Blog June 15, 2021

How to Pack Glasses for Moving Like an Expert

Posted in How-to
Milly Andrews

Born and raised in Portland, Milly has had a lot of experience moving and writing about the relocation process.

You don’t want to arrive at your new home and discover that some of your favorite glassware is shattered to pieces. Follow our suggestions on how to pack glasses for moving and learn all the right ways of boxing up different types of glasses. Consider and memorize all of our tips so that even the trickiest glassware wouldn’t be a problem.

How To Prepare for Packing Glassware?

It is commonly known that preparation and organization are the basis of every successful work. When organizing a move, remember to create a relocation checklist. That will help you arrange the order in which your work needs to be done. When the kitchen becomes the next step on your list, you should think about methods of boxing up dishes and determine which type of dishware you want to work with first. It is always better to start with the most simple one, such as plates and bowls. Glassware, on the other hand, is more complicated for boxing up.

Before the act of packing glasses, you need to, naturally, make sure that they are properly washed and dried. After relocating to a new home, you will have a lot more important things to think about. The second thing you need to consider before boxing up is the logical plan for sorting your glassware according to its type. This action will help you realize the best order of placing them in the carton and eventually save you time, which is essential if you have a last-minute move.

A pile of drinkware turned upside down
Arrange glassware according to its type and save your time

How Do You Pack Glasses for Long-Distance Move – Relocation Supplies

You want to think very carefully about which of the relocation supplies accommodates your needs and preferences the best way. They are considered relocation essentials, so remember to purchase or acquire them on time. Remember to get the following packing materials:

  • Boxes,
  • Wrapping (and stuffing) material,
  • Lots of packing tape (and possibly a tape gun),
  • Additional objects, such as markers, scissors, and alike.
A bubble wrap, scissors, and tape on a table
Proper supplies will help you protect your drinkware better

How to Choose Moving Boxes for Glasses?

Before choosing the right type of box, you need to determine which aspects you want to be the primary one: the cost or the level of protectiveness. The best way to ensure that your glassware finds its destination intact is to buy dish barrels – they provide the best protection. They are specifically designed cartons with thick cardboard that should efficiently separate each glass.

Unfortunately, their awesomeness isn’t cheap, which means that you need to consider their price when thinking about the cost of interstate moving. If you decide that you can’t or won’t put your money into that purpose, you can always buy regular cartons and box up your items a little bit more carefully. Don’t worry! We will explain in detail how to do it properly.

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How To Get a Free Box – A Guide for Saving up Your Money

If you try to find the cheapest way to move out of state, there are few tips that we can give you. Think about your local stores and which one do you prefer. Do you think their workers fancy you in return? If the answer is yes, ask store workers if they could give you some boxes they don’t need, whether it is a grocery store, a bookstore, or any other kind. For this purpose, it would be better if you have a special connection with some restaurant or liquor store because they probably have cartons specifically designed for different types of drinkware.

If you are an introvert, not a fan of people, or just follow the protocol of coronavirus isolation, you could try different approaches. For example, research various online sites, such as Freecycle. In the online world, you could find some very ecologically oriented people who are more than happy to offer you their used boxes for free. However, note that you need to be more careful with them because they could have lower quality than the new ones.

A dish barrel and four bottles on a floor
Liquor stores are the best option for getting free dish barrels

Wrapping Materials  – Tuck Your Dishes for a Successful Move

In the process of boxing up your dishware, you will need to think about how to cover your glassware and what is the proper way to place it in a carton. Naturally, the better you cover your drinkware, the more protected it gets. After covering glassware, other tasks, like boxing up pots and pans, would seem like a piece of cake.

Paper, Clothes, and Plastic – What Is Good For Glass?

Unfortunately, this is the time when things get complicated. At this age, we are constantly reminded that everything we do needs to be eco-friendly so we have a place to live in the future. However, what will you do when the not-so eco-friendly options are the best ones for your work? We leave it to your conscience to pick the wrapping and stuffing material that is most suitable for you. We will solely present their pros and cons.

Materials you can use are:

  • Packing paper – paper is the most common wrapping material. Remember to buy enough of it – that extra material can be used for stuffing space when boxing up fragile items.
  • Newspapers – newspapers are excellent as a cost-free solution that you can find at your own home but note that they can leave permanent marks on your glassware. Using them on drinkware that is extremely valuable for you might not be a good idea.
  • Clothes, towels, rugs, and alike – these materials come first in mind when you ask yourself how do you pack glasses for moving without paper. Homemade supplies are probably the most eco-friendly ones, but they give the least protection. You need to truly think about using them for covering delicate drinkware.
  • Bubble wrap – in contrast to the last group, bubble wrap is the material that will protect your drinkware the most, but the amount of plastic that it leaves behind is pretty significant. On the plus side, you can always pop some bubbles. Who knows, maybe it will help you deal with anxiety about relocation and achieve as stress-free relocation as possible.

