tips for your short-distance move

Packing Your Children's Toys: 5 Tips That You Will Want to Follow

18 April 2016 by Otto Moilanen

If you are preparing to move and have children, you likely have many toys to pack up and move. Learning how to properly pack these toys will help ensure they arrive to your new home safe and sound. Here are five tips every parent should know about packing their children's toys.

1. Declutter

Your child's room may be flowing with toys. However, getting in the room and figuring out what toys they have outgrown, which games are missing pieces, and which toys they simply don't play with may be something that you have put off. If you are moving, don't put this task off any longer. Now is a great time to go through your child's toys and donate or throw away what is no longer played with. This gives you less to pack and unpack, and helps ensure your child has a clutter-free room in your new home.

2. Ensure Your Child's Favorite Toys Are Easily Accessible

It can be easy to randomly throw toys in a box without paying much attention to which toy is going into which box. However, if your child has favorite toys or stuffed animals, they may begin crying out for that toy in the middle of the night as they sleep in a new, unfamiliar home. The last thing you want to do is rip into three or four boxes to find this toy in the middle of the night. As such, it is always wise to ensure your child's favorite toys are easily accessible. Consider labeling one box as "favorites" and place that box in your child's room when you unload, or allow your child to pick three toys to ride in the car with him or her on moving day, allowing him or her to control which toys come along.

3. Remove Batteries from the Toys

If any of your child's toys light up, play music, or make sounds, there is a good chance it has a battery. While you can slide the toy to the off position, it may slide back to the on position again as it shifts during the loading phase or transport. Not only can this wear the battery down, but it can be annoying to hear a child's song play over and over as you are trying to lift the box and load it. Additionally, it is wise to remove batteries if the toy is going to storage. Batteries can corrode when stored in hot or cold temperatures. This can leave a mess or destroy the battery housing unit. Removing the batteries before placing the items in a storage unit as you prepare for a move can help ensure the toy is not ruined.

4. Use Clothes or Stuffed Animals to Fill in Gaps

Toys can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, which may leave gaps in the boxes they're packed in. Unfortunately, these gaps give the toys space to move during transport. They may rub on one another, causing scuffs, scratches, or dents. Filling in the boxes of toys with packing materials can help prevent this, but these materials, such as packing peanuts, can be pricey. Instead of shelling out money for them, consider using your child's clothes and stuffed animals to fill in the gaps. These items effectively fill in gaps, preventing shifting, while keeping your child's belongings safe. And they have to be packed and moved anyhow, so it's a win-win situation.

5. Use Rubber Bands or Ziploc Bags to Keep Pieces Together

When packing up your child's room, use rubber bands or Ziploc bags to keep pieces together. Mixing pieces and parts can be a hassle when you arrive to your new home, as you have to figure out which parts go to which set. Use a rubber band to keep all the Hot Wheel tracks for one set together or use a Ziploc bag to keep all Lego pieces from another set together. This helps keep everything together and ensures sets don't get mixed up with one another.

If you are preparing to move, decluttering, ensuring your child's favorite toys are easily accessible, removing batteries from toys, using clothes and stuffed animals to fill in box gaps, and keeping sets of toys together with rubber bands or Ziploc bags are all great tips for moving with kids. However, if you are moving quickly, feeling overwhelmed, or don't think you can do everything yourself, a moving company like Absolute Moving & Storage Inc is there to help you. They can assist you with packing, loading, transporting, and unloading your belongings, helping to take some of the stress out of moving.

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