Mailing unusual items for the holidays is stressful enough without having to worry about keeping the items safe too. Some of those items might be better off shipped in cardboard mailing tubes. Here are four things that ship really well inside cardboard mailing tubes and how to package them securely.

Posters and Artwork

While framed posters and artwork should be shipped in other types of shipping containers, unframed art and posters are easily rolled and shipped inside mailing tubes.

• To protect artwork that is just drawing materials and paper, use an acrylic finishing spray across the piece, let it dry and then place large sheets of plastic wrap across the top of the work before rolling it up and placing it into the shipping tube.
• If the artwork is on canvas and involves paint, you need to be very careful with rolling it up as you do not want the paint to crack (acrylic paint is more likely to do this than oil paint). If the art involves oil paint, make sure the oil paint is fully dry and cannot seep through the backwards-rolled canvas.

Posters, photos and print art can just be rolled and placed in the tubes.

Christmas Baubles

Round Christmas ornaments are perfect for tube shipping. If they are glass and you want to give them added protection, just roll them in a sheet of bubblewrap, then roll the tube of bubblewrapped ornaments inside a tube of shipping foam before placing them inside the cardboard shipping tube.

Umbrellas and Walking/Hiking Sticks

Umbrellas, walking sticks and hiking poles are some of the easiest things to ship in a tube. As long as they are secured by their closing string and cannot pop open or try to expand during shipping, a tube is the perfect way to ship these items. The only other problem you may encounter with shipping these items are unusual handles because of their shape and/or size. To accommodate the handles, use inflated shipping pillows to take up extra space in a larger shipping tube so that the handles have enough room but the umbrellas, sticks and/or poles are not banging around inside the tubes.

"Pencil" Trees

There is a popular trend this holiday season and it is called the "pencil" tree. These Christmas trees are pencil-thin, hence the name. They quickly fold up and store in narrow spaces in your attic, basement or garage until next year, and can fit in narrow spaces in your home when and where you cannot fit a fuller tree. The added bonus is that, when they are completely folded up, you can ship one (or more!) in a shipping tube anywhere in the country. (Otherwise you could just buy a shipping tube to store the pencil tree, which keeps it dry and free of nesting pests and spiders.) If you choose to ship a pencil tree, roll it in bubblewrap first to keep the metal tines of the faux limbs from poking through the packaging during shipping.

For more information, contact Erdie Industries shipping services or a similar company.