Garage Christmas Decorations (How-to Guide & Storage)
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Christmas season is here again, and decorating outside of the house is a holiday tradition for many. Christmas lights, Snowmen, wreaths, and other decorations bring the Christmas spirit alive. The garage door is an excellent place to decorate, and people will surely notice your house.
Decorate your garage door with many options like magnets, decals, ribbons, bows, banners, wreaths, garlands, lights, or a light projector for that special holiday spirit. You can mix many of these and create a distinctive holiday look for your house and garage.
We also look decoration safety and storage.
Garage Door Magnets and Decals
Decorative magnets or vinyl stickers/decals are easy ways to bring the holiday spirit to the garage door. Test first if magnets will stick onto your door before purchasing. If magnets stick, they are a good option because you can move them around and re-use them next season.
If magnets don’t stick, you can op for vinyl stickers- sometimes called decals. You can attach and re-attach them, too, depending on the product. Both options are weather-resistant, highly customizable, and require no tools to put up.
Magnets
Avoid placing magnets on seams or hinges of the door. They might fall down or bent when you operate the door. There are many kinds of magnetized decorations available, including letters to full-size door murals.
Check out Best Decorative Magnets at Amazon
Vinyl
Decals are attached with glue. Some are attached with just plain water to even surfaces like glass. But many garage door decal stickers are removable but not reusable. Again avoid the seams or hinges. Cut the vinyl with a box cutter where needed.
Check out Best Decorative Decals at Amazon
Wrapping Up the Garage Door
This is a classic. You can make the garage door look like a giant present with ribbons and a big bow. There are large plastic ribbons available. You can use colored sheets or just basic cardboard and wrapping paper if the weather is dry.
- Take vertical and horizontal measurements of the door before you head to the craft store.
- Attach the ribbons with magnets, double-sided tape, or command strips.
- Depending on the style of your door, you may need to cut the ribbon in sections. You don’t want the strips to interfere or get caught in hinges.
Check out Premade Ribbons & Bows at Amazon
How Do You Hang the Garage Christmas Banner?
Whole door-sized banners look great and easy to install, and you can operate the door normally. They come with special hooks that don’t require drilling and allow you to re-use the banner easily on the next holiday season.
Many images are available, such as Santa and reindeers, Santa’s workshop, Christmas trees, nativity scenes, and many more. Banners cover the entire garage door.
Full garage door banners are also attached with magnets and decals besides hooks.
Check out Holiday Theme Banners at Amazon
Garage Christmas Wreaths
You can make your own wreaths, or if you prefer artificial wreaths, choose weather-resistant and UV-protected wreaths so you can use them many years outside. Choose a big enough wreath if you only put one above the garage, or you can use line up smaller ones. Whatever you choose, decorate them with ribbons, ornaments, and lights.
- Attach wreaths with small eye hooks or clips and a fishing line.
- One oversized wreath above the garage is a beautiful and straightforward Christmas statement.
Check the Best Outdoor Christmas Wreaths at Amazon
Bows and Garland Over the Garage Doors
Garlands are a great way to frame your garage door. Hang them all around the door or drape them. Fresh green looks great with many doors and house colors. You can make your own or buy artificial garlands. Many premade garlands come with lights. You may have to buy a few of them if you are going all around the garage door. Fake flowers and ornamental baubles will bring the garland to life with color and variety.
- Put ribbons and bows in corners. Use only clips and hooks or eye hooks that you can leave in place to wait for the next season. Avoid using nails or staples as damaging the electric wires may cause a fire hazard.
- You can also use removable adhesive hooks.
Check the Best Outdoor Christmas Garlands at Amazon
How to Hang Garage Christmas Lights
The lights around the garage door look great. Avoid putting the lights directly to the door because there is a risk of damaging the lights and interfere with the door opening and closing. Swing doors might be the best door type to put lights directly on.
It is not recommended to attach lights to the garage door. You could damage the door surface. Only use removable adhesive if you do.
- First, unpack your Christmas lights. Stretch them out to the garage floor and plug them in to see all the bulbs works.
- Inspect the wires for damage and replace faulty strands and sections. If there are individual burnt bulbs, you can replace them with LED lights.
- Avoid using nails, staples, or hot glue always with decoration lights. You could damage the insulation of the wiring and create a fire hazard.
- Clips, hooks, and eye hooks are good options to hold everything in place. If you put the lights on the door itself. Use adhesive or double-sided tape. Don’t damage the door with nails or screws.
- Don’t connect more than three strands of lights together. (LED lights will conserve electricity and last longer than traditional light bulbs)
- If you buy a new set of lights. Make sure they are for outdoor use. Connect them to an outlet with a weatherproof cover. There are also battery or solar-powered lights.
Battery-powered lights usually run AA batteries. But they are not as bright and don’t come in as many styles as lights that connect to your home electrical supply. They are safe, though, and don’t require an outlet nearby.
Solar-powered lights operate the same as battery-powered. The distinction is that the solar panel charges a small internal battery and won’t need replacing the batteries every time they run out.
Stainless steel hooks or eye hooks can be permanently mounted around the trim of the house. It’s easy to hang up Christmas decorations every year this way. Because everything is already in a place to hang the decorations. Rest of the year, the hooks are barely noticeable.
