tips needed please, for moving house with a toddler

[Sosijsmum]

Am moving on 31st August Hurray Getting removal people to pack thigs up the day before as its quite a long journey, from n London to Hampshire, so we will stay in Hampshire with family the wednesday night. What I want to know is has anyone got any tips for making it stress-free for ds when things are being packed ,(he's 20mo btw)when he's staying at my mums (Thurs night) And stress free for me as well. Oh, and also what is the etiquette of tea/sandwich/biscuit making for removal people, and tipping them. We've been waiting since April for this move, with dh living and working in Hants during the week, that I can't believe we ve finally got a date. Any advice/experiences gratefully received.

whoops thats 31st july

Just wanted to wish you good luck with the move. No advice really as I am in the same position. We are moving this weekend (fingers crossed for tomoorow, this is when it is confirmed). DD is 15 months. We are only moving within the same city though. The move is 11 months late - our original completion date for the new apartment was last August!!!

Good luck, I will await your responses eagerly too.

We moved last summer with our then 28 month old and new baby. Like you we were moving from London to North west so ds1 was moving from everything he knew. I was very concerned for him. In the end though it all went really well. We talked constantly about the move and emphasised the positive - how exciting it would be to live near a beach and to Grandma's. We didn't really talk about what we were leaving behind as we thought that would be too confusing and better dealt with when the need arose. The best thing we did was to buy a present for the house to give to ds1. Once we had the keys, I legged it up to ds1's room and put the present there for him to find. He was absolutely delighted. We then let him explore on his own in his own time. The removal men sorted out his room first as well so he had his special toys and bed for that night.

As for the removal men and etiguette - we had a seperate box for kettle, biscuits, etc and we bought sandwiches for everybody at lunchtime. We also gave them a tip because they had been particularly helpful.

Good luck with the move and hope this helps.

Eyelash, how much did you tip, and for how many removal men? (If you don't mind my asking.)

i always found if you put the toddler in the van first so the furniture pins them in they cant get out and that leaves you free. am off to take my pills again

seriously though good luck

Like that advice Custy, does it work for 8 yr old girls too? We are hoping to exchange tomorrow and complete 4 August, i really should be packing not surfing!!

We tiped ours £20 each there were 4 of them and they worked blinking hard.They must of drunk about 15 cups of tea throughout the day with about 3 sugars in each.

I moved at the beginning of July, when my son was 22 months. He didn't seem to mind us packing books etc for weeks beforehand,but we had him in nursery on the day the packers came. Could anyone look after him for you? He probably won't mind - all those rolls of parcel tape and bits of bubble wrap to play with! - but he won't half get in the way. It WILL be chaos!! If he has to be there, just enjoy it and accept it takes a bit longer - giving him some boxes and lego bricks/teabags/bits of pasta etc to 'pack' might help.
Etiquette - not sure if this is 'right', but what we did was offer cups of tea/coffee every couple of hours (no biscuits or sandwiches). We tipped £10 per person on the removal day - ie £40 - didn't tip the packers separately (maybe should have done, but they didn't seem to expect it and I think the same people came back the next day to help with the actual move). Maybe you should ask the packers if they will be coming back the next day, and if not tip them on packing day. I've no idea if my tip was about right - I hope it wasn't stingy, it seemed quite a lot to me. Might have been too much, but I wasn't paying for the move itself so it was my only outlay.
Should be fine - my son didn't seem to really notice we'd moved after all my panicking (see earlier mumsnet thread...). Good luck!

We moved two months ago and dd was 21 months. She was v good but was a bit upset when most of her toys disappeared although we had pre warned her. Agree with Miranda about getting him out for the day if possible. Less distressing for him etc. Maybe one of you can take him out and the other stay at home with the packers ? Keep all his favourite things out. Be prepared for a few disturbed nights when settling in. We had about two weeks of problematic bedtimes but it soon righted itself. I think it helped because we organised her room in exactly the same way as her old room (as far possible). If you can do that I think it really helped.
As far as etiquette for removal men. Agree with those that have said keep kettle, biscuits, milk, cups and sugar separate, and of course tea !! I plied mine with tea and biccies every hour and a half and they did a good job. We tipped 2 men £10. I thought £10 each but dh was feeling mean that day
Good luck !

Thanks all.
I think we will definately do shifts taking ds to park etc when packing, but maybe not squeeze him into back of van (thanks for that, Custy!!) Maybe he will be like Pippin from come outside and hide in van to let removal men in at other end Must remember to get cbeebies reconnected......