How to pack glasses for moving

When moving home it’s important to pack your belongings safely and efficiently. Packing your house can be time-consuming and if done wrong you could end up with damaged items. The kitchen is one of the most difficult rooms to pack as you have both heavy items and fragile items.

Packing plates and glasses is one of the most difficult things to do when moving home so today we will be looking at how you can protect your wine glasses and other glasses when moving home. Packing your wine glasses and other breakables carefully now will minimise the chance of damage when unwrapping on the other side.

Today we have put together a blog post showing the best ways to keep your glasses safe when moving.

Equipment you will need for packing glasses

Before you start putting your favourite cocktail glasses away, you will need the following packing material:

• Packing paper
• Bubble wrap
• Moving box
• Packing Tape
• Packing Peanuts
• Crumpled Paper
• Cardboard divider/or packing paper.

If you have done any research on protecting your glassware you may have seen that some movers recommend using tissue paper, newspaper, dish towels and everything else in between. This isn’t something we would advise as these items don’t offer the same level of protection as the packing supplies above.

When you have the packing materials you can start packing away your glasses.

Packing Glasses Instructions

To keep your crystal glassware, wine glass, shot glasses or any other glass item safe when moving use the following instructions.

1. Cover a medium-sized box in bubble wrap, the bubble wrap should cover the bottom, sides and top of the box when full.
2. Crumple some packing paper and cover the bottom of the box too. This crushed paper will provide extra cushioning which is particularly useful for keeping stemware safe.
3. Start wrapping your heaviest glasses first in your paper packing paper and put them at the bottom of the packing box. Place heaviest glasses at the bottom and lighter glasses at the top.
4. When you have covered the first layer of the box put in your cardboard divider. If you haven’t got one create a snug layer of packing paper and wrap it around your glasses. This extra layer will provide more support for your glasses.
5. Carry on this process until the box is full.
6. When the box is full, cover any spaces with packing paper, bubble wrap or packing peanuts.
7. Fold the layer of bubble wrap over the top of your box and then seal it with duct tape or packing tape.
8. Label your cardboard box with a fragile or breakable item warning and put it in your moving van.
9. Repeat the process until all of your glasses are packed.

Packing Stemware

Stemware is more fragile than a normal glass so extra precautions should be made when packing them. When packing stemware make sure to start with the stems first and then move up to the rest of the glass.

You can wrap the stem in packing tape or bubble wrap and then cover the top of the glass. Stemware can break easily when moving so take the time to get this part right.

There are also divided boxes that can be purchased for the transportation of wine glasses or stemware so either look online or ask your local wine store if they have any in stock.

Items to avoid when packing glasses

When scouring the web for packing tips you often come across advice that you suspect the writer hasn’t tried themselves. This is the same for glasses. Here are some of the packing tips we found that we don’t recommend.

We don’t recommend that you use towels or newspaper for packing glass as they don’t provide enough protection and newspaper ink can easily run onto your glassware. Sure they are cheap but if you use either you run the risk of damaging your items. Crumpled packing paper is a much better option and it isn’t too expensive either.

Using suitcases is another tip we came across that had us scratching our heads. A suitcase generally doesn’t have enough room to fit in enough items and they are costly too. Suitcases are heavy as well and if you have enough suitcases to move your home you probably won’t be doing any of the lifting in the first place.

Avoid suitcases and get medium to large cardboard boxes, they are more affordable and can hold more of your glasses.

Alternatives to packing your glasses

Let’s face it, moving home is a huge inconvenience. If we could do a snap of our fingers and we would be in our new homes in an instant we would all do it.

Unfortunately moving home can take days and packing dishes, glassware and other household items are all a part of that. If you don’t feel up to the whole packing and moving you can hire packing companies to do it for you. A professional packing company can pack an average-sized house in a few hours.

When moving home we always recommend hiring a self storage unit. Moving all of your items on one day is stressful, tiring and can take all of the excitement out of moving home.

A storage unit can be rented a month in advance and you can slowly take some of your least-used items there so when it comes to moving day you only have to move the most important items. Moving like this takes a lot of the stress out of moving and it means that you can take more time with your most fragile items keeping them safe.