Roof and gutter clips can be pressed directly onto the exterior of the house. They typically have a hook at the bottom that grabs the light string.
For the vertical runs, find trim clips that wrap around the light string and hold it into place. Put clip every 10-15 inches or so. You can nail the clips in place or use removable adhesive. Or use those steel hooks. There are also command hooks from 3M. So you have lots of options for securing the lights on almost any surface.
Check the Most Popular Outdoor Christmas Lights at Amazon
Have a buddy to help you install the lights. The work goes faster and much safer. Another person can untangle the lights and help you on opposite ends when hanging the lights.
Decoration Safety
Don’t hang anything in the way of the garage door mechanical elements. If you use the garage door during holidays regularly, place, cut, and measure the decorations so that they don’t interfere with the door going up and down.
If you put wreaths, bows, magnets, decals, or banners on the door. Measure everything carefully that they don’t interfere with the door or the opener.
- Don’t put anything heavier than 2 Lbs to the door. Heavy objects will interfere with the garage springs.
- Don’t add anything that goes over 2 door sections or more. Cut them from the door seam if possible.
- Don’t ruin the surface of the door or its trim. Use only paint-friendly adhesives or tape that can be easily removed.
- Clean the door before putting anything up so the adhesive sticks properly.
If you don’t use your garage door during the holidays, you have more options to put up almost anything to the door. Remember to unplug the opener and use emergency release to avoid accidents that ruin your decorations and damage the door.
Garage Christmas Projectors
Projectors are a hassle-free and effortless way of decorating the house. No more putting and taking down the lights. The only downside is no one can likely see them during the day. Some projectors only work onto the glass of the window.
- Projector lights are perfect for decorating garage doors because they don’t interfere with the door’s operation in any way.
- Motion projectors create a highly visual show on your garage door. You can project lots of images or holiday greetings with an awesome lights show and optional music. There are a variety of combinations and patterns.
- There are simple image projectors and more extensive systems where you can use the whole house as a canvas for really spectacular shows.
- Make sure you buy a projector that is safe to use outdoors. Some are designed for indoor use only. Most models have timers too and interchangeable lenses. Some projectors also have themes for birthdays, Halloween, and the fourth of July and other holidays.
Check out the Most Popular Indoor & Outdoor Projectors at Amazon
Christmas Tree Storage in Garage
Whatever you have a real tree or an artificial tree, the garage is where the tree most likely comes first and ends up after the holidays.
The garage is an excellent place to store an artificial tree for the next season. Make sure to cover it properly to avoid dust. Invest in a plastic tree storage bin or tree storage bag.
Check out Most Popular Artificial Christmas Trees at Amazon
Selecting a Real Christmas Tree
The garage is a good place to defrost a real tree before taking it inside. Lower temperatures are better for the tree. When the tree has melted, make sure to cut the tree’s trunk again and place water on the stand that holds at least one gallon of water to avoid the tree drying up. And losing all the needles beforehand.
- Look for a healthy green tree with the least amount of brown needles
- Pick up a tree from a shady location and avoid trees in direct sunlight
- Try a few branches with your hand. The needles should feel pliable and not fall off
- Raise the tree a few inches and drop the trunk into the ground. Only a few green needles should fall off. Brown ones fill fall out more.
When you buy the tree. Ensure the seller makes a fresh cut straight across the base of the trunk to aid water absorption. When you get home. Place the tree in a bucket of water. Make a fresh new cut when taking the tree inside. One inch every time is enough.
Check the water level daily and refill as needed.
Storing Christmas Decorations in the Garage
Holiday decoration is an exceptional ingredient for the Christmas spirit and magic of the season.
Storing them can be a different story. The garage is a great place to store the decoration. Still, as with everything, they should be appropriately organized to avoid broken bulbs and ornaments.
Decorations are challenging to organize and pack efficiently. They’re fragile and have a wide variety of odd shapes. Glass and ceramic can break or chip easily when stored incorrectly.
Before you start storing the decorations, take an afternoon to declutter and organize them. Maybe some of them can be sold or donated away. Broken ones can be discarded.
Sort and categorize everything in their own boxes or bins. But all like item together and mark the bins with cards, stickers or buy red, green or see-through containers. Plastic storage bins(paid link) are sturdier and stack easier and provide superior moisture protection compared to cardboard boxes.
Overhead storage is an excellent place for stuff like decorations. Overhead racks are ideal for storing bulky items that are infrequently used. Consider installing some.
If you have holiday pillows, blankets, and drapes. Storing them in airtight containers with silica packets preserves them better and keeps the unwanted critters away. If your garage is heated, cooled, and insulated, you can store a lot more items in there. Drastic temperature changes and moisture can ruin most linen or cloths and create mildew.
Garage hooks(paid link) are a great way to store almost anything, including garlands and wreaths. They can also be used to store lights.
Christmas lights, tinsel, and garland can easily tangle and result in knots and broken bulbs, and warped wiring.
Check out Most Popular Decoration Storage Options at Amazon
Plastic cable reels are a great way to store lights, tinsel, and garlands in an easy and knot-free way. They do packing and unpacking them a hassle-free and effortless experience.
Taking the time to properly pack up and organize everything saves your time next year when you pull the decorations out again.
