It’s a new year and I am MOTIVATED to get better organized! The day before yesterday my youngest and I started with his room. Grandma Nystul was coming to visit and since Sten’s room is the “guest room” when she is here, we had an impromptu purging and organizing session in advance of her arrival.
Yesterday, I decided to get started on another organizing project I’ve been meaning to tackle….my Christmas decorations. Ever since I first got married I’ve stored our ornaments, etc in cardboard boxes (which are in pretty rough shape now.) This year I was determined to find a better option.
After looking around online at the PRICES of the “better options” out there I decided a “DIY option” was in order.
So the day after Christmas I made a quick trip to the outlets near our home in search of a deal on some storage boxes. I SCORED when I found these large, see-through plastic bins with lids at Staples for half price…$7.00 each.
Now all I needed was a couple of pieces of cardboard, plastic cups, and my handy glue gun to create a my own version of an idea I had spied on MarthaStewart.com.
Despite the fact that yesterday was New Year’s Day and I prepared two large meals (one for a friend and one for my family) I still had time to create this because it was so quick and easy!
Make Your Own Christmas Ornaments Organizer Box
What You’ll Need:
- Large storage bin of some sort
- Cardboard
- Plastic cups
- Glue gun & glue sticks
Directions:
Simply cut your cardboard pieces so that they fit inside the bottom of your box. Depending on the height of your cups and the height of your box, you should be able to fit at least two layers. Maybe even three if the cups are shorter than mine.
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Apply glue to the bottom of the cups (it might melt a little but you’re not going to be drinking out of them, so it’s fine!)
Attach as many as will fit evenly on your piece of cardboard. Repeat with 2nd piece of cardboard.
Now stack on top of each other in the box and you have your own compartmentalized ornament box for a FRACTION of the cost of the ones online or in the stores.
Total price of my DIY Christmas Ornaments Organizer???
The ornaments on my tree now have a safe and secure spot to rest during the off season.
They look pretty happy about it don’t you think? OK…actually Santa is looking a little confused and maybe even mad here…but that’s just because he needs a VACATION! :-)
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Now to tackle the REST of the house! In the words of Scarlett O’Hara ……I’ll think about that tomorrow.
I really like everything. Sorry for any mistakes, but my native language is Brazilian Portuguese. I use Google Translate. Thank you for your great ideas.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great site. Lots of beautiful pictures.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Expandable file folders are also good for storing materials and will fit in a filing cabinet.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.These pictures are so pretty. I love how you display your boxes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I buy the sheet protectors that have the top that folds over then I keep it all in a notebook so I can put it on a shelf at the end of the season. Plus, I travel so a notebook travels better for me.
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Beautiful! In light of maintenance, when using paper to repurpose and decorate boxes, plastic wrap another layer over to protect your newly covered boxes from dampness and getting damaged. It may ruin the texture of your design, so have a think on how long you’d like to keep them.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If you like reading a blog, what kind of interesting things that make you like that blog? Give me your favorite blog links too..
Please log in or create a free account to comment.These are nice boxes if you are planning to store your Christmas ornaments in a moisture-free/pest-free location (not an attic, garage or basement).
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Happy New Year! I love this idea and I will be doing this as the box I have has seen better days. I save paper towel roll and wrap my lights around those.This makes it so easy to unwrap them since they are not tangled up.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve been using ornament storage boxes for years. THIS year, I decided I didn’t want to wrap my antique village, my santa, snowmen, and moose collections… you get the idea, into separate boxes which are stored in clear storage boxes. This box of boxes was too much for my husband and I too manage getting out of the attic!
While out shopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond after Christmas, I found three-layered, hard plastic, ornament boxes with cardboard dividers. I bought 3 of them. The cardboard dividers can be used as is, or bent and cut to size. Now, packing up was a DREAM and everything that I hold dear are laying in beds of tissue paper and separated from each other. No more breakage. Easy, Schmeazy, Lemon Squeezy.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love the posts and the comments too! Always a treasure trove of ideas!
I have one extra large bin on wheels for my ornaments. I keep all the original boxes…which I know doesn’t help most people now. But I also keep small shoe boxes and the like for stacking in the bin. And I try to keep any bubble wrap and tissue that comes from gifts to use between ornaments. And I try to keep similar ornaments together. Like, one year my mom made her own bread dough ornaments. They are all pretty small, but they are fragile. So I wrap each with tissue and then put them all together in a small shoe box. I’ve also got a bunch of crocheted ornaments my great aunt made, and they are like little pillows, so they all just go in a ziplock bag. Also, when my preschooler’s class made handprint ornaments, everyone took an ornament, but I kept the empty boxes for myself. Now I have a place to put all 6 of those handprint ornaments my kids brought home over the years.
