Here’s How to Pack Lamps

Lamps aren’t usually the first things that come to mind when you’re thinking of tricky items to pack when you’re moving. But actually, these household staples pose a couple of problems for packers: they’re fragile, usually have multiple parts, and are almost always oddly shaped. To help you out, we’ve put together this simple guide on how to pack lamps, breaking it down piece by piece so that your light fixtures—and your sanity—show up in one piece.

First Steps

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

Start by unplugging your lamps from the wall. Coil each cord and secure with a twist tie or rubber band. Then gently 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.

How to Pack Lamps: Light Bulbs

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

There are a couple of ways to do this:

• Individually (and gently) 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 (a plastic Christmas ornament box would work too). 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(es) that contain your light bulbs with “fragile” so that you or your movers know to be extra careful with them.

A word of warning: 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.

How to Pack Lamps: Lamp Shades

Next up, get your lamp shades packed. To do so, 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 even dish towels or socks—anything soft that will prevent the shade from shifting around.

How to Pack Lamps: Bases

Last up is 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 the 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.

How to Pack 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 of attack.

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.

Additional Lamp Packing Tips

A few more words of advice as you pack up your lamps.

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.

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.

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 (especially if you follow the steps above!), but just in case it’s a good idea to get them out of the box sooner rather than later.

Want Someone to Pack Your Lamps For You?

We make it simple to find full service movers who will do all of your packing for you—including packing up those pesky lamps! Head over to our free online moving company directory to quickly and easily search reputable full service movers in your area. All listed companies are pre-vetted for reliability, and come with the necessary licenses and insurance.

Planning to pack up on your own? Check out our full archive of packing and planning articles for advice on getting everything in your home safely packed and ready to go.