The same problem also exists when it comes to stuffing supplies – clothes and other fabrics can fill the space, but it would be more efficient to purchase foam peanuts. Sadly, it is often made from styrofoam, which is terrible for the environment. However, you could win on both fronts if you find biodegradable or recycled foam peanuts.

Beautiful curly-haired girl wrapping a tea cup securely before putting it into a box
Bubble wrap and foam peanuts are the safest, but the least eco-friendly supplies

How To Pack Glasses for Shipping – The Ultimate Guide

Make sure to memorize all of the following steps because they are the basis for boxing up delicate glassware. Rules that we will list refer to various kinds of your drinkware. Read and comprehend them first, and then you can go to the next level and learn which steps you need to undertake to ensure that every type of your glassware gets from point A to point B in one piece:

  • Step one – prepare the box. Be sure that the bottom of a carton is closed properly. You don’t want to lift your items in one second and find them on the floor in the next one. Secondly, add the chosen padding (paper, peanuts, clothes) on the bottom. It will absorb all of the impacts.
  • Step two – fill your drinkware with material and cover it carefully. Place an object at one end of the material. Roll the glass to the middle and ensure that the surface and edges are covered. Continue with rolling until you get to the end of the material. Use the tape so that the material stays in the same position and put the object inside of the carton. For more valuable breakables, use one more layer. When you close the carton, remember to shake it. If you hear your glassware, you didn’t do a good job, and you need to repeat the process.
  • Step three – add some padding inside of the carton and fill the space. Extra padding on the top would also prevent possible damage. Make sure that objects inside don’t move by using some fabric or foam peanuts. You shouldn’t feel the objects move when you shake the carton.
  • Step four – don’t forget to label. Mark your cartons with words such as “Fragile,” “Glass,” “Handle with care,” and alike, so that the crew performing long-distance moving service knows how to operate with them.
Label your cartons to draw attention to the fragileness of the objects inside

How To Pack Glasses for Moving According to Their Type

When you think about what is the best way to pack glasses for moving, notice that various types of drinkware demand various approaches and techniques. On that note, we created more detailed guidance for a few different groups of your glassware.

Items for Everyday Use – The Entry Level of Boxing up Drinkware

This type of drinkware doesn’t need some extra tutorial. Just follow the four steps that we enumerated. If you want, you can cover two pieces simultaneously. Cover the first glass to the first half of the material so that the whole object is covered, and then add the second glass and continue the process until the end of the layer.

How Do You Pack Wine Glasses for Moving – Stemware Problems

More significant problems appear when it comes to this type of drinkware. You want to be extremely cautious when covering stems – you can’t have stemware without it. Dish barrels from a liquor store would be the absolute best solution for boxing up such dainty objects. The same advice goes for the drinkware for champagne and cocktails.

Glassware for Beer and Shots – Old Drinkware for New Friends

Saying bye to old friends is never an easy task, especially if you are relocating to another state alone. When you settle in nicely, you could try to throw a party of some kind to get to know your neighbors and make friends in a new city. In that case, it is most likely that you will need some drinkware for a different kind of liquor, such as beer and strong drinks. Small drinkware is easy – you can cover even four of them at the same time.

On the other hand, beer mugs are trickier since they are neither small or light. Cover them with care, and remember to place them on the bottom of the carton so that the smaller objects go on top of them, not the other way around.

If you want to know how to prepare other kinds of glass objects for moving state to state, watch the video below.

Too Much Drinkware for One Person? Call for Help

If you compare boxing up your glassware with eternal damnation, don’t hesitate to ask for help. You can blackmail and guilt your family and friends, or you can hire professional movers. Remember to explore if the relocation company of your choosing offers packing services.

If so, their movers will undoubtedly know how to pack wine glasses for moving and all of the other tricks – after all, they’ve probably done it a million times. Don’t forget to tip movers accordingly after they finish their work.

Professional mover giving thumbs-up
Hire state to state movers and devote yourself to more important tasks

Overcome Difficulties and Enjoy Benefits

Undamaged drinkware is one of the main goals you want to achieve when moving interstate. When you learn how to pack glassware for moving and apply what you have learned, pat yourself on the back because you completed a challenging task. After that, you can relax a little and think about all of the benefits of relocation to a new home and the ways you will experience them.

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