Free Ornament Storage Solutions That Last For Years

This post was originally published on DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade in December 2014.

Quick quick – Deck the Halls! Quick quick – take it all down! It’s hard to believe how fast the holiday season passes by. With as much anticipation as you had for getting the holiday decor up, some of you are probably already excited to get it down and stored away for another year.

Ornament storage requires special care and attention, which is why I’m here to share with you a few ideas to keep your treasures safe and orderly until next year rolls around.

For small ornaments, save those egg cartons:

Use egg cartons to store small, fragile holiday ornaments.

For larger ornaments, make an ornament storage box. Here’s a helpful tutorial that uses recycled corrugated cardboard and leftover tissue paper. The best part? Totally free.

For more holiday ideas, I think you’ll like these posts:

• DIY Ornaments Used as Gift Tags
• Handmade Scandinavian Tree Skirt
• DIY Salt Dough Ornaments (They’re Big!)
• Oversized Outdoor Star Decoration

To learn how to make your own FREE cardboard storage boxes for ornaments, keep reading:

1. Source Your Materials

Save boxes, sheets of cardboard, and tissue paper to make your own Christmas ornament storage boxes. These are potentially free, and a great way to make use of something that would have otherwise been thrown out or recycled. They are completely adaptable to fit your needs, and stack away neatly with your holiday storage.

Empty box to be upcycled into ornament storage.

2. Cut Box Dividers

Trim pieces of cardboard to serve as ornament dividers in your box. My box is 12″ wide and 5″ high, so I made three cardboard dividers to break up the space.

Cardboard cut to fit lengthwise to form narrow dividers.

3. Cut MORE Box Dividers

Then, create dividers sized to fit the opposite direction inside the box. My box is a perfect square, so my three dividers are 12″ wide x 5″ high.

Cardboard is cut to fit the other direction of the box.

4. Cut Dividers to Intersect Like Lap Joints

Your dividers are going to fit together like simple lap joints. Use scissors halfway through the width of each divider, at every 3″ interval. For the cardboard pieces that sit on the bottom of the box, trim from the top downwards. For the cardboard pieces that will slide on top of these pieces, trim from the bottom upwards. I find that a 3″ x 3″ square is good for most of my ornaments, but, hey, if you have really big ornaments or treasures that are bigger than 3″, customize these segments to fit what works for you!

Trim cardboard dividers so the length and width pieces can connect together like lap joints.

5. Assemble Dividers

Fit the cross-sections of the dividers together.

Assemble ornament dividers to fit in the box.

Your segmented cardboard box should look like this when all the dividers are in place.

A box filled segmented to hold ornaments.

7. Use Tissue Paper to Pack Your Ornaments

Each ornament will have its own compartment in your customized box. Use tissue paper in each compartment to further protect your fragile ornaments. Wish them well, and you’ll be happy that you were so orderly when it is time to unpack them next winter!

Use leftover holiday tissue paper to wrap delicate ornaments for storage.