Do NOT Copy

Do NOT Copy

Common Packing Mistakes

Since Thanksgiving is now passed we got out our Christmas stuff today and prepared to deck the place out in all of it's Christmas glory. I had a bit of trouble though, so I thought I might share some tips with you so your decorations won't suffer the same fate as some of mine did.

1. When packing breakable ornaments, make sure that they have plenty of padding. If you think that one layer of newspaper will be enough, think again! I lost an ornament and two candle holders because of careless packing done last year.

2. Lights should be pulled tightly on a rolled up newspaper or cord winder. This just might save you a few hours of untangling light bulbs. It may also prevent breakage of a few light bulbs.

3. When you put your garland away you may want to wrap this tightly onto a rolled up newspaper roll as well. If you don't your "tinsel" garland may end up with a few bald spots and you beads will end up in a tangled mess.

4. Snow globes are NOT a good thing to store in a garage where temperatures reach well below freezing. Store them in your basement instead. It may save you a whole box of fabric Chrsitmas crafts that would have to be thrown out because of a heavy mold infestation. The moisture from the exploded globe was trapped in a water tight plastic box all summer. Everything had about 1/4 of an inch of white mold covering every visible surface when I opened the box today. EEEWWW!

5. Do not place heavy objects on top of fabric flowers unless you plan on spending a long time fluffing them back up to their original condition.

6. Okay, all of these little lessons can lead back to one major mistake I made last year. Do NOT under any circumstances allow your husband to put away your Christmas decor if you're ever planning on using any of it again. Sigh.

(Memo to self: Put reminder on calendar to put the tree away the day after Christmas so Cheesehead doesn't do it again this year.)

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

6 comments:

Amy said...

Ha! Great tips Cinj. One thing I love is to store those little shiny balls that shatter so easily in empty egg cartons. I learned this from an older lady who decorated the church tree every year.

By the way, I'm a self taught stitcher too. I had to look up some of the stitch names on Google to make sure I was identifying them properly!!

CiNdEe's GaRdEn said...

I am sorry you lost some things. I hope they were not heirlooms. That is really hard. I usually put all my stuff away and of course I take it all out so I have no one to blame if something is broken etc. I pack in those big rubbermaid type boxes so hopefully they stay nice and safe through the winter/summer months. I haven't opened mine yet so we'll see...(-:

Anonymous said...

You are so right. We have high temps here and I have to remember not to store my Christmas candles in the attic cause they melt.

Gail said...

Cinj,

Hi! I put all my stuff away myself and even then things get smooshed. We don't need a bigger house but I would love better storage options! gail

Unknown said...

Amy- I have heard of the egg carton thing. I kept the original packages though and have resorted to buying the shatterproof kind of bulbs. Between the kids and the cats I needed to save my Christmas decorations somehow.

Good to know I'm not the only one out there who has to figure everything out.

Cindee- Thankfully not heirlooms, two were Goodwill finds, one was a gift from my husband's work and the fabric things were items I had debated giving to Goodwill last year. I guess if I hadn't procrastinated they wouldn't have been wasted. We don't have many heirlooms around here, it's surprising really considering what pack rats my family tends to be.

Anna- I have to store the candles in the house so temps are regulated. If I don't, we have such wild temperature fluctuations that nothing is safe in the garage or attic.

Gail- Smooshed plants aren't the worst things in the world. Now when they aren't flexible it tends to be more of a problem. I have some pretty good storage options if Cheesehead would just put things away the way they're supposed to.

Anonymous said...

lol. great tips Cinj. especially the part about not allowing your husband to pack away the decor! somehow they just don't prioritize it the same do they? or take the same amount of care... I bet your place looks festive all decorated with what survived tho.