look like eventually. The 50 totes.. (okay, maybe 20) seem to be getting heavier and heavier every year. I do have them divided by room, but then some things may randomly have to fit somewhere else. I'm thinking, it all has to fit into one tote or I have to get rid of something. My living room takes 2, but you get the idea.

 

[MrsSoup]

Tanya- I'm the opposite. I have much more patience getting it out than I do putting it away. LOL When i'm ready for it to be gone, I just want it done and put away as quickly as possible.

We put everything away on Thursday afternoon. I didn't go through anything at all either, just put everything away. I did go through a lot when I was putting it up and tossed a bunch of broken things or light sets that didn't work, but i'm sure we'll go through everything in the garage one more time before we move.

 

[Minta]

We got all the outside Christmas decorations/lights packed up. Went through several totes of stuff we didn't use and got rid of a lot.

 

[Holiday_Mom]

Like Minta, I have totes labeled by room - Living Room, Living Room Mantle, Ornaments, Lights, etc. I also have totes for Christmas gift bags and Christmas boxes. Each of those totes has tissue paper in there to make the gift giving easier. For me, labeling the totes really does help when the family is involved with the putting the Christmas decorations away.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Christmas is packed away for another year. I am glad that I only have 3 large containers of things and I did not use everything this year.
Don't know how some of you do multiple trees and totes.
We just don't have the room to store things here, no attics or basements so we have to store things in the garage.

Have tried to pack away carefully. I will bring all the totes out in June or July and go through it all completely and cull if I need to.

 

[tanya]

Christmas is now almost packed away. 3 totes need to find their way to the shed. The dish cloths etc are in the wash as I type.

 

[luludou]

Starting to put away Christmas. I really have alot but have a hard time getting rid of things as most are gifts. Need to write down some things too.

 

[jollykelly]

I am starting to pack everything up, and will have it done this week. I use plastic bins.
I have all of the "tree stuff" in one bin. (Ornaments, lights, start tree topper, etc)
Another bin has all of the "kitchen stuff" in. (Christmas bowls and dishes, linens, salt n pepper shakers, etc)
Another bin has "living room stuff". (Snowmen figurines, stockings, nativity set, etc)
Another bin has "outside stuff" - (lights, wooden lawn décor, etc)
And finally the "whatever" bin - this is the catch all bin (bathroom décor, hallway nightlights, pretty much any room that does not have it's own bin)

That way, when DH brings the bins down from the attic he can take directly to the room that I will need it in.

All of the wrapping supplies is kept in my "wrapping station"