# Costume storage



## Palladino (Aug 29, 2013)

This is my biggest storage challenge. 

How do _you_ do it?


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## Paint It Black (Sep 15, 2011)

I just use plastic storage bins in the garage for the clothing and accessories. Masks are what I am trying to deal with now. I don't want them all squished up in a box, but have too many to keep out on foam heads. I have a lot of costumes, masks and hands because I like to make my own props with them.


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## darth stygian (Jun 19, 2008)

Hung in the basement, have a covered rack. mask are another story, as Paint it black said, having issues with the storing of the masks. I have a lot if them.


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## Shadowbat (Sep 27, 2009)

hung in various closets


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## kakugori (Aug 26, 2013)

Some live in my closet (what's that? closet? that's that pile on the chair, which is why the real closet has room for costumes). The rest are in boxes and a couple of those huge zip-lock bags in the Halloween storage building. We use this clothes rack as part of our setup, so that lives in storage and gives me a place to hang things. Some of the masks and makeup stay in the house.


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## Palladino (Aug 29, 2013)

I have tons of costumes, hats, wigs and costume accessories and not a big enough house to store them inside. So they stay in the garage until just before Halloween. Then I bring in the costumes I've put together for that year's theme so the haunters can get dressed in the warm house. Right now they are hanging in various places in the garage and not grouped at all. I used to have all the costumes (well, all the Halloween stuff, in the workshop room at the back of the garage but now I have so much of everything that the collection has spilled over into the main garage.

I'd like to have them sorted by type or at least by sex to make them easier to go through when I'm looking for a specific costume theme. Does anyone do that or do you just hang or pile them all up and sort through them each year?


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## Paint It Black (Sep 15, 2011)

Palladino said:


> I have tons of costumes, hats, wigs and costume accessories and not a big enough house to store them inside. So they stay in the garage until just before Halloween. Then I bring in the costumes I've put together for that year's theme so the haunters can get dressed in the warm house. Right now they are hanging in various places in the garage and not grouped at all. I used to have all the costumes (well, all the Halloween stuff, in the workshop room at the back of the garage but now I have so much of everything that the collection has spilled over into the main garage.
> 
> I'd like to have them sorted by type or at least by sex to make them easier to go through when I'm looking for a specific costume theme. Does anyone do that or do you just hang or pile them all up and sort through them each year?


No, I don't have them organized, but it sounds like a great idea.


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## JustWhisper (Nov 16, 2008)

I keep mine down to a minimum so I just store them in plastic totes in the attic


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## freudstein (Aug 9, 2007)

We keep ours in the spare bedroom - we have a canvas wardrobe in there especially for them! it got a bit heavy and the rail collapsed....so now they're just folded rather than hanging.


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## Cynamin (Sep 13, 2013)

I have taken over the closet of our guest bedroom for my costumes, and the bookshelf in there holds my wigs. I think I need to get rid of some of the old stuff because at this point I am running out of room for new costumes. And I'm kind of addicted to making them.


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## budeena (Jul 4, 2011)

For those costumes and fabric components that can be folded, I pack them like flight attendants do. I do a partial fold and then roll them up into a tube. I got some of the XXL bags with handles at the Dollar Store that I put them in. I also place a paper label in the bag that identifies what is in the bag since so many things for Halloween are black. When the bag is full but I can still seal up the bag, I lay the bag on a flat surface and body "squish" the air out of them. I do this in the privacy of a bedroom as it is not a You-Tube moment. These bags fit nicely in the 56 quart sterilite containers that I store in the big barn area. One end and one side of the plastic container have a label taped to it with the same information. I can go out to the storage and easily identify where things are at. For the more fragile or expensive items, I do a covered rack that can be zipped shut. I use the clear shipping tape to cover the zipper to prevent uninvited guests from making their home in my costumes. This rack along with the hundreds of masks are stored in the basement storage room where the temperature stays at an even 60° to 65°. 
I built three stepped down levels of 2x4 shelves to hold the masks along one end of the basement storage room. I drilled holes in the 2x4s at distances which would provide space between the masks. The masks are mounted on styrofoam heads, plastic skulls and even 1 gallon milk jugs. I put the "mounts" on sections of pvc and the pvc is inserted into the hole in the 2x4. To prevent the pvc from falling out the bottom of the 2x4 hole, I inserted a short screw about 1 1/2" from the end of the pipe that holds it in place.


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## emilymarion128 (Dec 17, 2013)

Yes you have to get rid off from the old stuff. It will be good for you.


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