3D-Printed Christmas Storage and Decoration
Do you have a 3D Printer? Do you celebrate Christmas and/or need an easy/free way to store strings of lights? This post is for you! [Novel Use Case #15]
It’s Christmas time, meaning a large number of us will be putting up decorations to celebrate the season. While one could argue that the joy/excitement/pleasant atmosphere/event marking/consumerism involved makes this ritual wonderful, but you might also note that it’s a bit of a hassle.1
To make this less of a hassle, here are four 3D-printed (and/or 3D-printed adjacent) solutions to help streamline this process.
Lights storage and labeling via used filament roll
First something that’s not actually 3D-printed:
While this is perhaps the most creative/oddball use case on this list, I also think it’s the most useful. Save your old filament rolls and roll up your Christmas lights for easy storage. Add an appropriate label to avert the “where do these go?” question that would otherwise come up next year, and add bit of masking tape to keep tings in place.
I’m thankful to Jeremy Cook last year for packing things up nicely for me now. IIRC, I saw it online somewhere, so I can’t take total credit for this one.
EZ Gutter Hangers
To save time when applying lights, these vaguely question-mark shaped doodads slide onto your gutters, making it very easy to hang up and take down your outside lights. This idea was inspired by a Pocket83 video, but he used bent copper wire.
Certainly copper wire bending is less expensive as far as equipment goes. However, I recently wanted several more. After a few button presses I will be able to grab them off of the printer in a few minutes. Nice.
Mantle Stocking Hanger
Yes, we’re also required to hang up stockings inside our house. Like the gutter hangers, these stocking hangers slide into place on your mantle, providing a nice place to store your gigantic gift-socks.
Particle Christmas Star
Some years ago I got a round circuit board from Particle with LEDs on one side and buttons on the other. After completing whatever assignment I bought it for, I then modeled a star around it, with flexible tabs that capture the board inside. “Clear” (i.e. translucent) PLA was used to allow the light to shine through, and it worked on the first try IIRC.
It’s been a while since I made this, and I’m not certain where the actual print files are, but perhaps this will provide some inspiration nonetheless. If, however, you would just like some decorative things that you can print out without much fuss, see👇
Other Christmas stuff I didn’t design and can’t vouch for
What’s listed above are things that I have at my house, and that I personally designed. If you search around on Printables or likely any other 3D-printing repository for “Christmas” items, you’ll be met with a plethora of decorative options.
Also, I suppose many of those things would make great gifts, especially if it’s December 24th and you still can’t figure out what to get for friend/relative X/Y/Z. Just look something up, get your printer running, and see their (amazed/disappointed/some mixture) faces the next morning. It’s a 3D-printing miracle!
Anyway, Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and I hope the New Year will be awesome for you! -JC
Sharing is caring! Rhymes, but is it correct? Not if it’s mold. Unless it’s a mold for something cool, like tiny toy soldiers.
Thanks for reading! I hope you will follow along as I post weekly about engineering, technology, making, and projects. Fair warning: I am a native Florida man, and may get a little off-topic in the footnotes.
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Addendum/Footnotes:
In lieu of proper footnotes, check out my Christmas-commercial-themed gift guide for 2025:
Engineering & Tech Gifts for 2025
Techie types (e.g. engineers) can be quite particular about the things they use, often making them difficult gifting targets. While I can’t guarantee the things listed here will satisfy the tech aficionado in your life, I can recommend everything on this list.
OK, one late footnote. I can’t resist. If you have kids or anyone else bugging you to put up the tree/lights/other decorations, just go ahead and do it ASAP. From a altruistic standpoint, this means that kids/etc can enjoy the decorations for longer. From selfish standpoint, realize that you have the options of 1. Get things up now, or 2. Get bugged about it for days or weeks then put things up.
Or I suppose there is option #3, which is don’t put anything up at all. However you’ll certainly get bugged about this for weeks before and even after Christmas (maybe all year), and will probably feel bad. You might even have to buy more decorations for next year to atone for your guilt. So just bite the bullet and go for option #1. As this is coming out on December 10th, you’re certainly about to cross into #2 anyway if you haven’t already.