Every year, Halloween is getting bigger and better! More homes are utilizing Halloween décor in order to show their love of the holiday, even businesses are decorating more for this holiday than they were before. They are decorating with things like:

1. Strings of orange lights
2. Outdoor decorations like skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, tombstones and even blow up decorations that portray some of our all-time favorite Halloween figures!
3. There are also those who are decorating the interior of their homes and businesses with fake spider webs, miniature haunted houses, skeletons, and numerous other spooky décor items.

We love Halloween here at Smart Self Storage! It seems like our neighborhoods keep going "big" with their Halloween décor, and we think that this trend is going to continue for numerous years to come! With this being said, we want to share with you some great tips for how to store your Halloween décor collection and how to make your self storage unit organized so that you can always find what you need and have the elaborately decorated Halloween of your dreams!

Can You Store Halloween Items?

When most people think of self storage, they often think about storing old furniture, maybe some of their old belongings from their college life or the like. They most often don’t think about the décor for Halloween being something in which they can store in self storage units. However, Halloween décor can definitely be stored in self storage units.

Organizing Your Halloween Decorations

For those who are putting their Halloween items into self storage, organization is key! You want to be able to find what you are looking for and do this with ease. No one wants to spend hours in their unit trying to find the decorations that they are looking for. This is why organization is so important. Here are a few tips that can help you organize your decorations so that each item is easily found:

1. If you have lights, be sure that you are stringing them around something to keep the knots from forming. For example, many people utilize empty paper towels rolls to wrap lights around to ensure that they are always in order. 
2. Spider webs are a huge Halloween décor item to be used in businesses and homes, however, they can be somewhat of an issue to store for next year. Many people simply buy them again and again each year. However, there is one idea that people can use in order to keep them straight: put individual spider webs into Ziploc bags so that they can be used again. 
3. If you are using tote boxes to hold your Halloween décor, be sure to label your boxes. And you want to put more than simply “Halloween” on these boxes. You will want to include a list of what is in the tote box so that you can easily access whatever you may need. 
4. For small decorations, be sure that you are wrapping these in packing paper so that they do not break while traveling from the self storage unit to your home. 
5. One of the best ways to organize Halloween decorations is to use totes that are colored for Halloween. This way at a simple glance you can know that the orange tote boxes are for Halloween, the green boxes are for Thanksgiving and the red boxes are for Christmas. 

The key to remember when organizing your Halloween décor is to have some type of organization system in place. Do not just place these into boxes and hope for the best. Doing this is a good way to get items broken or tangled so bad that they are not able to be used later.

Plastic Versus Cardboard

For those who are putting items into storage units, they often think that cardboard is good enough. After all, when you move, you pack everything into cardboard boxes and everything turns out fine. However, putting your decorations into a storage unit means that you will only be getting these out once a year. In these cases, cardboard is not the best option!

Instead, opt to use plastic containers aka tote boxes for your decorations. You will find that this is a small investment that is going to keep your decorations safe. Why are they the better choice? For these reasons:

• They are super sturdy compared to a cardboard box
• They are easy to stack inside of a storage unit
• They protect your items from moisture and rain (when you are transporting your decorations to and from your self storage unit)
• These tote boxes are also great protection against bugs you may otherwise be drawn to cardboard

While tote boxes may be a small investment, they are something that is going to pay off more in the long run than cardboard.

Placing Decorations into the Self Storage Unit

If you are putting several holidays worth of decorations into the self storage unit, we recommend having a space that is simple devoted to this décor. For example, one wall may be décor for birthday parties while another wall may be dedicated to Halloween. The key is to keep everything organized and in one spot. While you may be using the orange tote boxes and you did take the time to label these boxes, you still want to easily be able to find all of your items. Here are a few other tips about placing these boxes into self storage:

1. If you have shelves utilize them! It will make it easier to stack boxes and still have easy access to them. 
2. Most people prefer to not place any boxes directly on the floor. While you may be using a plastic tote box, this is still something to consider. Most people utilize a wood pallet on the floor to start stacking on top of it. If you check out the right places in town, you may be able to get these wood pallets for free.
3. Remember that when it comes to your storage unit, you are going to want to utilize the space in the best way possible. Don’t simply look at the floor as the only space, the vertical space can be used as well.

Halloween decorations are something that you don't want to sit around your home year-round. If they do, they are likely to get thrown out or broken. Putting them into a self storage unit can be one of the best ways to protect the investment that you have made into this décor. At Smart Self Stoarge, we love Halloween and wish you an incredible one!