The best way to pack up a house for a move is to use a good room-by-room checklist that will help you stay organized and will save you plenty of time during your pre-move preparation.
When moving with children, you’re likely to face numerous challenges along the way, including the tough task of packing your kids’ room for a move. The thing is that you wouldn’t want to pack that room too early in the process for fear of disrupting your children’s routine and thus introducing even more stress for your young ones than necessary.
To pack your kids’ room successfully, you’re going to need a good plan: where to start the packing process, which items to pack and which ones not to pack, how to protect all the things in the children’s room for the move, and also, how involved you should keep your children in the packing job too.
Follow these tips for packing your kids’ room to get the job faster and easier, with minimum hassle and lost time.
Keep your kids involved in the packing process
While tackling the toughest and the most time-consuming task during a house move – packing, of course, you should not turn down lightly any extra help. Therefore, if your children are old enough to be able to help you sort and pack their own room, you should do the wise thing and let them get involved in the packing job as much as they can.
Keeping your kids involved when packing for a move will not only secure you more helping hands to finish the packing task more quickly and efficiently, but it should make your loved ones feel useful and engaged in the move just like their mom and dad are. You kids should even feel a bit proud of themselves knowing that they are making a valuable contribution to the successful end of the family relocation adventure.
The best way in which your kids can help you pack their own room is to be with you during the sorting process. Then, they can assist you in protecting and boxing those items of theirs, and then labeling the packed boxes as well.
5 ways children can help during a move
Declutter the room together with your children
You should never pack all the belongings in a room without sorting those items first. The clear benefits of decluttering a room prior to packing it up are that you’ll need fewer packing supplies to pack fewer things and you’ll keep the transportation costs to a minimum thanks to the lower number of items you’re moving to the new home.
Unless your children are too young to understand what’s happening, you’d better sort out and declutter their room in their presence in order to be more efficient and to avoid possible disputes after the move.
Encourage your kids to separate their things into a couple of piles:
- MUST-TAKE items – all the things they still want and will continue to use in the foreseeable future.
- LEAVE-BEHIND items – the things that your children no longer want or need, plus all the things that are already too broken, worn out, or outgrown to continue to be of any service.
Sort out your children’s clothes and shoes – some of them may be worn out, others may be too small to be used again. All your kids’ toys and games are next – go through each one and decide on the spot, together with your loved ones, what to do with it. Don’t forget to declutter your kids’ collection of books either – books are heavy when packed inside a box, so you only need to take the most loved and preserved copies.
What to do with the children’s items you’re not moving? Depending on their current condition, consider giving them away to other kids you know, donating them to charitable organizations, or disposing of them in an eco-friendly way.
How to declutter your home before moving
Prepare essentials boxes for your little ones
Moving with kids can be challenging for a number of good reasons and one of them is that your angels will still need access to their most essential items even when their everyday things are in transit between the two homes. In other words, packing a kids’ room will also mean that you have to prepare essentials boxes for your children as well.
When you’re moving house with a baby or a toddler, you have to include essential baby items in those essentials boxes – baby food, diapers, baby powder, wet wipes, and of course – age-appropriate toys and games to keep them entertained. Also, pack a change of clothes and any prescription medicine your young ones may need while on the road.
When you’re moving house with school-age kids, then you should concentrate on packing their favorite games and toys, including any electronic gadgets that they own. Having an extra set of clothes and shoes is always a good idea, but don’t forget any medications too, if needed.
Make sure those survival boxes are ready and set aside before you move on to packing your children’s room for real. Remember that the essentials boxes for each family member will stay with you during the physical relocation between the two homes.
What to pack in an Open-First box
Tips for packing the kids’ room: safely and efficiently
There are several distinct challenges you’re likely to face when packing up your children’s room: packing their books, packing their toys and games, and packing their clothes and shoes.
HOW TO PACK CHILDREN’S BOOKS FOR MOVING
- Sort your children’s books prior to packing – gift or donate the ones you won’t take with you.
- Pack the copies that are worth moving in small to medium-size cardboard boxes that are strong, dry, and damage-free.
- Wrap more valuable books in soft packing paper first.
- Do not arrange any books with their spines facing upward (facing you) to prevent damage.
DO’S and DON’TS when packing books for moving
HOW TO PACK CHILDREN’S TOYS AND GAMES FOR MOVING
- Go through all your kids’ toys and (board) games to decide which ones will make sense to be packed and move, and which ones won’t. Gift or donate the toys and games you’re leaving behind.
- Wrap fragile and delicate toys – action figures, dolls, ones with many moving parts, etc. – in soft wrapping paper first, then in bubble wrap to keep them protected.
- Keep small items and accessories in plastic bags to have them safe.
- Pack large toys and games in their original boxes, if possible. If you don’t keep those boxes, use cardboard ones of similar size. Packing and moving LEGO SETS can be truly challenging, so click here to learn how to do it.
How to pack board games for moving
HOW TO PACK CHILDREN’S CLOTHES AND SHOES FOR MOVING
- Don’t pack any clothes or shoes that you know your kids won’t wear again in the future – it’s just not worth the time and expenses. Set aside the pieces and pairs that are too small or too worn out and decide what to do with each one based on their current condition.
- Donate the clothes and shoes that are lightly used so that other less fortunate children can have the chance of using them.
- Fold neatly all children’s clothes and place them into clean pre-lined cardboard boxes.
- Clean the pairs of shoes you’re about to pack to prevent taking dust and dirt into the new home. Wrap your kids’ shoes in packing paper and arrange them into small to medium-sized boxes.
How to pack clothes for moving
Packing and moving any furniture pieces in the kids’ room is seldom worth it, so if you do decide to do it, then you must do the math in order to determine whether it will be cheaper for you to buy new furniture after the move than to haul large and heavy pieces to the new home.
Ultimately, packing your children’s room doesn’t have to be boring or exhausting. It’s up to you to make the entire packing task a bit more fun and entertaining – play music in the background and try to turn it all into a game of some sort.
Let your kids make some of the more important decisions but also encourage them to have some fun in the meantime. And yes, having your children label and decorate the already packed boxes any way they like can really change the tone of the whole packing experience.
Must-read: How moving affects children
