Practical Playing Card Storage (That Looks Great Too!)

We love a good card game in our household, but one thing we don’t love? All the different-sized boxes, envelopes, pouches, and tubes they come in. Not only does the variation make it difficult to keep everything tidy, but original packaging doesn’t tend to be very durable either! After lots (and I mean lots) of brainstorming, I finally came up with a playing card storage solution that is not just practical but also mighty fine to look at. If you’ve been wanting to consolidate and organize your card games too, read on for my favorite finds and very best tips!

Our Playing Card Games | Before & After

I wish I could say that the below picture was our “starting point.” In fact, the mess in the two baskets below represents our small game collection after purging what we no longer need.

However, despite cutting our card collection down by half, all the random sizes, boxes, and shapes made these games really tough to organize and keep them that way!

I’m in the process of a greater game closet re-organization (full reveal coming soon!) and getting these smaller games into a better state was one of my top priorities. Not only do these small playing card games more easily fall into disarray (because of their size), but they also tend to be the ones we reach for the most.

Coming up with our eventual solution wasn’t exactly quick or easy, as it really took a lot of experimentation to identify something that worked and worked well. But lucky for you, I’ve done all the hard work and you can just implement all my lessons learned!

Take a look!

I don’t necessarily think de-boxing all games into plastic cases is the right solution every time. But without a doubt, moving our small games into plastic card storage boxes has been a serious space and sanity saver!

Not only are these games now stored in a much more compact and tidy footprint, but they are so much easier to find and get in/out.

We’ve been living with this new playing card storage solution for a while now, and it might go down as one of my very favorite things I’ve ever done!

How to Organize Playing Cards Into Plastic Boxes

1 – Gather & Purge Games

Start by gathering all your small playing card games into one spot. If you’re anything like us, you may have games tucked into random closets, cabinets, and drawers throughout the house, depending how often they get played.

Once gathered, spend some time going through the games to make sure they are all worth keeping.

I recommend tossing games that are:

• Incomplete
• Badly damaged
• Wrong age for your family
• Never get played

For a long time, card games were easy stocking stuffers, birthday presents, and travel souvenirs; as a result, we amassed quite the collection. But in reality, there were many “novelty” games or ones we just never gravitated toward. We were quickly able to reduce our collection down to about two baskets worth of games.

2 – Order Supplies

Once you have your games decluttered, I recommend analyzing your games’ size and shape. Specifically, which games are cards only (and how many cards) and which games have additional pieces. This “analysis” will allow you to identify the correct size and number of plastic storage boxes you need.

Based on our specific game collection and lots (and I really do mean lots and lots) of research, I finally landed on using plastic card boxes (single | double) to hold most of our playing card games. This combination of sizes (plus the removable divider on the double boxes) would accommodate almost all of our games and their various cards, pieces, etc.

3 – Transfer Games to Plastic Card Boxes

The next step is to de-box each and every card game and move it into the “best match” storage box, discarding trash, dividers, and boxes as you go.

Admittedly, some games will take a bit of trial-and-error to figure out how best to store them. I share a bunch of my re-boxing tips further down in this post; but in general, your goal is to eliminate all the flimsy cardboard packaging and load each game into its own plastic storage case.

4 – Load Games Into Larger Bins

One of the trickiest things about storing small games is keeping them both tidy while also accessible. Having stacks and stacks of small plastic boxes on a shelf isn’t really ideal, so you’ll want to corral them into something larger.

Deep coffee table or cabinet drawers can be one option; but if you store your games on shelves (like we do), a larger bin is a great option to hold them all.

After considering many different options, I discovered that these XL Pantry Bins from Target’s new Brightroom line hold these particular playing card storage boxes juuuuust right. In fact, you’d almost think they were made to go together by how well everything fits.

In the XL bin, you can fit 20 of the single playing card boxes on their ends…

…or ten of the double playing card boxes.

