Moving Dolls Across Country?

Maybe keep the eyes in so they don't get lost? It's easier if it's just rattling around their heads instead of flung off to who knows where.
If you pack them without clothes, you could wrap them fairly securely with bubble wrap. And all clothes nicely in one location.

My goofy husband had the most brilliant idea that I should completely unstring all/most of my dolls for the movers (placed and locked into a Pelican case) and take the heads with me. XD Since we're going from the middle of the Pacific to the East Coast it might not be the worst idea I've ever heard of.

 

I've moved with my dolls multiple times; with the current size of my collection, it's 100% unfeasible to remove eyes/clothes/etc. So I don't, and it has zero effect. I'll drop them in their boxes fully dressed with no issues, just a need for a little "fluffing" when I unpack them. I'll remove some wigs, just because they often don't quite fit. Delicate option parts and magnetic pieces get removed, everything else stays assembled, and because many of them no longer have or never had boxes, several of them share with just the packing blankets/pillows between them.

Obviously, I adjust based on the specific doll (delicate antlers get packed carefully, beefy CP Delfs just get wrapped in a blanket or towel and stuck two to a box), but in multiple moves of multiple distances, often with extended storage terms during the process, there has been no damage.

 

Hi everyone! I had to move recently, which meant packing up everything including my doll family, which was extremely nerve-wracking for me. I had the original packaging for some of my dolls, but for others I had to make do with my own packaging. I haven't had the chance to unpack everyone yet, but I'm hoping I packed them all well enough to avoid any damage along the way.

Which bring me to my question: How do you package your dolls when you have to take them on long trips or if you move? Do you prefer to take them with you, or leave them with your other boxes in a moving van? Does anyone else have the same amount of anxiety as me about the whole process?

 

I recently moved and i put all of my dolls in luggages with blankets as padding and took them with me in the car. There was no way i was going to trust the movers lol. We drove across 3 states with 3 huge luggages full of dolls. Everyone was perfectly fine when we took them out, so i'd say it was a success!

 

I've changed residences several times with a steadily increasing number of dolls. If I had any choice, I keep them in their trusty luggage bag (padded with blankets, shawls, a small beanbag, and even some clothes) with me in the car. However, the last time, there simply wasn't enough space and the PC with its fragile parts had to take precedence. My dolls made it to our new home in the moving van, no cracks and scuffs. (The husband kindly pasted a huge FRAGILE: HANDLE WITH CARE note on the trolley bag.) Funnily enough, the item that didn't make it unscathed was one wig. Apparently, the high temps in the van was too much for it, and the glue melted, causing the tissue I wrapped my girl's head in to stick to the wig cap until I managed to clean it off.

Now, whenever I have to travel with a lot of dolls, I pack the heads separately from their bodies. Even if the bodies have to take a different ride, I make sure to keep the heads with me (it's relatively easy to find replacement body parts, but discontinued sculpts are a different matter). Sure, it's an added hassle for me to put their heads back on when I reach the location, but at least I won't have to worry too much about them bumping and scuffing their noggins in the luggage bag.

 

I am in the process of packing at the moment, and it isn't easy.
The original packaging take a lot of space and I have bought many plastic boxes, including some with separations for the heads.
I have also bought some quilted fabric hoping I could sew some pouches for the heads and muffs for the hands, it is unlikely I will have enough time to do so...

 

I usually take the head and body apart, the head gets packed with clothes, and the heads are stored in boxes with masks on to protect the faceup.

 

I haven't moved in many years but I take dolls with me a lot of places - if it's a long trip (abroad, by plane, for example) I pack them in my hand luggage, wrap the head in soft cloth to preotect the faceup and (for SD and MSD sized dolls ) sit or lay them in my backpack or cabin-sized suitcase and pack my other essentials for the trip around them. For tinies, I squeeze them in whetever they'll fit amon the toher items in the bag and for really tinydolls I pop them in a glasses casewhich also goes wherever it ill fit - often in one of my backpack pockets.

If we're going by car then they sit in the car. Either on a seat, if there's one spare, or among the luggage if we're fully loaded. I often try to place them so they can look out the windows as we travel. It amuses me to see reactions of people in other cars (particularly children) when they notice them.

If I had to move house, I'd probably pack them layered in plastic crates with a sheet of bubble-wrap or fabric in between. If I'm taking a lot of them doll to a meet (I once took 30, mostly SD and MSD) I pack them all into my largest wheelie suitcase that way, though often space is too tight for the bubble wrap or layer of fabric (wheelies are so much easier to get to and from the station).... Sometimes it's supplemented by a shoulder bag with more dolls layered in it. I'll often pack the tinies in a small bag that sits on top of the wheelie suitcase with a velcro strap holding it to the handle.

Not me. They aren't as fragile as many people seem to think, I take mine out and about with me all over the place. I just put them in whatever bag I am using that day with no damage. I keep a silk scarf in my everyday backpack so I can wrap the head of whatever doll(s) I grab to take to work work with me that day, but other than that tye just go in among whatever else I have in the bag.

