Dollhouses are not only popular among young girls but also among adults who are into building and collecting these miniature homes. Vintage dollhouses are most favored by hobbyists because of their exquisite craftsmanship, history, and rarity. Some of these antique miniature dwellings, that come complete with furniture and accessories one would see in regular-sized homes, can fetch for thousands of dollars.
Traditional dollhouses are usually hand-crafted from wood and features either an open back or a fancy front facade that opens to reveal the rooms. Furniture and accessories are loose and can be re-arranged as the owner pleases. Old dollhouses can also get quite massive to feature as many rooms as possible.
While commercially available plastic dollhouses are more compact and can be easily shipped double boxed in their original packaging, the antique ones may require a little more effort in packing to ensure that they arrive in their destination in excellent form. Here are some valuable tips on how to properly pack and ship a dollhouse.
Remove all furniture and accessories from the dollhouse and pack the bigger ones (tables, chairs, beds, chandeliers) individually using bubble wrap. Minute items such as dinnerware sets, candlesticks, and kitchen accouterments, can be wrapped in tissue paper and packed together in small boxes. Place all the wrapped big items and boxed smaller items inside another box. Make sure that this box is packed well with bubble wrap or crumpled paper so that the items do not shift or move around during transit.
Get a large shipping box that can snugly accommodate the entire dollhouse and the box of accessories with a couple of inches of extra space on all sides for packing materials. Fill the bottom of the box with at least a two-inch layer of packing peanuts.
Wrap the entire dollhouse generously with bubble wrap, The more layers of bubble wrap the better. Secure the wrap in place with tape.
Place the wrapped dollhouse inside the shipping box. Insert the box of accessories in one of the sides and fill the entire package with more packing peanuts or bubble so that there is no possibility of movement or shifting. Alternatively, the box of accessories can be shipped separately especially if there are a lot and will not fit in the box with the dollhouse.
Close the shipping box and seal with packaging tape. Make sure that all sides and seams, including the ones on the bottom of the box, are reinforced with packaging tape to avoid bursting open during transit.
Address and label the package and take to your choice of the shipping company.
Photo courtesy of www.greenleafdollhouses.com