DIY Christmas Ornament Organizer

Learn how to safely store your Christmas tree ornaments without spending money on pricey divided containers.

Remember that excitement you had when you were putting up your Christmas tree? You couldn’t wait to break out those ornaments and deck the halls with all the bling, balls, and special family ornaments. But now that Christmas is over, un-decorating the tree isn’t nearly as fun. Want an easy way to bring some joy into packing up your ornaments this year? How about a DIY project?!

There are a lot of ornament organizers on the market, but if your budget doesn’t allow you to throw down a hundred buckaroonies on containers and dividers, this DIY Ornament organizer can be pulled off for under $6 and is actually fun to make. Kiddos would especially love to join in on this one, so pull them away from their new Xbox for an hour and have them help out.

Supplies For DIY Ornament Organizer

• A sturdy weatherproof lidded tote (or two if you have a lot of ornaments)
• Recycled cardboard from old shipping boxes
• Box Cutter (or sharp scissors)
• Disposable cups (buy the big pack, and get the Hefty brand if you can)
• Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks

1. Cut cardboard to fit inside the tote container

Make use of those holiday shipping boxes by recycling them for your DIY Ornament Organizer. Cut the sides of the boxes to fit inside the tote, and try to cut them to fit as snuggly as possible. You’ll need two to three cardboard pieces for each tote container, so if you’re using two totes, plan on making 4-6 cardboard pieces.

PS: If you have cut-resistant gloves hanging out in your garage, now is the time to break those out. Sometimes cutting cardboard can result in blade slippage, and nobody wants to spend New Year’s Eve at the ER getting stitches.

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2. Hot glue cups onto the cardboard pieces

Arrange a layer of disposable cups on a piece of cardboard to figure out where they will all need to go. Once you’ve covered the cardboard with the cups, go through and run a bead of hot glue around the bottom of each cup and secure them to the cardboard.

Repeat for a second cardboard layer, and stack it on top of the cups from the first layer to test the height. You’ll be able to decide if you can add a third layer or if only two will fit.

3. Fill cups with ornaments inside the tote container

Put the first layer of cups in the bottom of the tote and fill the cups with ornaments. Then sit the next layer of cardboard and cups on top of the first layer and fill them.

If there’s still some room on top, this is a great place to store your tree skirt. It fills the gap, pads the ornaments, and keeps the skirt with the other tree accessories so you aren’t searching through other decor bins for it.

Want More Holiday Storage Tips?

This post teaches you how to use even more recycled cardboard to neatly store your holiday string lights. And this post walks you through how to clean and pack up your holiday decor. Make sure you follow me on Pinterest, too, because I’m always sharing my best tips for storing and organizing everything in your home.