Save Your Egg Cartons For The Post-Christmas Put-Away

When December arrives and Christmas is right around the corner, those who celebrate the holiday put up their tree, string colorful lights, and pull out their ornaments to decorate the centerpiece of their festive decor. The last thing anyone wants to see when they open up their bins is broken keepsakes and ornaments meant to hang on the tree or decorate their home. While there are several storage hacks that'll keep your Christmas ornaments from shattering, many are geared toward larger ornaments, leaving your smaller baubles at risk. But egg cartons make the perfect storage containers for those smaller ornaments and Christmas knickknacks.

Most egg cartons are made from either paperboard and cardboard or recyclable plastic — both fairly durable materials. You might already reuse your leftover containers to grow seedlings in the spring, or perhaps you repurpose your egg cartons to make beautiful bespoke flower pots around the same time of year. The reason these products make such great storage houses for your Christmas ornaments and other small holiday decor is because of their design. Egg cartons are made and tested to prevent delicate eggs from breaking, so they already have the structure in place to keep your keepsakes safe.

After Christmas, when it's time to take your ornaments off your tree, your lighter and smaller baubles and keepsakes will likely come off first. These decorations belong on the outermost portion of the tree's branches because of their weight, whereas heavier and bulky ornaments need more support from the parts closer to the trunk. Gather your empty egg cartons, remove the hooks so they don't scratch the ornaments while in storage, and place one bauble in each cup.

Placing them this way will keep them separate from each other, so there's no risk of collision and breakage. That said, like with eggs, you can't toss the egg cartons around while they're full. Carefully stack them in your Christmas storage bin, preferably at the top. You don't want heavier holiday decor to put too much pressure and crush the whole lot. You might even want to put a rubber band around each carton to ensure it doesn't pop open when storing your bins for next year. If you still have cartons left over and Christmas cleanup to do, note that these handy storage containers can hold more than just your small ornaments.

If you have little festive knickknacks around your home, like snowmen, reindeer, or Santa Claus figurines around the size of an egg, you could reuse your cartons to store them like your small ornaments. Just be sure they are small enough to fit fully inside the cup and you don't have to force the lid to close them inside. Doing so could lead to breakage. Plus, attempting to store cartons that don't close properly would be difficult to set snugly and likely expose the contents to damage.

Those who love to do Christmas crafts with their kids can also store small supplies inside egg crates for next December. Think of items like beads, jingle bells, glitter, pom poms, and small tubs of paint. And forget about losing your hooks and ribbons to hang up your Christmas ornaments — egg cartons come in handy there as well. Another genius way to use old egg cartons around your house this time of year is to store your gift-wrapping supplies. Tags, ribbons, small rolls of tape, tiny stars, and petite bows will fit nicely in the cups. After the cleanup is done, be sure to label your egg containers so you know exactly where everything is when Christmas rolls around again.