Seasonal Storage Tips: Keeping Holiday Decorations Pest-Free All Year Long

Now that the holidays are over it’s time to take down all those decorations and put them back into storage. While you may assume that once in storage, they are safe until next year, you may be surprised to discover that being in storage is where they are most at risk of being damaged by pests. In today’s blog we will be going over some helpful storage tips for your holiday decorations that will keep them pest free until you need to use them again.

Clean Thoroughly

Many holiday decorations will come into contact with food over the course of their use which can leave them covered in crumbs and food smells. These crumbs and smells can attract pests to where you are storing your decorations which can lead to the decorations or other things near them being damaged by pests. The best way to prevent this from happening is to thoroughly clean any decorations that have come into contact with food before they go into storage.

Store Smart

Most people store their holiday decorations in out of the way areas that often go unobserved for long periods of time. In order to make that area as unattractive to pests as possible you should keep the area clean, dry and well organized. Many different pests are attracted to moist areas and a messy and disorganized area can give them plenty of places to hide and build nests.

Use Good Containers

One way to deny pests access to your decorations is to be sure you are using good containers for storage. Cardboard isn’t ideal as it is easy for many pests to chew through and offers many openings for them to get at your decorations. Garbage Bags similarly lack durability and can be easily chewed through by pests. Your best option is to use durable plastic containers with tight fitting lids. This will both deny pests access to the decorations and prevent any smells from the decorations that may attract pests.

Carefully Inspect Exterior Decorations

This isn’t much of an issue in colder climates, but you should be sure to thoroughly inspect any outside decorations before you place them into storage. These decorations might have become home to pests while sitting outside and by not checking them ahead of time you could be bringing those pests into your home and depositing them in an area where they can thrive.

We hope that we have been able to provide you with some useful tips for keeping your decorations pest free throughout the year. If you have any questions about professional pest control, please feel free to contact us.

Gilpin’s Pest Control is a family-owned business operating on the Lower Mainland in Greater Vancouver and the BC Interior including Kamloops, Revelstoke, and Sicamous. After 35 years in the business, we do a stellar job and are proud of our rapid response time. 

If you have any questions about this article or you would like to talk to us about pest control needs, please call us toll-free at (800) 770-2428.