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Icicle lights dangle on a porch with a snowman built in the yard

Tips for Storing Outdoor Holiday Decorations


December 11, 2023 | Lifestyle

With Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and other winter holidays just around the corner, it’s time to start decorating. There is nothing quite like a beautiful outdoor light display to get you into the holiday spirit, but it’s hard to know where to start when setting up your own winter wonderland. 

Metro Self Storage’s household storage team is here to help. This blog post will share some holiday lighting ideas, budget-friendly decorations, and tips for storing outdoor holiday decorations after the holidays.

Holiday Lighting Ideas

When decorating for the holidays, your imagination is your limit. You’ll find many decorations in stores and online, with different styles, colors, and characters, from crimson and green Christmas décor to royal blue and silver outdoor Hanukkah decorations

Plan your home’s display before you start shopping and hanging up decorations. A great way to start is by choosing a color scheme, such as red, white, green, or blue. Many homeowners also like to select a large staple decoration, coordinating other decorations and lights around it as a central focal point.

Keep It Simple With Light Strands

Home decorated with strands of lights, with colorful strands in the bushes and lining the walkway

Timeless and classy, simple light strands are a great way to add holiday sparkle to your home without wasting money or time. Consider opting for white string lights to lean into the winter wonderland theme. Emulate falling snow using strands of icicle lights, which dangle in short lines. While hanging your lights, consider the home’s architectural design flow and follow the natural lines created by the peaks of your roof, chimney, dormers, bay windows, columns, or other features of your home. 

Skip the Ladders With Porch Decorations

If you love decorating for the holidays but don’t love heights, skip hanging lights up high and decorate your porch, walkway, or stairs instead. Spruce up your porch with mini Christmas trees, signs with holiday phrases, or even character standees. 

Use Inflatables and Standees for Low-Effort Festivity

Set up a character inflatable or yard statue for low-effort, easy holiday decorating. Many famous cartoon characters or cute animals are available as inflatables wearing a Santa hat or holding a dreidel. Inflatables are great options for those with little ones at home, as you can choose an inflatable of one of their favorite movie or TV characters.

Budget-Friendly and DIY Holiday Decorations

Decorating your home for the holidays doesn’t have to cost a fortune. There are plenty of ways to create a winter wonderland in your yard on a budget. Keep it simple by adding just a few strands of lights to your home, or stick to decorating your porch to save some money. You could also invest in a light projector that gives the illusion of thousands of twinkling lights without the price tag or hours of hanging lights. 

DIY Holiday Decoration Ideas

A person crafts a holiday wreath using twine

You can also save money on Christmas decorations by making them yourself. Make a wreath for your front door using faux florals, garland, and ornaments, or paint a festive doormat to welcome visitors. Creating DIY outdoor decorations saves you money and enables you to reuse and upcycle items you may otherwise have thrown away. 

Tips for Storing Outdoor Holiday Decorations

As you prepare to ring in the new year, you may discover you either don’t have anywhere to put your holiday decorations or you bought more decorations you now need to figure out how to store. Whichever camp you fall into, storing seasonal décor can be tricky. Try our holiday storage tips to make it easier! 

Perform a Holiday Closet Cleanout

When it comes time to put away your holiday decorations, start by cleaning out your storage space and clearing out any decorations you don’t use anymore. Organize unwanted items into designated piles to be thrown out, donated, or sold. If you haven’t used a decoration in years and it has no sentimental value, donate it or sell it so another family can love it (provided it is in good condition). Throw out faded, chipped, or damaged decorations, or recycle recyclable ones. 

Pack Items Carefully 

Colorful Christmas ornaments carefully stored in a box with dividers.

Many holiday decorations are made of glass or otherwise fragile material, so using suitable packing materials and containers to stow decorations safely is imperative. We recommend a short, flat, shallow container paired with crumpled newspaper to cushion breakable ornaments. Anytime you store fragile items, fill any extra space with cushioning so they don’t rattle around and break. 

Keep Bulky or Sentimental Items in a Self Storage Unit

Even after you condense and reorganize your decorations, you may not have enough space to store them in your home. If you do not have space for sentimental items, consider keeping them in a storage unit to remain secure until needed. Seasonal storage is an excellent solution for large, bulky decorations that take up valuable space in your garage or shed. 

Rent Seasonal Storage From Metro Self Storage

You might be out of room for your seasonal decorations as the holidays end. That’s where we come in. Here at Metro Self Storage, we offer a variety of storage unit sizes and month-to-month leasing, an unbeatable combination for decoration storage.

Get started by using our location finder to search for storage near you. Rent a personal storage unit online by selecting your unit and following the prompts, or feel free to give us a call for more assistance. You can find more information about Metro’s storage solutions on our FAQ page. For more holiday tips and storage advice, like tips for your holiday road trip, check out our blog.