How to Pack Glasses for Moving – an Ultimate Guide

It’s Important to Pack Dishes Safely

While it may sound like overreacting, you can never be safe enough when boxing up fragile things. Perhaps you consider yourself responsible enough not to make a mistake here, but you’d be surprised at how much can go wrong for even the most reliable people. Boxing up dishes and glasses can be a slippery slope. It’s alright if your mind’s in another place because you’re doing an office move or maybe even relocating for love, but when stocking up on essential materials, your head should be clear so you don’t miss any crucial steps.

Glasses of different types require different packaging methods because they can break inside the box. Beer glasses won’t shatter that easily because they’re typically made from sturdier, thicker glass, and wine glasses are more delicate and break at the slightest pressure. These are more reasons why this is no time to attempt to move in a hurry.

Essential Packing Supplies

Most supplies you need for boxing up can be found lying around your home. As a matter of fact, the things lying around your house are probably a better choice for packing glassware than some others you might consider investing in (read: bubble wrap). The abundance of advice can cause overthinking, which usually leads to more chaos. If you feel immense pressure in deciding how to pack, simply hire professional packing services.

Household Items are a Life-Saver

There are differences between materials we can use for wrapping. While paper is more often the long-distance movers’ choice, consider the benefits of stuffing glasses into your cotton tees, socks, pillowcases, or kitchen rags. They’re a nice space-saving hack, and the chances of everything staying intact are equally high, maybe higher because of the softer fabrics.

Nothing is wrong with using paper either, but this step mostly depends on how much you’re willing to spend and whether the stuff you could use for boxing up is one you’d prefer to donate rather than bring along.

The Best Protective Materials (Paper vs. Bubble Wrap)

The best (and most common) option would be to get packing paper, as professionals do. It’s sturdy, reliable, and usually purchased in bulk, reducing the potential expenses. If you’re relocating on a budget after all, browse around your house for old newspapers. Just consider the risk of having ink stains on the glassware afterward.

Don’t use printing or notebook paper since it can cause papercuts (as we said – safety first). It’s also too hard and doesn’t fold or protect your stuff as well as you’d wish. Don’t take your chances with it for loading containers, but rather take advantage of it to write down a checklist of things to do after relocating.

Bubble wrap is an excellent option because the bubble layers provide extra protection, and you’ll have fun popping them when you start unpacking, as a bonus. The main reasons why this may not be the ideal choice are the price and its non-recyclable nature. If you’re a person who worries about the environment, then maybe skip the bubbles for now.

Getting the Right Moving Boxes for Glasses

Think about the times you’ve ordered something bulky online. The same box it came in can serve a whole other purpose when you finally decide to move to another state because you can now prepare without worrying about obtaining storage.

While any medium-sized box will do the trick, avoid using those that are too big or too small. Large containers present the possibility of overpacking, which is a nightmare for lifting and carrying, but you can also underpack, and if there isn’t enough padding, everything can break during transport. Containers that are too small mean a couple of things – one is cramming everything together, which is better to avoid with breakable stuff, and the other is more cargo, which could simply cause more stress and delay the process.

Mainly, boxes with dividers are ideal for protecting glassware. They have separate compartments for each glass to fit into, and you can find them both at online retailers and most home-supply shops. Long-distance moving services will often entail having these if you highlight that you need glassware packed.

How to Pack Glasses for Moving, and Where to Start

Now that we’re here let’s answer the question – what is the best way to pack glasses for moving? Firstly, you need to know the difference between glasses for various types of drinks. Putting them all together may not be a great first thought.

Look at the size of the container you want to fill up and see what’d be a good option for bottom padding. You can get away with using any cotton things you have lying around (t-shirts, pillowcases, rags, and alike). Bottom padding increases the safety of the contents. Create some labels for the containers to mark them as fragile since that will help when you start loading the transport truck.

Get the Heavier and Bulkier Glass Out of the Way First

It’s often better to start by rolling up heavier and bulkier glasses individually. They can sometimes be packed two at a time (for material-saving purposes mostly), but you shouldn’t juggle glassware if you’re not sure how to roll up multiple items together. When wrapping, put a glass in the corner of the bundling material and roll it diagonally while also tucking the extra edges into it along the way. This is the ancient method called “roll & tuck.”

If you hopelessly looked around for boxes with dividers or just forgot to buy them, fret not because you can easily create dividers of your own. Take some extra cardboard to cut out and place it on top of the layers in the container. That’s bound to make you feel like a super-skilled packer and could help reduce the relocation stress.

