What to pack in our container?

W

whendg

Registered User
Hello all! Well after three months of "negotiations" with my husband's company we have decided to head to HK! We are nervous, excited, anxious, and overwhlemed (to say the least). But I think taking it one step at a time we'll do great!
I am sure I will have other inquiries and questions I will be posting, but for now the thing that keeps going through my head is what to pack in our container? (I believe it will be a 20' container.) We have a moving assistance group who I am sure will have some suggestions, but I thought hearing some ideas from moms (and dads) would be better.
I do know we are planning living in DB, if that helps. Things I keep thinking about are items for my son (he is 3). Toys, any specific clothing that is hard to get (or super pricey in HK), food items, etc.? Bikes? Jogging stroller?
Any thoughts or suggestions of things you wish you'd brought when you moved, anything of that sort is appreciated!

Thanks!
 
Everything here seemsto cost more so if you have space I would bring clothes, shoes, bike etc. Stroller too if you are using one. Living in DB you will be able to use a jogging one but for trips to central Maclaren quest or volvo will be better. As for food you can buy most of stuff at price so if you have any favourites just send it over. For example I always bring low sodium stock cubes from the UK as I find it hard to get them. Hong Kong is very well stocked but you will get a heart attack in most @western upmarket@ supermarkets like Great or City Super.
Also clothes for yourself - there are high street shops but again they tend to be a bit more expensive than back in Europe.Cereals/formula/baby equpment definetely costs more
 
Remember containers tend to arrive several weeks after you so if i might pack favorite toys in air freight or luggage.
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We came with a 20 feet container and basically brought (almost) all our furniture (for 3 kids), left some pieces, some boxes and outdoor stuff behind and I came quite "lean" in terms of stuff and bulky toys. If they're not paying for getting stuff for your house here, I would basically pack up most of it, and bring it. A 20 feet container will take a lot more than just toys, clothes and a stroller.
 
depends on what those things are:

larger "baby" items are much more expensive here and have far less variety (strollers, exersaucers etc). children's bikes are also MUCH more expensive here (as a matter of fact, my mum bought bikes for my kids in canada and we brought them back with us on our last trip as luggage).

LIttle Tikes stuff is also MUCH more expensive here.... a little tikes race car bed (single size) here is about $5000HKD ($800-ish USD), in the US it is about $200USD ($1500HKD)! that is a massive difference! the selection here also is much smaller for their outdoor toys. i guess not enough people have gardens here, so prices are higher.

i would bring a GOOD gas bbq, if you will have a buget that allows an outdoor area of some kind.

i would pack (if possible) dry goods, too. favourite cereals, canned food, convenient foods, favourite junk food, chocolate etc... i don't know if they allow that or not....

kids' clothes here are cheap if you go to the markets, so i wouldn't worry about those... but if you are using cloth diapers, you may want to pack a bunch of those....
 
matemate said:
huh? i would have said exactly the opposite. leave most of the stuff and home and buy here
Click to expand...

Well just to give you an example - my Maclaren cost 500 HKD more than at home, all the mothercare stuff is about 20% more not to mention nappies, baby food, cereals etc. But then again maybe you shop somewhere I don't know about so please share it would be very useful.
 
Depends on where you are coming from. If you're coming from the states then everything here in Hong Kong is more expensive! Canada or the UK then maybe not so much. I would bring as many clothes, toys, DEFINITELY your stroller and clothes for yourself as well as you can pack. What I'm finding is there is either incredibly expensive clothes here or cheap pieces of c$-p with very little selection in between, say along the lines of Target or Carters brand clothing, for the kids. Which if you're like me I prefer not to spend to much on kids clothes they're only going to out grow in a few months.
 
One more thing - if your shoe size is 40 or 41 I strongly suggest you bring shoes for yourself - the same goes for clothes if you are tall.
 
Before you bring all your furniture, it would be helpful to know how big your place is going to be and whether sofas, beds, etc will fit in the lift or up the stairs. (Will cost you extra is furniture needs to be carried up the stairs. It is charged by the floor for each item.) If your flat is going to be small, furniture from a house might not fit well. And if it doesn't fit or you end up with too much, then you will either need to sell it or pay for storage.

We bring back all kinds of stuff every time we go to Canada that is either not available here or really expensive. Recent purchases have included vitamins, large bottles of Aveeno moisturizer, children's medicine in melt-away form (no need to chew), antibiotic creams like Polysporin as they are not available here without prescription.
 
Thank you so much for all the responses. My husband is heading to HK for the month of October and I am compiling a list of items from your comments for him to look for (availability and price) so we can compare. I will be over for a week in November to check out apartments so we can get a better idea as far as space and how much of our furniture to bring.

Thanks again for the help! Hope everyone is having a good week.
~wendy~
 
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