Storage of Delicate Christmas Ornaments

Now that you’re emptying your boxes of Christmas collectibles for display, it is time to consider how you are storing your precious investment. It may be time to invest in some better storage solutions. Here are my tips for safe storage of delicate Christmas Ornaments

  1. Store in a dry place where the temperature does not vary more than 20 degrees. That leaves out basements, unheated spaces and attics. Why? The extremes in temperature cause the age spots and the flaking of the interior and exterior finishes on glass ornaments and cause flaking of paint on other ornaments.
  2. Store in acid free containers. Acid from tissue paper, plastic, etc. can leach into ornament finishes and destroy them. Make sure that you use acid free, archival materials to pad your ornaments for storage.
  3. Store in crush proof containers. A stack of boxes needs to be sturdy enough to hold the weight of those stacked above. Nothing is worse than broken ornaments from a crushed or dented container.
  4. If you can, point the top hanger of the ornament down. This reportedly helps to avoid age spots from an accumulation of moisture on the inside of the ornament. If you have a well controlled climate in your space, this should not be necessary.
  5. Don’t try to cram too many ornaments into a space. The goal is to fill empty space with padding, not to get more ornaments into a smaller space. If you’ve got too many ornaments for the space you have, consider paring your collection and selling or gifting some of your ornaments.
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