Half the fun of booking a vacation is daydreaming about it beforehand. During the days leading up to your trip, you can imagine all the Instagrammable moments that await you. What will you do each day? Where will you eat? Most importantly, what will you wear?
As any fashionista knows, no outfit is complete without its finishing touches. Jewelry can take a plain t-shirt and jeans to the next level or glam up an already dazzling dress.
If you’re wondering how to pack jewelry when traveling, it’s important to understand the challenges involved. Jewelry items are fragile, tangle-prone, and easy to lose. Fortunately, we have some tips and tricks for packaging jewelry properly when traveling.
How to Pack Jewelry For Travel
Whether you love costume jewelry or fine diamonds, you naturally want to keep your special pieces safe, organized, and tangle-free as you travel.
Here are some tips on packaging material to help you do just that:
#1 Choose Your Travel Jewelry Wisely
First and foremost, you need to decide what jewelry items you’re going to bring with you. It’s tempting to bring all of your favorite pieces. However, you should be cautious about what jewelry you bring on vacation.
In some cases, it might be best to leave expensive or precious jewelry at home. Traveling with valuable pieces is not recommended, especially if you’re going somewhere where they could make you a target for theft.1 Before you decide to bring a special piece on your trip, ask yourself:
- Would I struggle to afford to replace this piece if it got lost or stolen?
- Is this piece sentimental to me?
- Would my trip be ruined if this piece went missing?
If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, it might be a better idea to play it safe and leave these high-value items at home.
#2 Decide Which Jewelry You’re Going to Wear On Your Travel Day
If you absolutely must bring a few pricey pieces with you, like your wedding set or everyday necklace, it’s a good idea to wear them while you travel to your destination. This way, they’ll be safely on your person at all times, rather than in an unsupervised suitcase somewhere.
Additionally, if your luggage gets lost (fingers crossed it doesn’t), you won’t need to go through the added stress of losing your favorite jewelry pieces.
Once you know what jewelry you’re going to wear on your travel day, you can start packing the rest of your adornments.
#3 Pack Each Piece of Jewelry Carefully: The DIY Addition
Once you’ve chosen the jewelry pieces you’re comfortable traveling with, it’s time to pack them in a way that will ensure they stay organized, protected, and most importantly, untangled!
Every piece of jewelry comes with slightly different travel considerations. For example, a delicate necklace is notorious for turning into a tangled mess,2 earrings often lose their backs, and rings can act like secret escape artists if they're not properly stored away.
Here are some useful DIY strategies for packing each type of jewelry:
How to Pack Necklaces
If you’re wondering how to go about packing necklaces for travel, the secret is to keep them physically separated from one another. You can do so by putting each necklace in its own jewelry case or Ziploc bag.
While this strategy will keep your necklaces from tangling with each other, it’s not a foolproof method for preventing tangles within the necklace chain itself.
To accomplish this goal, you have a few options:
- The Straw Method – One DIY trick is to thread your necklace through a straw and fasten the clasp afterward. The straw will serve as a physical barrier, preventing the chain from getting tangled and knotted together.
- The Cling Wrap Method – If your travel necklace is too thick for the straw method (most statement necklaces would fall into this category), you can use cling wrap to keep it tangle-free instead.
For this method, simply lay down a large piece of cling wrap and place your necklace on one side of it. Make sure the necklace chain isn’t overlapping anywhere. After that, wrap the other side of the cling wrap over your necklace and press it down to create a cling wrap seal. This seal will keep your necklace in place and tangle-free.
How to Pack Rings
If you decide to bring a few rings with you, it’s important to make sure they don’t get lost in your luggage. These tiny accessories are easy to lose and hard to find.
You can keep your rings from wandering off by storing them in a designated jewelry pouch or plastic baggy. If you want to go one step further, consider attaching all of your rings together with a metal O-ring. This will ensure that none of them slip out of the pouch or bag while they’re packed away in your luggage.
Another DIY hack for packing rings is to place them in a pill case or mint tin. Just make sure that whatever container you use won’t pop open inside your luggage.
How to Pack Bracelets
From bangles to beaded bracelets, a little arm candy can instantly jazz up your outfit. However, similar to tangled necklaces, some types of bracelets are more prone to tangling and scratches than others. If your chosen bracelets are slightly malleable, they could also get squished, bent, or damaged under the pressure of the rest of your luggage.
To keep your bracelets safe, simply roll up a small washcloth or towel to create a DIY bracelet display. After that, slide your bracelets onto it and place the display in a large plastic bag. This will keep all of your bracelets from getting squished, scratched, tangled, or lost.
If your travel bracelets aren’t prone to get damaged or tangled, you can simply place them in soft jewelry pouches for safekeeping.
How to Pack Earrings
To prevent these packing problems, you need to get a little creative. Here are some options:
- Use a button – Buttons are a fantastic DIY earring storage solution. Simply insert your earrings into the holes of the button and secure them with the backs. Most buttons have two holes, making them ideal for a pair of earrings. After that, place the bejeweled buttons in a soft jewelry pouch or plastic bag.
- Use a piece of cardboard – Another way you can keep your earrings in one place is by piercing a piece of cardboard with them and fastening them to it. This will create a DIY earring display. After that, place the entire cardboard earring display into a plastic baggy or small bag to ensure none of your earrings fall off and go missing.
- Use a pill case – As with rings, pillboxes are great earring organizers. Their tiny compartments can help you separate each pair of earrings from one another. Just make sure to seal the compartments securely to prevent them from popping open in your suitcase.
#4 Simplify the Packing Process With a Hanging Jewelry Organizer
While all of these DIY jewelry packing tips are viable options, they result in a hodgepodge of different jewelry containers. You can streamline everything significantly by purchasing a hanging jewelry organizer. This will enable you to ditch the cumbersome pillboxes, plastic baggies, and other DIY packing solutions for good.
The BÉIS hanging jewelry organizer comes with:
- Clear zipper pockets in a variety of sizes – With a hanging jewelry organizer, you can swap out your slew of jewelry pouches for a streamlined set of compartments instead. These compartments come in a variety of sizes, giving everything from your statement necklaces to your tiny studs a dedicated home.
Since these compartments are clear and connected to one another, they allow you to view all of your travel jewelry from one place. In turn, you’ll never need to unpack your jewels and risk misplacing them.
- Soft microfiber lining – Your jewelry is precious and should be treated with care. That’s why our BÉIS hanging jewelry organizer is lined with soft, gentle microfiber that will keep your delicate jewelry safe and scratch-free.
- Necklace hangers – To keep the tangles away, our hanging jewelry organizer comes with a designated necklace hanging section. Simply fasten your necklace, slip its pendant in the soft pouch, and secure its chain with the convenient snap tabs.
- A hanger hook – Our hanging jewelry organizer makes settling into your hotel or Airbnb a breeze. All you have to do is unpack your jewelry organizer and hang it up somewhere safe.
Pack Your Precious Jewels Like a Pro
As you can see, there are many ways to pack jewelry for your next vacation. If you want the most elegant solution, there’s BÉIS.
At BÉIS, we carry a beautiful, top-of-the-line collection of luggage. Whether you need a hanging jewelry organizer, a hardshell suitcase set, a travel makeup bag, or a weekend carryall, we can set you up in style.
For more travel organization tips, check out our article on the essentials for makeup bags next.
Sources:
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Moon, Chris. “Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Damaged or Lost Jewelry?” ValuePenguin, ValuePenguin, 26 June 2020, URL
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TodayShow. “How to Untangle a Necklace - without Losing Your Mind.” TODAY.com, 13 Sept. 2017, URL