How to Pack Kids' Crafts, Artwork, and Memorabilia for a Move

The professional movers at All My Sons Moving & Storage provide tips for packing children’s old craft projects, artwork pieces, and other memorabilia to help preserve them for years to come. 

Whether your children are now grown or still toddling around under your feet, you may have a collection of their crafts, artwork, and other assorted memorabilia. Your upcoming move is a great time to evaluate what belongs in your new life. If you are downsizing after becoming an empty nester then you will need to be selective about what you choose to take with you. These cherished collections will always hold a special place in your heart, but what’s the best way to pack and move them so that they can be enjoyed for years to come? The professional packers at All My Sons answer.

It’s time to take a sentimental trip down memory lane. Open the boxes and bins that contain your child’s old artwork pieces, fun craft projects, and any other items they have made or left their personal mark on that you have kept. Look through the pieces, either by yourself or together with your family. 

This part might stir a lot of moving emotions, especially if your child is now grown, but going through your child’s old projects could be a good way to close this chapter on your life. 

Allow yourself to be fully retrospective. What events or instances do art pieces bring to mind? What do you feel now as you look through your memorabilia?

Once the walk down memory lane is winding to a close, set aside the items that really spoke to you. You’ll do a little bit more than pack these items. Items this special you should take steps to preserve. 

• Laminate Artwork: Laminating, or encasing a paper item in plastic film, can help preserve a piece for years to come. You can find lamination services at many print shops and office supply stores. 

• Frame Artwork: A step above lamination, you can have special pieces framed. Some 3D pieces can be framed in shadow boxes. 

• Make a Scrapbook: Flat pieces can be placed in a scrapbook and kept with your photo albums. 

• Preserve Digitally: Some items you may choose to preserve by taking pictures of them or scanning them into a computer. These items can live safely in the digital cloud or on a hard drive for your descendants to archive and marvel at later. 

• Give to Your Child to Keep: If your child is younger but old enough to start keeping their own collections, you might consider giving a few pieces back to your child. Grown children who feel especially fond of certain pieces may ask to keep certain pieces if you go through them together.

Preserved pieces will pack better than loose items. When you preserve your child’s artwork or crafts, they are more likely to survive the move.

Even though it may be painful at first, you should consider letting go of some of your child’s old collections, especially if the piece invokes no particular memories and the child is now embarrassed by the sight of it. 

Items made of paper or cardboard can be recycled with your regular curbside bin. Beads from friendship bracelets and amateur jewelry projects can be salvaged for future projects or donated to a childcare facility on the lookout for crafting supplies. Ceramics and pottery pieces cannot be recycled in a traditional bin, but well-formed and functional items could be donated to a thrift store. Most other items will have to be responsibly disposed of.

A general rule for packing fragile items is that you should pack them into the smallest box that can comfortably accommodate them. For some of your children’s memorabilia, you should pack them into smaller boxes like shoe boxes before you pack those shoe boxes into standard small to medium moving box. This will help keep your memorabilia items snug during the move. 

Here are some tips for certain pieces.

• Artwork: Pieces should be laminated or put into protective folders. You can then lay the pieces down at the bottoms of your boxes or tuck pieces against the walls of the box vertically. If your artwork pieces are framed, wrap them in packing paper and pack them into boxes vertically.

• Crafts:  Nestle delicate crafts in packing paper or packing peanuts. Be careful of breakable pieces. 

• Ceramics: Cute little critters, makeshift mugs, and other ceramic kids’ crafts can be wrapped in packing paper or bubble wrap and then packed into a shoe box. Long and thin pieces can be packed into special boxes designed for wine glasses and other stemware.

• Trophies: Put children’s trophies into shadow boxes or wrap them individually as you pack them into small to medium boxes. Large, heavy trophies should always go toward the bottoms of your memorabilia boxes so they do not crush any other items.

When your boxes are fully packed, check to ensure the contents do not shift too much when the box is jostled. Fill any extra space in your boxes with additional packing material like packing paper or packing peanuts.

Prior to sealing your box, check that you can comfortably lift the box. If the box is too heavy to lift, then repack the box with less heavy items inside. Overloaded boxes are a recipe for injuries and broken items, so do a lift test on every box you seal.

Tape your box shut and label your box with all the kids’ memorabilia items inside. If you have time and energy, consider creating a moving inventory that lists all your children’s items and what boxes they went into.

Unpack carefully! These items are fragile and one-of-a-kind. Your boxes of children’s memorabilia will likely be some of the last items you unpack at your new home. Set up some on display to keep your happy memories shining bright, or leave them in their boxes, kept and treasured, until their appointed time to be looked through.

Making a move? All My Sons Moving & Storage can do everything from professional packing to the laborious loading and lifting. Call 1-866-726-1579 to reach one of our 90+ locations across the nation or use our online quote form to get started on your move.