Halloween decorations can be a great way to transform your home and
yard into the perfect scary atmosphere. However, decorations of any kind aren't indestructible and you'll want to take good
care of them if you want them to last long enough to see use next year.
When it comes time to wrap things up for the holiday, you will want to store
your Halloween decorations as carefully as you might your Christmas ornaments to ensure they don't become damaged in your
attic, storage unit, or wherever else you keep them when they're not being used. Here are a few tricks I use every year to
keep my decorations safe that I'll pass on to you.
One of your first lines of defense are waterproof storage tubs. If you're
storing your decorations in a shed or somewhere you might worry about moisture damage, this will pay off in the form of nice,
dry decorations when you pull them out next year.
Some of the best containers are those that are made of transparent plastic,
That way you can cut down on time searching for that one decoration you're looking for because you can see into the bottom
of the box without opening it.
For even better organization, make sure you label your tubs and stack them
by their contents. That way you can tell which are “indoor” decorations and which are “outdoor” decorations
just by where you have them placed.
When storing your Halloween decorations, you might also want to think about
taking smaller decorations or small items that go together and storing them in waterproof bags. That way small pieces don't
get lost and are kept together in sets in addition to giving you an extra layer of protection from moisture damage.
For further organization, label each bag so you can find what you're looking
for even by just scanning labels. If you're particularly concerned with keeping water out (maybe if you're storing it in a
space that could potentially see heavy moisture like an outdoor shed or in your basement) then you might want to take extra
precautions to avoid water damage.
You can also take a paper bag and fill it with uncooked rice, the rice
will draw the moisture away from your decorations, keeping them safe.
TIP: When storing your Halloween decorations make sure that
you remove any batteries from decorations that need them to run, light up, etc. When left in your decorations, batteries can
begin to leak battery acid making it dangerous to handle as well as ruining everything else in the storage container.
Additionally, items that have light bulbs in them should be carefully wrapped
in bubble wrap, tissue paper, or newspaper to ensure that the bulbs do not break in cold weather or if the storage containers
are jostled or moved.
Having a great time with Halloween is easy if you have all of your decorations
ready to go when October finally arrives. Having to hunt through boxes that don’t stay together or that are poorly
organized is sure to put a damper on your holiday spirit and slow things down considerably, turning your decorating from an
adventure into a chore.