I made a canvas shoulder bag with a slightly quilted lining to take dolls to meets in the other year, but I can only get about four SD size, three or four MSD and a few tinies in it so it's only really useful if I'm not taking many dolls with me, and the weight really pulls on the shoulder.

Teddy

 

I won’t let professionals move my dolls. I pack them into their carry cases or boxes and make a separate trip in my own car with them. It’s partly an insurance thing, since moving insurance only covers pennies per Pound. It’s partly a control thing. In my cross country moves I knew my stuff was going to be stored and trucks get hot...

 

I've moved with dolls a few years ago. It wasn't too. I had original boxes for most of them and if they suvived the original shipping across the world in them, there was no reason not to trust them in a car or trailer for a few hours. I had carrying bags enough for the ones that I had no boxes for.
Nothing was damaged.

 

The last time I moved was 2017, but not across country, but across the world. Between my wife and I we had 28 dolls at the time. There was no way for us to take them all on the plane, so we had to trust a shipping company with them.

The way they got packed to assure no breaks was as follows:
Wigs and loose accessories got taken off and put into their own box.
Dolls got bubble wrapped to hell and back again, and put in 3 large plastic bins. I trusted those more than cardboard boxes.
Each bin and box got a number put on, and I had a list of what was in each box, so that no boxes could strangely disappear.
My wife did not want to take their company boxes with, so if I ever want to sell any of them in the future, I’m gonna have some issues with that. Not all came with CoAs, and I had to close my US PayPal so I could reuse the email address for my Austrian one.
This is how it looked in the end:
Bon Voyage!

The dolls (and the rest of our stuff) arrived safe and sound 8 weeks later as the shipping container traveled by boat. We took tally of the boxes, and made sure everyone was present. Nothing broke, everything arrived unscathed.

I do not look forward to when we eventually move again, as now we have 47 dolls between us. I would need a lot of bubble wrap for them....

 

I have moved several times lately. At the moment I have three 70cm dolls and one 1/3. When traveling and moving, I put them on top of each other in a bag on top of other things, having previously wrapped them in fabric and put on masks on their faces. This bag was always with me. The dolls were never damaged. When I traveled by plane, I took the smaller bag with me as carry-on luggage, I detached dolls’ legs and packed them separately next to the bodies, so the dolls could fit into a smaller bag and go as carry-on luggage. In all cases, none of the dolls were harmed. But I don’t know how good it will be for a large number of dolls.

 

Don't know how many dolls you have, for me when I'm traveling around with my dolls I've put 5 of the dolls all in the bag one time while moving around. One time I was on a 4 days trip out of state, but I only had one doll with me and I just hold her in my hand the whole time. If you want to wrap them up without taking them apart, if the clothes are not like those fancy "bone" structure skirt kind of design, it might be easier to just leave the clothes and eyes on. Unless you are really good at packing the eyes and keeping them together lol.

 

I've been wondering. How does one package their doll's when moving to a new house, apartment etc etc? It might happen in some time in the future but I think it's best to know early?

Edit: Just to preface I'm mainly an SD (60-70cm+) collector

 

Hello! I just moved 14 of my dolls and can speak to my experience on this

First step, start early! Packing them all up took a lot more time than I expected. The actual packaging process depends on if you kept their original boxes and blankets or not. In my case, I took each doll's wig, clothes, and accessories off and stored them away in plastic baggies. Then I used packaging foam (although anything soft or non-abrasive works like tissues) to wrap around the chin and forehead near the eyebrows. Then I taped on a protective face mask and put them in their blanket and back into the box. I felt safe moving them after that although I did it personally rather than letting someone else do it. My parents tend to shake the boxes and throw them around despite me asking them not to...

Also, I highly recommend face masks or I've heard a coffee cup lid works in a pinch. Whatever material keeps the eyelashes from getting crushed. People also use towels or blankets for padding if they don't have the original packaging. Just be gentle and pack with care and you should be OK.

 

I kept mine in their original boxes with a face mask, and then put the boxes between layers of clothes I had packed in a rubber bin. Then again, my dolls are largely 1/6 or smaller, with the largest doll I brought with me being my lone 1/4....not sure how feasible what I did might be for larger dolls.

 

I moved a year ago with my collection. Granted it wasn't very far, it was within the same city, and that meant I could do several tours.
I sat most of them down in a laundry basket, which I padded a bit. Their faces and hands were wrapped in bubblewrap for the car trip. The basket was just fastened with the seat belt. I was too lazy to put them all into their boxes for the short trip.

For a longer trip I would put them packed up into their original boxes. If they survived being handled by the post across the ocean that way, they will survive moving.

 

When I moved half way across the US, I kept mine in their original boxes. Then I packed those in another box together with padding. For ones that didn't have a box, I placed them between my pillows and bed sheets inside a big plastic container box. I mostly have SDs as well.