Packing your items correctly is essential to the moving process and it helps to ensure your belongings are transported safely. Fragile items, such as dishes and glasses, can be packed in a specific way so that they are well-protected and less likely to be damaged during your move. While we provide professional packing services, we want to make sure those who choose to pack themselves do so in a way that keeps everything protected. Watch our short video below on how to self-pack dishes for a long distance move.
Things you will need:
- Packing box (make sure to use a dish pack box or strong moving box)
- Packing tape
- Packing paper (avoid newspaper as they are thinner and can damage your items with ink)
- Marker or pen
- Other soft material (linens, towels, clothing etc.)
How to pack dishes
- Assemble the box with packing tape.
- Create some cushion at the bottom of the box with crumpled packing paper, bunched towels and linens, clothes or other soft material.
- Lay packing paper, tape and dishes on a large table.
- Place one plate in the center of the stack of packing paper; fold two or three sheets of paper from the corner over the plate to securely wrap it. Place a second plate on top of the folded sheet; fold over another corner of the paper to cover the second plate. Repeat this process until you have four plates in total wrapped.
- Wrap the remaining corners over the plates to make a package.
- Turn the package of dishes upside down, wrap two or three more sheets around the package for extra protection and tape securely.
- Place the package of dishes in the box vertically (as if you were loading a dishwasher). Repeat steps 4-6 until all dishes are wrapped.
- Fill in any extra space in the box using additional packing paper, linens, clothing or other soft material to prevent any movement during transport.
- Seal the box close with tape and clearly label the box to help you and your movers easily identify the box’s content during the move.
National Van Lines offers a range of quality packing supplies for long distance moves including cushioning materials, tape, cardboard boxes and dish packs. We can also provide professional services for packing delicate, fragile or hard-to-pack items. Contact us online or call 855-952-5199 for more information and a free moving quote!
