How to Store Reusable Party Decorations

The quickest way to ruin a handmade banner is to pull it off the wall and drop it in a bag. Learning how to store party decorations properly takes about half an hour after the party, and it decides whether next year starts with a ready-made kit or a knot of string and creased paper.

Three things damage paper decorations in storage: tangling, crushing and the conditions in the cupboard. Each has a simple fix, and most of them use cardboard you already have.

Sort before you pack

Not everything is worth keeping. Sort the decorations into three piles as they come down, so storage space goes to the pieces that will actually look good again.

• Keep: felt garlands, cardstock banners, rosettes and fans, cardboard numbers, signs (especially those in frames or on clipboards), cone hats, crowns and photo props.
• Keep with care: tissue tassel garlands, paper circle garlands and crepe streamers that are still clean and untorn.
• Let go: fluffed tissue pom-poms, torn or stretched streamers, anything stained by food, and confetti.

Fluffed tissue paper pom-poms are the classic single-use piece. They cannot be folded flat again without tearing, and a crushed one rarely fluffs back fully.

Take decorations down gently

Most damage happens in the first minute. Peel tape or putty slowly and close to the wall rather than pulling on the decoration itself, and remove leftover tape from the paper only if it lifts easily.

Take one strand down at a time and wind it before starting on the next. Two garlands laid in the same heap will tangle within seconds.

Wind banners and garlands on notched cardboard

A winding card keeps any strung decoration flat and tangle-free. It takes two minutes to make.

1. Cut a rectangle of corrugated cardboard a little wider than the pennants or shapes, about 6 x 10 in (15 x 25 cm) for a standard banner.
2. Cut a notch about 1/2 in (12 mm) deep in the middle of each short end.
3. Catch one end of the string in a notch, then wind the banner around the card lengthwise, keeping the string under light tension.
4. Lay each pennant flat against the one before it as you wind, all facing the same way.
5. Tuck the free end of the string into a notch.

The notches matter because loose string ends are what start a tangle. Wind firmly enough that nothing slides, but not so tightly that the card bows and creases the paper. A paper circle garland winds the same way on its own card; its thread is finer, so go slowly and keep the circles overlapping like roof tiles.

If the pennants slide freely on their twine, there is an even flatter option: push them together into one neat stack on the string, wrap the loose twine around the stack and slip it into a large envelope.

Rosettes, fans and other folded pieces

Rosettes are sturdier than they look, but their folds flatten under weight. Stack them flat by size, largest at the bottom, with a sheet of plain paper between each so glued centers and trims do not catch. Put the stack at the top of the box, never under heavier items.

A rosette that was closed with a clip, pin or tape instead of glue can be opened and folded back into its accordion stack, which takes almost no room. The folds are already in place, so rebuilding it later follows the same steps as making a paper rosette without the scoring. Half fans fold shut the same way; slide a paper clip over each closed stack.

Tassels, felt, hats, props and signs

Tissue tassel garlands dislike pressure. Hang one from a hanger inside a garment bag or an old pillowcase, or coil it loosely on top of everything else in a box with the tassels lying in one direction. Never wind it tightly on a card.

Felt is the easiest material of all. A felt birthday garland does not crease the way paper does, so it can be wound on a card or rolled loosely and kept in a bag or box.

Cone hats nest inside one another; stand the stack upright or lay it on its side with nothing on top. Crowns with a slot-and-tab closure open flat. Photo props go flat in a folder or between two sheets of cardboard, handles all pointing one way. Signs stay in their frames or clipboards, and a cardboard number stands behind a wardrobe or lies flat under a bed.

Crepe streamers can be saved if they are intact. Roll each one around a cardboard tube and tuck the end under; the guide to paper streamer ideas has more on reusing them.

Packing methods at a glance

Decoration	How to pack it	Reuse outlook
Pennant banner	Wound on a notched card or stacked on its string	Very good
Paper circle garland	Wound on its own notched card	Good if handled slowly
Felt garland	Wound or loosely rolled	Very good
Rosettes and fans	Stacked flat with paper between, or refolded	Good
Tassel garland	Hung, or laid loosely on top	Fair; needs fluffing
Cone hats and props	Nested; flat in a folder	Good
Fluffed tissue pom-poms	Hung only, if space allows	Poor
Crepe streamers	Rolled on a tube	Fair

Boxes, labels and where to keep them

Shallow lidded boxes work better than deep ones, because nothing ends up buried under the weight of everything else. A shirt box or a shoebox suits most sets; large envelopes hold flat pieces. Keeping one box per party kit means the whole color scheme comes out together.

Write a label for the lid listing the contents, the colors and anything that needs remaking, such as “banner, six rosettes, eight hats; pink, turquoise, yellow; make new pom-poms.” That note saves opening every box next year.

Store the box somewhere dry and away from heat and direct sun. Damp makes paper ripple and can loosen glue, heat can soften some adhesives, and strong light fades colored paper over time.

A small repair kit

Drop a few supplies into the box before closing it: a glue stick, a short roll of double-sided tape, a length of the same twine and two or three scraps of each paper color. A pennant with a torn corner or a rosette with a loose center can then be fixed in a minute when the decorations come back out, with paper that matches exactly.