Moving house can be an incredibly stressful time even for the most organised of people and the absolute last thing that you want is to reach the other end to discover that some of your precious possessions have been damaged and broken. In this article, we’re sharing our tips for selecting and packing your moving boxes for glasses to prevent breakage.
Taking care of precious memories
The average family owns around 32 drinking glasses and these can include expensive and delicate items such as cocktail glasses and champagne flutes. In some cases, these can also have a sentimental attachment such as family heirlooms or wedding gifts and, for this reason, it’s essential that care is taken when preparing your glasses for a house move.
What do I need ?
Making sure that you’re properly prepared for your house move is one of the most important steps in ensuring that everything goes smoothly and so, for moving your glasses you will need:
– Bubble wrap
– Old rags or tea towels
– Moving boxes for glasses
– Strong packing tape
– Sellotape
Making sure that you have these items well in advance of your move can help to alleviate some of the stress and strain. They could also come in handy when packing a mirror for moving.
Moving boxes for glasses
The safest way to move your precious glassware is to use specially designed boxes. Moving boxes for glasses are sturdy cardboard with special slots to house individual glasses. In this section, we’re sharing tips for selecting your moving boxes for glasses.
Brand
While it’s not necessary to spend a fortune on your moving boxes for glasses, it is important to buy from a reliable and trustworthy brand. Before making a purchase, be sure to read online reviews to see what other consumers experienced when buying from a particular brand.
Quality
To keep your beautiful glasses pristine and damage free, you’ll need to choose boxes which are made from good quality cardboard. Where possible, try to choose moving boxes for glasses which are made from 150 – 200k/T grade cardboard for the best possible protection. It’s also a good idea to invest in double or even triple walled boxes to protect your stemware.
Design
If you have a lot of glasses which are different sizes, you may want to invest in boxes which have adjustable inserts as this will allow you to pack different size glasses (for example, tumblers and wine glasses) in the same box.
Moving boxes for glasses: Packing smartly
While it’s great to have the right boxes for moving your glasses, it doesn’t stop there. For maximum protection, its best to follow these steps for damage-free packing and transportation of your glasses:
– Wrap it up – Using a generous piece of bubble wrap, carefully wrap the stem of each glass and secure it with a small piece of sellotape, ensuring that the tape doesn’t touch the actual glass. While you’ll want to wrap your glass securely, don’t wrap it so tightly that you risk breaking the stem. For tumblers, wrap the whole of the outside of the glass.
– An inside job – Next, roll up a piece of bubble wrap and place it inside the bowl of the glass.
– It’s a wrap – Finally, wrap a double layer of bubble wrap around the glass and secure it with sellotape.
Mind the gaps
Now that your glasses are securely wrapped, it’s time to place them into your box. Carefully place each glass into a slot within the box and adjust the inserts where necessary to ensure that each glass is snugly fitted – i.e ensure that the glass cannot move around within the slot.
Safe and secure
Once all of the slots in the box have been filled, use more bubble wrap and / or rags to fill in any gaps between each glass and the cardboard insert to prevent any movement while in transit.
Place a layer of bubble wrap or rags / tea towels on top of the wrapped and packed glasses for an extra layer of protection and then close the box and fasten it securely with packing tape.
Clearly mark your boxes as fragile / glass with an indication of which way up they should be stored and instruct your movers to take extra care with these boxes while in transit.
Home and dry
Once you reach your new home, make sure that your moving boxes for glasses are set aside in a safe spot where nobody is likely to trip over them. Once you get around to unpacking your glasses, do so with care – particularly when removing the tape and bubble wrap from the delicate stems of wine glasses and champagne flutes. Wipe or clean your glasses to remove any dust or dirt from the bubblewrap.
How to dispose of your boxes
Once your move is over and done with, you may be wondering what to do with your moving boxes for glasses and, here, you have a few options which are:
– Keep them – Some people choose to disassemble their boxes and keep them in a loft, basement or cupboard for use in a future house move
– Sell them – It’s often possible to sell good quality moving boxes on eBay or on local groups on social media
– Give them away – As above, if you no longer want your boxes, you may decide to give them away via social media
– Recycle – If you decide that you would prefer to dispose of your boxes, this should be done responsibly and you can usually find information about recycling facilities on your local council’s website
A new start
When moving house there’s always an awful lot to do and it can be tempting to cut corners on some things. While this is understandable, it’s always worth taking the time to make sure that your glasses are packed securely to prevent damage – otherwise you may find yourself toasting your new home with champagne served from coffee mugs!
Learn how to take care of your bed while transporting it as well!