Packing children’s toys for moving is definitely not as straightforward as you might think. When you get to your children’s stuffed toys, then your first instinct could be to just throw all of them into a big cardboard box and mark the task as DONE in your moving checklist. Well, not so fast!
Packing stuffed animals for moving can be a bit tricky because of the crucial role that plush toys have in a child’s world. Such plushies can be a kid’s best friends when he or she is growing up, so damaging some of these precious toys due to improper packing is a very bad idea.
Stuffed toys are super soft so they cannot be actually broken even if the box containing them gets accidentally dropped on the floor. However, you may still cause damage to some of the stuffies during the move if you pack them up when they are not 100% dry (mold growth), if you stuff too many of the soft toys inside a single box (possible deformation), or if you fail to protect them sufficiently against dust and even moisture.
Read on to learn the best way to pack stuffed animals for moving so that no damage of any kind can get to your child’s plushies until they reach the haven of the new home.
Sort all stuffed toys together with your child
Your very first task when you’re about to pack your child’s stuffed animals is to sort out the soft toys with the purpose of assessing whether all of them are worth packing and moving to the new place. Why is this task so important?
In most cases, stuffed toys seem to multiply too quickly as newer pieces join the existing ones, thus expanding the current animal kingdom until there’s hardly any room left for any new additions. Plush toys tend to take up plenty of storage space, especially when their exact number is difficult to be determined with any acceptable degree of accuracy.
The major problem of packing and moving stuffed animals that are just not worth the trouble is not only the extra packing time and extra cost of packing supplies but also the storage space you will have to find for them in the new home.
Seriously, why would you bother moving any toys that your child won’t even play with anymore?
If your son or daughter is old enough, then ask him or her to help you sort out all their stuffed toys prior to packing them for moving. But if they are too young, then you’ll have to complete the task on your own while you abide by some basic rules.
Sorting of plushies in progress…
Set aside the stuffed animals that your child has stopped playing with for quite some time now. Such toys are potentially the ones you will have to leave behind. Also, look for any plush toys that are in a bad shape – stained, torn, or with their stuffing sticking partially out.
Luckily, some charities do accept stuffed toys that are gently used so that’s a win-win situation for you and some of your child’s plushies. Take the time to explain to your son or daughter that donating toys to less fortunate children is a wonderful act of generosity and good-heartedness.
Remove the batteries from battery-operated plush toys
Some stuffed toys have extra features such as singing, walking, or even dancing. When it comes to stuffed animals, some of them will be able to make the sounds of the animals they represent, which basically means that those toys have batteries that power those additional capabilities.
If possible, you should remove the batteries from the battery-powered plush toys that your child owns before you pack them up for moving. There are two major reasons why you should do it:
Some of the stuffed animals might start making sounds when already neatly packed into boxes due to the pressure applied by the rest of the toys packed together with them. And while those animal sounds can prove to be somewhat annoying as long as they can be heard during the actual transportation, the batteries are very likely to get depleted by the time you reach the new home.
The main reason why you should remove the batteries from all battery-operated stuffed animals (if possible at all) is that those batteries might leak or corrode during the move. And if that happened, then not only the toy itself would get ruined, but the rest of the soft toys would be in danger of getting damaged too.
You should take out the AA or AAA batteries from the stuffed toys that have specialized battery compartments. If your kid has any stuffed toys with small coin batteries sewn inside in their stuffing, then you should leave those batteries alone. Why? First of all, you don’t have easy access to them, and secondly – button cells are very unlikely to cause any problems during the haul.
Clean the plushies prior to packing them up
It’s time to clean up your humble collection of stuffed toys prior to packing them up for moving.
Once you have sorted your child’s stuffed toys, you’ll be left only with the ones that are worth moving to the new house – the stuffies your son or daughter loves to play with. What you should do next is to clean the stuffed animals before you pack them up in a cardboard box, ready to be loaded onto the moving vehicle.
If you’re wondering whether you really have to clean the soft toys prior to packing, here are the main 3 reasons why you should seriously consider doing it:
You won’t introduce any dust or dirt into the new home by moving toys that have not been cleaned properly prior to the move.
You won’t need to do it after the move when you’ll be rather busy unpacking all the boxes and arranging their contents throughout the place.
Your child will be able to start playing with their stuffed animals as soon as you’ve moved in, thus keeping themselves entertained while you tend to a number of important post-relocation tasks.
As you can see, it’s advantageous to clean your child’s soft toys before packing. But how exactly do you do it? It’ll depend on how dirty the toys happen to be.
Clean. If the stuffed animals happen to be clean enough, then you can just set them aside for packing.
Dusty. If some of the plush toys are simply dusty, especially when they have not been played with for a long time, then you can use the vacuum cleaner to suck in the dust. However, be sure to set the suction power to low to avoid damaging any of the stuffed animals.
