Halloween Decorations: Saving, Storing & Reusing Your Decorations
1. Know Which Halloween Decorations Can Be Saved. Stored, and Reused. The truth is, almost all of them can be! All those plastic skeletons, disembodied rubber hands and legs, vampire heads, demons, ghosts, goblins, reapers, pumpkin garland, black cat window decorations, and more, can be saved, stored, and reused. You would think most people would know this, right? Wrong! Every year in the USA, our landfills are stocked with such items. Consider the impact this has on our nation’s environment, since those unrecycled plastic items take over five hundred years to decompose. Now hold that thought – expand it by thinking about all the homes that throw away Halloween decorations worldwide. Pretty scary, ha?
2. Store Halloween Decorations in Cardboard Boxes Instead of Plastic Bins. Sure, those giant plastic bins are handy but they can be expensive! They are also eyesores that take up a lot of space. Consider using cardboard boxes in a variety of shapes and sizes to store your Halloween d�©cor. For instance, you could use a simple shirt box that you kept on hand from last Christmas to store your window decorations and garland. You could also use shirt boxes to store the holiday and seasonal crafts that your children created. If you want, have a creative activity time where they can personalize their own shirt boxes to keep their handmade items from school. Even if you do not display their old craft items each year, think of how nice it would be for them to one day see and hold what they created as children. For larger items, use those empty boxes from your computer paper. You can also ask your corner/local store manager if he/she has any empty boxes that you could have. Most of the ones who I know are happy to get rid of empty product boxes this way because it means less work for their staff flattening and binding them at the end of the day.
3. Wrap Your Glass and Resin Halloween Figurines and Nic-Nacs in Old Plastic Bags and Waxed Paper Instead of Paper Towels and Tissue Paper. In lieu of wasting your paper towels and buying tissue paper, try repurposing those plastic bags from the supermarket and using waxed paper (you can get a roll at most food and dollar stores) to keep your treasures safe. Use masking tape after wrapping to secure the wrap on each item as needed. The beauty of doing this is you can use the same bags and waxed paper year after year to store those same items! Store items somewhat tightly in the box and make sure that you selected a box that is not too big for them. (Shoe boxes are excellent to repurpose as storage boxes for small decorative pieces.) If the items seem loose, use extra bags and waxed paper, clumped into balls, and place the clumps between the items so they do not clink.
4. Sun Dry Large Halloween Lawn Decorations Before Storing. The last thing you want when storing your Halloween lawn decorations is mold. You can easily prevent mold by making certain that all items about to be placed in storage are completely dry. All you really have to do is pick a day when it has not rained in several days to collect the items. Check for any trapped water and allow to sun dry if need be. Sun dry items by resting them on a tarp. (If you don’t want this on your front lawn, do it in your backyard.) Wipe off any soil with a damp washable cloth, lay the items on the tarp, and let the sun do its job. When storing, if you do not have the boxes that these items came with, wrap large items in sturdy plastic garbage bags or tarps from the dollar store. Secure with clips or wrap twine around the covered decoration.
5. Use Cedar, Lavender, and Cloves to Keep Items Smelling Fresh and to Ward Off Moths and Bugs. Worried about stale odors or the chance of attracting moths and bugs when storing your Halloween decorations? Eh, don’t be. You can use natural products to do the trick. Tuck a small mesh bag/sachet filled with dried lavender, cloves, and/or cedar chips in with your decorations. Try also including a few scented dryer sheets in the decoration boxes. A box of topless baking soda placed in the space where the items are going to be kept will be of great benefit, too.
6. Label Everything. Nothing can be more frustrating to a decorator when she/he is trying to pull together a look and can not find that one item that will complete the desired visual and solidify it with a kiss of magic! Labeling everything will make it easier for all involved to find exactly what is needed for next year’s Day of the Dead festivities.
If you do not have the space to save, store, and reuse your Halloween decorations, why not donate them to charity? You could also have little trade parties with your friends and family to unload/acquire goods. Have a fabulous Halloween and remember: think before you toss . . . you will be doing yourself, others, and the planet a big favor.
