19 Clever Christmas Organization Ideas

Take the stress out of the holidays with these 19 clever Christmas organization hacks and ideas. From Christmas decoration storage to free printables that organize the holidays, these tips will add the JOY back into Christmas so you can relax and embrace the season. We’ve even put together a video with our favorite hacks!

Want more Christmas ideas? You’ll love these Christmas morning breakfast recipes and easy DIY Christmas wreath ideas.

collage of christmas organization and storage ideas

In a perfect world, there would be no holiday stress. We could simply take off a month to bask in the glow of the yule log, make cookies, and gain zero pounds. In reality… let’s just say the ornaments are jumping ship (three have fallen off and crashed onto the floor already), the yule log ran out of propane, and those cookies are making me a bit marshmallow-y around the middle.

In the midst of all those additions to your to-do list, an organized Christmas is a less stressful one. With a few simple organization tips, you can grab the season by the (reindeer) reins and take back control. We’ve rounded up 15 tips to keep you organized and simplify the season so you can kick back and enjoy it.

Scroll down to the bottom for a video with our favorite timesaving hacks!

19 Timesaving and Organized Christmas Ideas

1. First things first, SIMPLIFY. When you put out Christmas decorations on top of your everyday home decor things can get cluttered quickly. Instead, as you take our your Christmas decorations use the empty bins to store your day-to-day decor. Not only does this make it easy to store and keep it out of the way, it’s a cinch to ‘undecorate’ after the holidays because you’ll just switch it out again.

2. If you’re hosting a Christmas party, don’t make the beverage menu complicated. Aside from water and perhaps a few sodas, offer one main ‘signature’ beverage from the bar. That way you don’t have to play mix master all night. Our Santa’s Little Helper punch is a HUGE hit. Other favorites include a delicious sangria or yummy Yule Mules. Make it EASY!

3. The holiday season takes a lot of planning. Brain dumping your mental task load can go a long way in reducing stress. Get our FREE All Is Calm Holiday Planner by clicking the image below and all those helpful planning printables will be sent right to your inbox.

4. Write your favorite holiday recipes on these festive holiday recipe cards. You can also attach a card to food gifts that you give to friends, family and neighbors… I’m sure they’d love to have that awesome cookie recipe.

5. Have a kit ready for Christmas morning. This Open-It package opener is a MUST for opening those crazy difficult plastic clamshell packages (did you know people slice themselves so badly on those packages they often end up in the ER?!) We also love this streamlined box cutter for all the online orders we receive. Makes opening and breaking down boxes a cinch.

clever tips on making this the most organized Christmas season ever!

6. As you open gifts, put the instruction manuals and warranties in a pile and file them ASAP so they don’t get tossed out with the wrapping paper. Here’s how we organize our manuals.

7. If the Christmas gifts include LEGOS, here’s our tried and true LEGO organization method with free printable covers.

8. If you’d like to keep a more detailed list of gifts, you need this holiday gift planner in your life. It includes sheets for tracking homemade gifts, gifts purchased throughout the year and much more.

9. Having trouble remembering which decorations you have… or even where you have them? Use our decorations inventory to keep track!

10. Store round ornaments in an egg carton. These are terrific for delicate ornaments for which you no longer have boxes.

christmas ornament storage in an egg carton

11. Wrap lights around notched pieces of cardboard to keep them tangle-free until the next holiday season. You can also wrap them around a plastic hanger and hang them up in a closet!

wrapping christmas lights around cardboard

12. Group ornaments into plastic storage bags by size and color. This is such a great idea if, like me, you have ornaments in vases, bowls and several Christmas trees!

13. All the storage tricks in the world won’t help you if you can’t remember which things are in which containers. Use these printable Christmas labels and a master list so you’ll always know where your lights, ornaments, etc. are.

14. Use a book ring to organize Christmas cards each year, particularly the cards that are family photos.

15. Or, if you prefer to have less physical clutter, store your Christmas cards digitally in Dropbox or another cloud storage service.

16. Keep all those pretty gift tags in a box! If you use the peel and stick kind, it may not matter much, but if you go to the trouble of making homemade gift tags, you’ll want to keep the extras to use next year.

17. Hate the way your garlands and wreaths look after they’ve been stored in a box for a year? Hang them on nails in the garage or basement instead. It’ll keep them from getting smushed! (PS: I cover them in kitchen trash bags first so they don’t get dusty.)

18. And it might be a bit late in the season to use this printable December organizing calendar this year, but pin it and print it out for next year! Download it here.