Dirty. Some of the plushies may need to be dry-cleaned professionally so if you have enough time until Moving day, you can leave them at a dry cleaner’s that will accept stuffed toys. If time is against you, you can complete the dry cleaning task after you move to the new city or town.
You shouldn’t skip this particular step when packing stuffed animals for moving because it often proves to be more important than you can possibly imagine.
Let your young son or daughter pick two or three of their most loved stuffed toys to keep with them throughout the move. Once they do, you should not pack the chosen plushies but encourage your child to hold on to them until you all, as a family, reach the new home.
Moving house can be a very stressful period for everyone, including for your young child. And this is exactly why their favorite stuffed animals will keep them company whenever your kid gets bored while you’re busy packing and will console them if he or she gets scared after stepping into the strange new place for the first time.
As a parent, you will know exactly which plush toys to keep unboxed for your little angel.
Not a great idea… unless you’re moving the fridge to the new home as well.
After the above preparatory steps, now it’s time to learn the best way to pack stuffed toys for moving. For best results, you should divide the entire packing process into two separate yet mutually connected stages.
Here are the packing steps of Stage 1 that are about protecting all stuffed animals in clean plastic bags first.
Get a roll of brand-new trash bags that will serve as the first line of defense for the stuffed toys from moisture and dust. Make sure the plastic bags are sturdy enough to bear all the teddy bears and the rest of the animals, as well as large enough to hold even the biggest plush toy that your child possesses.
Check whether the stuffed animals you’re about to pack into plastic bags are 100% dry. If some of them feel wet to the touch, be it slightly, then leave the suspicious ones out in the sun to dry out or use a hair dryer to accelerate the drying process. It’s important that you do this step in order to prevent any chances of mold growth during the move.
Insert one or several plush toys inside a single trash bag depending on the size of the toys. If one is big enough to fill in one plastic bag, then you shouldn’t try to stuff more stuffies inside it. On the other hand, if the plastic bag can fit comfortably several stuffed animals, then you should fill it up without overfilling it.
Close the plastic bag when you’re done filling it with soft toys and use tape to seal it up unless it has its own drawstrings.
Stuffed toys are best moved in cardboard boxes after they have been inserted in plastic bags.
When you’re done packing all stuffed animals into perfectly clean trash bags, then there comes Stage 2 – the phase that’s all about packing those filled plastic bags into suitable cardboard containers.
Place clean, white packing paper on the bottom and sides of a large cardboard box. Stuffed animals are not usually heavy so feel free to use large boxes to pack those children’s toys.
Transfer the plastic bags that contain your child’s stuffed toys into the cardboard container. Arrange the full trash bags one next to the other but be careful not to exert too much downforce in an attempt to fit more bags into the box. In other words, do not squish down the soft toys for fear of damaging them. Bear in mind that when squeezed too tightly, stuffed toys may get their stuffing shifted or have one of their body parts deformed due to the extra pressure.
Get a second cardboard box if you fill up the first one instead of trying to squeeze in one or two more plastic bags filled with plush toys.
Close the flaps of the cardboard box – you should be able to do it comfortably, without having to press down too much.
Seal the moving box using packing tape and label it STUFFED TOYS, then write down CHILDREN’S ROOM on at least two sides of the container.
Pack stuffed animals in plastic boxes (for storage)
If you’re packing stuffed toys with the intention of placing them in storage immediately after you move into the new home, then you’re going to have to use a different packing technique.
What’s the best way to store stuffed animals?
When packed inside plastic bags (brand-new trash bags in this particular case), stuffed animals cannot really “breathe” so there’s always a chance of some moisture being trapped inside the bags too. And when moisture is trapped like that, then the perfect conditions are present for mold to start growing. And you wouldn’t want that to happen.
Packing plush toys in plastic bags and then in cardboard boxes is ideal when you plan to unpack those boxes and let your child play with the toys. However, if your intention is to put some of the soft toys in post-move storage for an indefinite amount of time, then you should pack the stuffed animals in plastic storage bins.
Here’s how to do it properly:
The best way to store stuffed animals is in plastic storage boxes.
Get clean plastic storage containers – the bigger, the better.
Make sure all stuffed toys that are going to storage are completely clean and 100% dry.
Wrap each soft toy in a few sheets of clean wrapping paper. The paper is supposed to absorb any tiny amount of moisture in the air so that the toys should be perfectly OK.
Fill in the plastic bin with paper-wrapped plushies but don’t overfill the storage containers.
Close the lids of the bin. High-quality storage containers are airtight so your child’s stuffed animals should remain well-protected for the duration of the storage period.
Feel free to skip the step of labeling those plastic bins as most of them are transparent so you can easily see what’s stored inside them.
As you can see for yourself, packing stuffed animals for moving is not a complicated process. However, if you’re running out of time and you’re yet to pack the stuffed toys (including the rest of your kid’s toys), then you should ask for timely assistance either from your best friends or from professional packers.
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