The trick of course, is fitting all my shoe boxes and hallmark ornament boxes and such in the bin. It’s always a challenge…like packing luggage…but I just start with the big boxes first…fill in odd spaces with little boxes and work my way to the top.
Hope this helps someone. :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I too have most of the original boxes our ornaments came in, labeled with the date etc….(to pass on to my girls when they leave the nest), however, it has become a tedious task putting each ornament back into its appropriate box. I love this idea! When the time comes to pass on the ornament, the girls will get them in their corresponding boxes… until then, I am going to try this out. Thanks for the great idea.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We make our own partitions similar to the wine bottle boxes by buying poster board at the dollar store.
Cut them the height of your ornament and the length of your heavy duty cardboard box. Then cut strips that match the width. Then figure out your spacing of each ornament and cut your lengthwise and widthwise pieces half way up each one so that you can interlock them. Then lay a full piece of poster board between each layer of ornaments. You’d be amazed at how many you can get into a box for storage. We have found the best boxes to use are bankers boxes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.wow, great ideas:), just reading all of them a couple days late, already took all my ornaments down, but will certainly be doing this for next year. and what a great idea for that hard to buy for friend, make them one of their own:) HAPPY NEW YEAR keep the ideas coming.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.As for the lights, I use a piece of cardboard (side of a box). Slit the opposite corners, insert an end and wrap around, inserting the opposite end. I then label the board for length or number of lights on the strand. This has made wrapping the tree next year very easy and I can store numerous strands in a larger box.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Happy 2014…
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Have you another idea, to strage christmas light??
Thanks to be there
FSC
Thank you so much Jillee for this idea. I’ve been unwrapping and rewrapping my fragile ornaments for years. This made undecorating the tree a real chore. I’m going out to get a glue gun. I already have a bin, the cups and cardboard (and oh yeah, lots of ornaments).
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I was going to do this actually just the other day when I saw my cups were way to big for the ball ornaments and I thought they would break. After going to the container store and talking to the saleswoman about their box, I realize even their expensive box they recommended buying shredded paper to fill the bottom and sides with to keep it protected and from shifting. I agree with the comment above that this is the missing piece in this suggestion. For those that say they have way too many ornaments to do it this way, I found that you can put several ornaments in a cup if you just use the shredded paper to create a buffer between them.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I would just like to say that I did this to, and I really like the idea. There is just one problem with this idea. I had mine in the basement and my young cat Emma, decided to knock it down. With the hot glue, it dries and cracks, so I ended up with smashed ornaments, when it came crashing to the floor. It broke several ornaments, because the hot glue was dry and not very flexible! After this happened, I redid it with tacky glue and it seems to do better. Just wanted to tell you my experience with it! I would not recommend hot glue, but a white glue for better holding power!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Shoot. Read this one too late. I went to Joann’s yesterday and got a stackable snap together organizer for half price. I’ve been meaning to go through all of the kids baby ornaments though so this could still work for me. I have a bunch of file boxes from staples, bet I can rig something up with them. I don’t care if the boxes only hold so many, because ornaments piled together like they are, get broken. I was using big ice cream tins, but anything that sticks up doesn’t fit. Thanks for the great idea!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.what an awesome idea!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.A FREE option to use are the boxes that hold wine bottles. They come with built-in dividers, and each divider can hold a couple of wrapped ornaments. Just go raid your local grocery / liquor / Costco stores.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This is one of the better ideas I’ve seen for DYI ornament storage!!!!
Thank you
Please log in or create a free account to comment.These look great–but would take up too much room for 24 ornaments. I’d like to share what I do.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Over the years we have eaten many Harry & David pears; the boxes for these pears are a dream. They come with foam on the bottom & an easy lift of foam on the top and in between there are cardboard dividers. The boxes easily stack, I tie 3 together with string which prevents too much up & down from the attic. Only the heirloom ornaments get the pear boxes, the rest go together in one box without wrapping individually. Let’s face it, most of us have so many ornaments that the few we lose each year due to overcrowding, are a forced purge blessing. The heirlooms are snug & safe. As I pass heirlooms down, I pass box & all. I have 2 boxes left. I do have plenty run of the mill ornaments, which I purge (without a heavy heart) when I discover breakage.
I too think this is a great idea for storage! With a bit of tissue, or paper towel or napkin, or a tissue from the box, it looks to me that more than one ornament could be stored in each cup. We have a couple plastic containers with the ready-made partitions, and I’ve always been able to store more than one ornament in each section. We counted our ornaments a couple of years ago, and we had over 600, and somehow my husband gets all of them on our tree! We are always looking for good storage hints. Thanks, Jill. Love your blog.
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