Originally, I wanted all the single boxes in one bin and all the doubles in another (because it looked the nicest), but we quickly realized this arrangement wasn’t user friendly at all. When you’re looking for a particular game, you’re much more likely to know the title rather than the size of the box it’s in.

So instead, I recommend alphabetizing your games, even if you have to mix-and-match how the single- and double-size boxes fit together.

5 – Label Games

I’m always a succor for a pretty label, but this is one organization project where you really need to add labels, as it’s practically impossible to see what game is where when they’re loaded up next to each other.

1.5″ square labels fit perfectly on both the single and double playing card boxes, but you can use whatever labels suit your preferences. I typed up all our game titles and printed them onto my favorite Avery waterproof labels (my colored square labels templates are coming soon!)

By sticking the labels to the ends/sides of each box (instead of the lid), it is really easy to see which game is where once they’re loaded into their larger bin!

Finally, consider adding letters to the exterior of the larger bins so the categorization is easy for the whole family to understand.

6 – Store Games

With all your small card games de-boxed and re-boxed, sorted alphabetically, and labeled appropriately, all that’s left to do is put them away.

Next game night, you’ll love being able to quickly and easily find exactly what you’re wanting to play!

My Best Tips for Storing Card Games In Plastic Boxes

De-boxing games and moving all the card decks and pieces into plastic boxes might seem like a simple, mindless task; but I was admittedly a bit surprised how tricky it ended up being. Here are some helpful tips I learned along the way!

Match Game Size to Box

Having the two sizes of boxes really is key because some games won’t use up the space in the bigger box, while others will need the larger layout.

The single boxes can hold up to 100 playing cards (e.g., a full Phase 10 or Unstable Unicorns game)…

…while the double boxes can easily hold up to 8 full decks of cards (rubber bands or small plastic bags can keep each deck separate).

I especially love that the divider within the double boxes can be removed, allowing you to better fit certain games.

Dedicate One Game/Box

To make for ease of labeling (and therefor finding), I highly recommend only putting one game/box. Use small boxes for small games and bigger boxes for bigger games…instead of two different games in one bigger box.

If you have double sets (like Uno or our very favorite game Skip-Bo), put both decks in one box so they are always together and can be grabbed all at once.

Discard As Much Packaging As Possible

Once you start un-boxing games, you will really be amazed how much wasted space there is in each box. While I absolutely recommend trashing all the boxes, dividers, in-lays, ads, etc, make sure you remove all cards/accessories/instructions before discarding.

Consider Re-Bagging Small Pieces

Some games come with lots of smaller pieces. To reduce mess within the small boxes and make games easier to setup, consider re-bagging small pieces and/or sets into re-sealable bags. I found the three sizes in this set really handy for most game cards and pieces.

Don’t Forget the Instructions

Even if you know how to play a particular game, I always recommend keeping the instructions. Most come in small pamphlets that can be placed right into the bottom of the plastic boxes.

If the instructions don’t fit, fold them down as needed; and if they are printed directly on the box itself, cut them out or print them off online.

When Games Just Can’t Be Re-Boxed

No matter how hard I tried, we ended up with a handful of games that just could not be re-boxed into my chosen boxes.

Instead of finding yet another re-boxing solution, I ultimately opted to keep these games together into their own dedicated bin.

Admittedly, this is not my favorite solution because these “catch all” bins easily become over-run. But because I was able to build in some “room to grow” boxes in our larger bins, I’m optimistic I can keep this bucket in order!

While finding the right box for the right game does indeed require some experimentation, we’re totally smitten with this solution that allows us to see and (more importantly!) access all our games in one tidy spot!

Organizing our playing card games is only just one part of a bigger project to organize all of our games (including board games, party games, puzzles, etc). I’ve got some really clever solutions in the works, so be sure to keep an eye out for my full game closet reveal coming up in the next month!

Until then, I hope this project gives you the motivation (and the fully vetted shopping list!) to finally get your small card games in order once and for all!