So, now that everyone in my house is back at work and school, my plan is to de-Christmas the house before the weekend. I don’t mind doing this task alone. This way, I don’t have to explain my tears while taking the balls off the Christmas tree in my bedroom… it’s just so pretty, and I love gazing at it before bed every night. Le sigh.
Anyway, as I’d once mentioned the excellence of my annual hoarding amassing of new ornaments each year, with it comes a wee problem: I may need a bigger place in which to stash my balls.
Actually, this isn’t quite correct. What I require is a better, more efficient ball-stashing solution. One where I might have a chance to arrange my balls in a more pleasing and space-saving manner. Maybe even arranged by colour like these of WildInkPress.com. *swoons*
Naturally, I looked to the internet for help, and at first I felt very hopeful at the range of products available… only you have to instantly remove about 85% of the items you see for sale, since they’re not available in Canada, or companies don’t ship here. (Why does that always seem par for the course when you’re shopping for something so simple? Grrrr…)
This container looked promising at first glance for $16, but after reading the product details and consumer reviews, I reasoned that one ought to pass on this one. It’s made of a tear-proof polypropylene, but the sides are flimsy, not firm, so you’d run the risk of smashing your balls against the floor every time you set your bag down. (Doesn’t THAT sound unsavoury?!) And, I try to buy attractive stuff whenever possible, so this one wasn’t high on my list. Also, it was out of stock. Boo!
Others were just wildly expensive, like this offering from Sterling Pear, for the low, low price of $250, you can rack and stack your keepsake ornaments like a champ. (Or, like a chump, as the case may have it… are you kidding me?!) Hiss!!
A company called CoverMates makes this handy contraption, and it was 20% off… now selling for $69.99. Um… no.
I tried not to get distracted by the image, but will you just LOOK at these happy people? This lovely woman’s highly-organised balls make her whole family smile… but I can’t purchase this one because I can’t FIND it anywhere. (Also, design-wise, it’s not my favourite.) Suck.
The best so far had been this one, by Whitmor, and sold on Amazon.ca. They are under-bed-style storage boxes that hold up to 45 ornaments (not bad) and I don’t hate the look of the thing, which is a bonus. Price? $14.95! YAY!!
Hold on a second… the shipping price per item is $14.98. That’s right, the shipping costs more than the product itself! Holy crap, retailers!!
So what starts out feeling like a deal, quickly feels a lot more like getting buggered in the end. (Pun totally intended.) But, compared to the high prices of the others, is a $30 storage box worth it? Uch, I just don’t know any more.
Mostly, I just want to avoid having to construct a whole lot of these:
…or of these like Merrypad.com made…
… because I’m entirely too lazy for any of that. Seriously. I’m old, yo. And tiiiiiiired.
At this point, I might just have to go back to my odd-sized shoe boxes and cracked, clear tube-like plastic containers packed into now-battered shipping boxes, arranging the contents like a Jenga-puzzle in order to make it all fit in the awkward space in the basement under the stairs. Oy, the conundrum!
Got any product ideas for me? Shout ’em out if you do, I’m desperate.
That’s crazy, Village!! It’s all just stuff… and anyway, I’m pretty sure you’re not a man inside a woman’s body – you like dresses too much!! 😉
I get it – I have my small boxes in bigger boxes… I thought it was dumb to just buy plastic containers to hold all the small boxes, since I already stash them inside larger cardboard boxes… ze balls, zey are a problem. I think I’ve got it sorted out now though… 😉
I looked everywhere, Idas – no luck. Poo! Thanks for sending the link though!!
Oh boy. I do not live a beautiful enough life to be your friend.
I might be a man in a womans body.
I have a giant rubbermaid tub filled with small boxes for my ornaments – but then, I don’t really do balls. (I know, my poor husband!) It does mean I only have to juggle that box and a few small boxes of lights and the advent cabinet to fit into the shelf of Christmas stuff. Definitely easier to manipulate less items, and less of an avalanche when I inevitably pull the wrong thing first.
Hi Tracey,
we got the bins from a local place called Solutions but I don’t know what you have in Montreal..I think a craft store like Michaels also carries them seasonally.
http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/ornament-storage-box-7
I like this style. They were only about 13 or so dollars, I can collapse the dividers flat to store bigger holiday decor (skirt, stockings, stocking holders, ribbons etc) this way all the xmas stuff is in the same boxes.
