How to Pack a Dish Box
Packing dishes before a big move---whether you're relocating across town or to another city---requires care and attention to detail. The last thing you want to see when unpacking in your new kitchen is a box full of broken plates, bowls and cups. Fortunately, safely transporting your kitchen dishes does not require incredible skills or expensive supplies. All you need are some standard packing supplies and a few simple techniques to become a master dish packer. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Heavy-duty cardboard boxes (medium sized)
- Unprinted packing paper
- Packing tape
- Tape dispenser or scissors
- Permanent marker
Instructions
-
-
1
Reinforce the bottom of your cardboard boxes with several layers of packing tape. These boxes will be heavy once filled with plates, bowls or cups. If not properly reinforced, your wrapped dishes might fall out the bottom of the boxes.
-
2
Make a layer of crushed paper at the bottom of each box. This will provide a base cushion for your dishes.
-
-
3
Place a thick stack of packing paper on your work surface. Bring all of your plates to your work surface and stack them next to the packing paper. Wrap each plate individually by placing it on the stack of packing paper, then bringing up the corners of one or two sheets towards the center of the plate. Stack three or four wrapped plates together, then turn them over on the packing paper. Create a bundle by wrapping the stack with two or three sheets of paper, then seal with a piece of packing tape. Set aside. Repeat this step until all of the plates have been wrapped.
-
4
Place the wrapped plate stacks into the box, with the plates standing on their edges. Fill all the empty space in the box with crushed packing paper. Carefully seal the boxes with packing tape, then label each box with a note of the contents and room location. Be sure to write "Fragile" in large, bold letters on all sides and the top of the box.
-
5
Wrap each bowl individually in the same manner as the plates. Nest three wrapped bowls together, then create a bundle by wrapping the stack with two or three sheets of paper. Seal each bundle with a piece of packing tape. Repeat until all of the bowls have been wrapped.
-
6
Place the wrapped bowl stacks into the box, with the rim of the bowls facing down. Make sure there is plenty of crushed paper to cushion the inside of the bottom bowls. Fill the empty box space with crushed packing paper. As with the boxes of plates, carefully seal the boxes of bowls with packing tape, label each with a note of the contents and room location, and write "Fragile" on the sides and top of each box.
-
7
Wrap each cup individually by placing it on one corner of the paper, then rolling it in the paper towards the opposite corner. Tuck the other corners into the cup opening, then set the wrapped cup aside. Repeat until all of the cups have been wrapped.
-
8
Place the wrapped cups into the box, with the rim of each facing down. Use plenty of crushed paper to cushion between the cups and between any layers of cups if you choose to stack more than one layer per box. Fill in the empty box spaces with crushed packing paper. Seal the boxes with packing tape, label, and write "Fragile" on them.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Use as many boxes as needed for packing up your plates, bowls and cups.
You can use newspaper to wrap the dishes instead of unmarked paper, but the ink may transfer to your dishes, meaning they'll have to be washed once unpacked. Avoid stacking more than one or two boxes of dishes. The contents inside are fragile, and even if they're packed well, they could still break if too much weight is placed on top.
