Packing Play – Keeping the Pieces Together

Packing toys is a breeze, isn’t it? Set up a big old carton, fill it up, tape it shut and write TOYS on the side. Nothing to it.

Loading it on the truck is just as easy. The box is fairly light and there’s nothing particularly fragile in there so just stick it up top any which way. No worries.

Okay sure, that box and everything in it will probably survive the trip just fine. But unless we pack it all up extremely well and tight our customer will end up with boxes of loose Legos and stray puzzle pieces. So let’s talk about taming those baskets and bins of kids’ stuff.

The Tiniest Pieces

Crayons, puzzle pieces, even magnetic game chips – kids have a tremendous talent for losing things.

We are expected to do better. Take a minute to wrap these items in small bundles. This includes those puzzle pieces.

Consider marking that bundle of puzzle pieces so it doesn’t get tossed in the trash during the unpack. (‘PPs’ is one possible attention-grabber.)

Train Tracks & Fake Food

If sets of stuff like this are in their original boxes, great. Our job is that much easier.

If all those parts are sitting in open baskets or trays (as pictured) topping them with some crumpled paper then wrapping them up – taping the paper in place – creates a square and safe item for our TOYS carton.

Wooden Box

We can do the same for this wooden box with no top and a mishmash of toys inside. The crumpled paper keeps all those items in place while lending strength to the wrap job.

Heavier Toys

A matchbox car doesn’t weigh much – but two hundred of them can be a beast. As with our open box of miscellaneous toys, cover all those cars with crumpled paper to keep them in place, then put the whole shebang in a book box. Fill up excess space with…you guessed it: books.

Closed Containers

Like the blue plastic bin of Legos and that cylindrical box of blocks, the tub of army men and all their accoutrements may very well remain shut tight for the duration of the move, especially if you’ve packed your toy cartons tight so nothing can move or shift. But to make sure these containers stay closed inside their cartons – and certainly if they are not going inside a carton at all – tape their lids in place.

AND PLEASE don’t stick tape on them directly! Fold a piece of packing paper a few times and tape around that. Done well it won’t slip and that container will remain shut tight.

Save Space AND Keep Stuff In Place

Whenever practical and feasible, keep those smaller toys and their assorted accessories and pieces all in one place by tucking them inside a different toy’s container. Certainly, common sense will dictate how crazy we have to go in this regard but slipping our Power Ranger and all his weaponry into Snoopy’s Matching Game box took all of ten seconds. Then wrapping up this box – or a few similar-sized boxes – ensures the safety of our Power Ranger as well as Snoopy and all his friends and whoever else we’ve found in that room full of toys.

Speaking of Common Sense…

All this care and caution may not even be necessary. A well-packed carton, where everything inside is snug and tight, precludes the need for wrapping and taping every basket, topless box and rolling Hot Wheels suitcase.

But toys don’t always come in neat rectangles and squares. One big plastic Godzilla or a sandbox-sized piece of heavy machinery can turn any carton into a potential dumping ground for those puzzle pieces and Legos.

So take an extra minute to secure it all.

The kids can get back to losing their crayons after we’ve gone.