These household items pose a couple of problems for packers: they’re fragile, usually have multiple parts, and are almost always oddly shaped. They are wery delicate for relocation. Because of that we in Intermove Bosnia put together this simple guide on how to pack lamps, breaking it down piece by piece so that your light fixtures show up in one piece.

What you should do first

Each piece of a lamp gets wrapped separately, so before you get to packing you’ll need to take your lamps apart.

You should start by unplugging your lamps from the wall. Coil each cord and secure with a twist tie or rubber band. Then unscrew the light bulbs and set them aside. Once the bulbs are out, you can remove the lamp shades. At this point you may choose to secure the coiled cord to the lamp base, but it’s not necessary so long as you already have it tightly wound up.

If you had screws attaching the shade to the base, put those in a little plastic baggie and stick a label on there so you can easily find them later on.

Ways to pack light bulbs!

Pack up your bulbs first, since you don’t want those rolling around while you’re packing up other things.

Here is a couple of ways to do this:

• First wrap each light bulb in air-filled plastic padding. Secure the padding with tape so that it doesn’t come undone when the bulbs are packed in a box. Pack all of your lamp bulbs together in one box, and be sure to use packing paper or more air-filled plastic padding to fill in any gaps so that the bulbs don’t shift around.
• Set up a box with the specialty dividers that you would use for packing up glasses in your kitchen. Wrap each bulb in a layer of air-filled plastic padding and then pack them into the dividers, one per slot. Add a layer of air-filled plastic padding over the top before sealing the box shut.

Label the box that contain your light bulbs with “fragile” on the visible spot, so that you or your movers know to be extra careful with them.

Also you should know this important tip that incandescent bulbs cannot be shipped, since they’re filled with mercury, which is highly toxic if spilled. If you have any incandescent bulbs, you’ll have to properly dispose of them and purchase new bulbs when you arrive at your next home.

Ways to pack lamp shades!

To correctly pack lamp shades you should wrap each shade in packing paper. It’s important to use plain packing paper and not anything with print on it, since that ink can easily transfer to the delicate material of your lamp shades.

Each lamp shade should be packed individually in its own appropriately sized box, though you may be able to nest a small shade inside of a bigger one, provided both are correctly wrapped up. Fill in the gaps around the shade with additional packing paper, air-filled plastic padding, or anything soft that will prevent the shade from shifting around.

Ways to pack your lamp bases!

Wrap each base in packing paper, adding a layer of air-filled plastic wrap if the base is made of a delicate material like glass or porcelain. If you do use plastic padding, secure it with a bit of tape.

Unlike lamp shades, you can probably get away just fine with packing multiple bases in one box. Just be sure not to rest anything on top of the upper part of your lamp—the harp, finial, switch, base; i.e. the area where you screw in the bulb and attach the shade—since you don’t want any metal getting bent out of shape.

Ways to pack your floor lamps!

Follow the same steps as above for wrapping and packing up the light bulbs and shades of floor lamps. However, since their bases likely won’t fit in a box, you’ll need to have a different plan for packing.

Floor lamp bases made of fragile materials should be wrapped in air-filled plastic wrap and shipped accordingly. If the base isn’t made of a fragile material, you should be fine just transporting it as is. Be careful though not to rest anything heavy on the base in the truck.

More tips for lamp packing!

Here is a few more words of advice for clever packing of your lamps.

1. Measure your lamps before buying boxes. The more appropriately sized boxes you can buy for packing up your lamps, the safer your lamps will be. Measure your lamp bases and shades ahead of purchasing boxes so that you can be sure that you don’t over- or under-shoot it on box size.

2. Label accordingly. Number your lamp boxes, using the same number on the box that contains a particular lamp’s base as the one that includes its shade. That way, you won’t be digging around trying to pair up your lamp pieces when you’re unpacking.

3. Unpack your lamps early on. Make a point of unpacking your lamps soon after arriving at your new home. Lamp shades in particular are prone to getting warped if they’re not packed correctly. Hopefully that won’t be an issue for you but just in case it’s a good idea to get them out of the box sooner better than later.

Additionaly you can always help you with our Intermove services for packing your lamps. That way you might step aside and Intermove will do all the work with our packing professionals. But if you want to pack yourselfe then we can give the best advice and will help you with our packing materials.

Best of luck from Intermove