Q: Can you share how you store all of your Christmas decorations? Since you rotate ornaments each year and have a large tree plus a tabletop tree, along with exterior and mantel decor, I’m curious how much space it all takes up. I have an attic like you, which I think is where you keep yours, but I don’t have a system so it feels chaotic. Any tips for getting mine under control? Thanks! – Meghan
A: You’re definitely not alone—this is a question we hear a lot. We keep all of our holiday items in roughly a 6-foot by 5-foot footprint in our attic. The attic itself is larger, but that’s the dedicated footprint for everything shown in the photo we shared. We stack bins and boxes carefully and label each one so it’s easy to find what we need when the season returns.
Our core organizing principle is “like with like.” Grouping similar items together makes it simple to know where things live and prevents the feeling of tossing random pieces into bins and forgetting about them. For example: all plugs, extension cords, and window candles go in one bin; tabletop decor lives in a couple of matching green bins; wreaths and garlands have their own space. Clear labels (or even a consistent color/size of bin for each category) eliminate guesswork when it’s time to decorate.
Here’s a more detailed look at how we pack up the big tree in the dining room. After removing all ornaments, we place them carefully in a long, shallow plastic bin. We have a second matching shallow bin that contains out-of-rotation ornaments—those we didn’t use this year but may want again in the future. Because these bins are only about five inches deep, they’re easy to stack and won’t hog floor space. Delicate items can be wrapped in newspaper or tissue, but the majority of our ornaments lay flat and nest together without extra padding.
After more than five years using the simple plastic-bin method for ornament storage, we haven’t broken a single ornament in storage or transport. Part of that success comes from how gently we handle the bins: we put them away carefully once a year and pull them out carefully the next season, rather than leaving them to be jostled around constantly. If you anticipate more movement or rough handling, add extra wrap around particularly fragile pieces for added protection.
The tabletop tree is stored the same basic way but scaled down. All of the little mixed-and-matched ornaments that belong to the tabletop tree go into a smaller bin. If something is extra delicate we wrap it, but most items simply nestle into the bin. Using a storage container proportional to the tree helps prevent over-collecting for that specific display—if ornaments won’t fit on that small tree, they don’t get stored with its set unless we plan to use them elsewhere. That keeps the tabletop tree’s collection curated and manageable. Items we no longer love are either donated, passed along, or moved into the larger-tree bins if they might be reused on a full-size tree later.
Tabletop and mantel decor get a similar approach. Freestanding items—like wooden reindeer or feather trees—stay unbagged if they’re sturdy. Smaller pieces are grouped in large zip-top bags, labeled with where they belong (mantel, console, kitchen cake stand, etc.), and then placed into the corresponding green bins. Labeling those bags before dropping them into a larger container makes unpacking faster and keeps all associated pieces together.
The result is an intuitive, space-efficient system: shallow bins for ornaments, proportionate bins for tabletop trees, labeled bags for small tabletop groupings, and a dedicated spot for cords and lighted items. Everything stacks neatly in the attic footprint without becoming a chaotic pile.
So that’s how we store our holiday décor. How do you store yours? Do you use plastic bins, original boxes, cardboard dividers, or a different method? There are lots of approaches that work—share what you’ve found helpful so we can all learn new tips.
Update: We also keep a running list of favorite holiday decor finds and affordable options for tabletop and tree decorations, which helps when we’re deciding what to add or replace each year.