I am pretty sure a Michael’s would have but I think you have DeSerres in Montreal.
Do you have Walmart there?
Tricky thing is they fly off the shelves during boxing week….
good luck!
Oh, Anny Rail, I wondered if you might chime in with some good ideas (i should have just asked you directly, but then I wouldn’t have been able to use the word “balls” so many times in print, and you know how much I love that…)
Anyway, I looked at what Ikea had to offer, and I wondered if this zippered SKUBB box might do well for about $10:
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10193376/
But, then I’d have to do some of that cardboard + plastic cups building to double-stack them in the zippered bag. and, I think they nylon sides are soft, so there’s that whole balls-smashing problem again. (Unless I reinforced the sides with a run of cardboard, bent in the right places…) Anyway, I worked out that I can stash about 60 balls in each. I might need two or three of them (and I can always get more, right?) plus ten cents per cup… I’m not a mathematician, but the price feels more reasonable than some of these options I mentioned above. It’s just A LOT of work.
The Ikea sock inserts are good too – if I can get them to sit well inside hard-sided containers (plastic, or whatever) they could be a go, but I worry the compartments might actually be too big for many of the balls! Wrap in paper too? And if no good if the trays rattle around inside the containers.
I might have to hit a HomeSense – I didn’t see any balls-storage items at my local Winners. Poo.
Oh ack. This is what I get for trying to protect my precious balls. (Thanks for playing, Anny!!)
One word: IKEA! We were there a few weeks ago looking for a large container with compartments to store lego (balls. bricks. same diff!)
I think your best bet is one of those sock organisers from their closet section. Like this one: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/60210552/#/60210552
or this one from the kid section: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/00191293/
The sock one is great because it is probably deep enough for even your biggest balls. But if you have the kind of balls I think you do, you’re going to need a lot of these since you could probably only put a dozen in each. The one from the kid section is super big but only about 2 inches high so your bigger balls might stick out of that one though it’s cheaper and fits more.
OF course these will separate and protect your balls, but you are going to put them in a bigger box. My balls aren’t separated since they’re shatterproof and I mostly don’t care about them so they are all tossed (gently) into one the big ikea moving boxes that the kids have decorated with markers (not chic, but very charming 🙂
The solution we ended up choosing for the lego isn’t even on their site! They had these great clear plastic open boxes (no lids) with 6 compartments each – two rectangular and 4 square. They were $3 each and we were able to fit 5 of them in one row in this under the bed storage box http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/90027811/
Having said all this (and used the word balls as much a possible because I know it pleases you ;0) I think you should wait till next year and be on the lookout at Winners/homesense because they had TONS of these special christmas ball organisers at ours this year for like $12 and I almost got one as a secret Santa present until I got distracted by the Bally fitness giant silver RUBBER sweat suits that you are supposed to wear while you work out which took my secret santa present in an entirely different direction!! Oh, and Canadian Tire and Home Depot both had a bunch of those too (the canvas bag with ball trays, I mean)…
Gah… I KNEW marrying that banker-guy would be fruitless. I’ll know better for next time. 😉
Will you come help me decoupage the outsides of the wine boxes, in an effort to make them appear uniform? You know I’d have to… DON’T YOU KNOW ME AT ALL?!
Don’t put ice on your balls… come drink some wine with me instead. And bring your glue gun – we’re gonna be busy, yo.
you could marry a structural designer who specializes in corrugated and he can make ANYTHING to fit ANYTHING!!! we even had a pair of side tables for our couch made out of the stuff before we got our “real” ones 🙂
no, you can’t have him!
Buy a case of wine with the cardboard that divides into 12 compartments. Place balls in compartments with a handful of crumpled newspaper between layers. Drink wine. And please do not use the phrase “smashing your balls against the floor” in a sentence again. I feel the need to ice mine just from reading it.
It’s a pretty good idea, Julie, but egg cartons are too small to store ornaments that are bigger than, say, walnuts, or small clementines – believe me, I’ve already tried. (I should have mentioned that in my post…) Thanks for the thought though! If you’ve got other, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!! 🙂
Old cardboard egg cartons!!!