Cleaning Christmas Ornaments

Christmas ornaments are more than simple decorations. For many people, they are treasured heirlooms that inspire fond memories. This means that they should be treated as such, which entails cleaning them regularly. At the very least, you should be cleaning Christmas ornaments every time you pull them out and before you put them away. Follow these instructions to ensure that you get the job done properly.

1. Dust. The very first step in cleaning Christmas ornaments is to actually do a bit of dusting. Considering that ornaments, like most anything, have a nasty habit of collecting dust over time, you really don't want to skip over this step. All you really need to do is grab a nice soft cloth, and wipe the ornament down. It should remove most, if not all, of the dust that may have accumulated.
2. Soak. Fill a bucket with warm, soapy water to soak your ornaments. The best kind of soap to use would be mild degreasing dish soap, as that won't harm most kinds of ornaments. Be sure that you only use warm water to soak the ornaments, as hot water could potentially damage the material it is made out of if you aren't exceedingly careful.
3. Wipe down. After allowing the ornaments to soak for about fifteen minutes, take one and begin wiping it down with your hands to remove any dirt or grime that may be on it. Rinse the ornament, and then either wipe it down with a clean soft rag, or set aside to air dry.
4. Use glass cleaner. Once your ornaments are dried, you can begin the next step. Apply some glass cleaner to the ornament, and then wipe it off. This will remove any remaining bits of dirt or grime you may have missed when washing. You may want to use a gel-based glass cleaner, since the spray types can potentially damage some kinds of ornament material.
5. Replace hooks as needed. As you are cleaning your ornaments, take a good look at the hooks on them. No ornament hook will last forever, so you should take the time to replace or repair any that need it.

Keep in mind that while the methods listed here will get your plastic and glass ornaments clean, they won't work all that well on any cloth ornaments you may have. This means that you will have to use other methods to get them clean. Once you have your ornaments clean, you can either hang them up or pack them away.