While it’s sometimes okay to load up different ceramics and kitchenware together, it may be better to skip this bravery with glassware. However, if you don’t have enough storage space and need to mix and match, put the heavier stuff at the bottom and then the more delicate glass at the top.

You Can Get Creative When You Pack Shot Glasses

How do you even move without bundling up your shot glasses? You’ve thrown a going-away party for all your friends, but why not also throw a party to meet your new neighbors once you’ve relocated? All the shot glasses you bring will come in handy in both scenarios.

You can bundle these very easily. They are also fragile, but not as much as you’d think. It’s OK to pile up four and then roll them up together. If you don’t have many, it’s safe to place them at the top of other layers, after which you can add the top padding for extra protection.

Packing Wine Glasses Requires Patience

If the advice on how to pack glassware seems okay so far, you’re probably mulling over the big question: How do you pack wine glasses for moving? The answer is – it’s not that hard. It doesn’t have to be a burden, it just requires some thought.

As mentioned before, it’s highly recommended to bundle these glasses individually. There’s a creative way to do this, too, and it’s not what you’d expect. You can use your socks to protect them but wash the socks first, of course. This is a nice space-saving hack and takes care of bundling multiple things in one sitting. Start by tucking the stem of the glass into the bottom of the sock, then slide the rest over the top part of the glass.

If you don’t want to make do with socks or simply have more wine glasses (which is a different discussion entirely), then paper is your best friend. When you use it, though, the approach is slightly different. You need to bundle the stem first by wrapping it a few times around, and then you can move on to covering the rest of it until it’s fully covered.

It’s a good idea to place stemmed glasses interchangeably (stems and tops together, not stem to stem, for example). This would create more stability in the container and reduce potential damage. The advice you’d typically see online, which is also great, is to put the glassware vertically upside down into the container. In any case, the placement of glassware can be less important if it’s all correctly wrapped, which you can also learn about in the video below.

Is There Something You Shouldn’t Do When Packing Glasses?

Of course, there’s stuff you shouldn’t attempt when boxing up for a move. While it’s nice to try different hacks, handling glass poorly can cause harm. Skip the antics and take this a bit more seriously, or you might end up with more problems while unpacking after the move.

Don’t Cram Things Together in the Box

We already mentioned this, but it might be necessary to repeat it. Overpacking causes various problems, from crowding the container and making it heavier than it should be to having everything break into tiny pieces during the move. Consider if there’s anything you shouldn’t bring along.

Having a large box is the main reason you might attempt to cram everything together. It can look tempting to fill to the top with stuff, but it’s better if you don’t. Be sure that the container you have isn’t large enough to fit you because that’s too large. Since you should arrange glassware vertically, check that the container is a couple of inches taller than that.

Not Everything at Home is a Free Cross Country Moving Hack

While many relocation apps and blogs tend to hail everything around your home as potential materials for DIY hacks, some aren’t that good. The best examples are towels. They’re good padding but not that great for rolling stuff up. Even as padding, they’ll take up a lot of space inside.

If you think being creative entails loading your kitchenware into a suitcase, think again. Suitcases are unreliable carriers for fragile items and risky suggestions for how to pack glassware for moving. When it comes to boxes, check whether the ones you have can handle the weight of your stuff. Maybe it’s not the best choice to reuse the same stuff often since cardboard wears off over time. Securing it with lots of duct tape is a good idea, but even this staple can’t perform every miracle. It could even make unpacking boxes after relocating feel like a bigger burden.

Your Final Decision for Cross Country Moving Could Be Professional Help

If you’re still confused about how to pack wine glasses for moving, or it seems more complicated than you anticipated, then it’s time to call professional long-distance moving experts. It’s easy to overthink the costs of those relocation services, but it’s a great decision if you’re worried about any stage of your relocation. In the end, the cost may end up being the same in case you need to bulk up on supplies again and again. If you’ve gone over your reasons to move, it’s best to hire movers to help you with these difficult tasks and rest easily knowing that your items will be taken care of.

While there are certain items that every long-distance moving company wouldn’t move, rest assured that in the case of glassware, they will bring their equipment, trucks, and manpower. You don’t have to worry about asking favors from people, no need to throw a boxing-up party or waste materials. The only worry you’ll have is how to make friends in your new state of residence.