Proper stacking
In order to make sure that your items are kept safe, proper stacking is crucial. There is a lot that goes into stacking items properly. One thing that you will need to be mindful of when stacking is that you not put weight onto anything that may be crushed. If something is thin or has thin protrusions on its top or bottom, there is a chance that putting things above it could damage it. This chance will increase based on the amount of force (weight) that is applied to the thin fragile pieces of the item. Because of this you will want to put any such items towards the top of their container. Another important part of stacking is to stack things in a way that they will not move around. This will reduce the chance of damage. Lastly you will need to stack things so that their weight is adequately supported. You don't want anything falling over inside of the box.
Padding
The main goal when trying to protect your fragile items is to reduce collisions between items as well as reducing the force of these collisions. The best way to do this is with proper padding. Padding is where you put some soft material such as bubble wrap in the space in between items. Padding has two functions both of which prevent damage. Firstly, putting padding between items reduces the amount of space they have to move around. This reduction means that things are less likely to knock into each other. Secondly, it prevents any direct contact between items. This means that any force that is transferred from one item to another is indirect. This dampens the force reducing the risk that it will cause any damage.
Options for padding
When choosing your padding you will need to pick something flexible but durable. If you were to use something hard and rigid the items would knock against this and sustain damage. If you were to use something that wasn't durable enough, it would break apart, allowing for the items to collide with each other. The standard padding materials are foam and bubble wrap. Both of these materials have enough give to dampen any force and are durable enough to not break apart. If you want to save money on padding materials, one option that you could use is clothes. Layers of clothing make for good padding as they are both strong and durable. The space between the layers will add more give increasing the cushioning. If you are dealing with something that is very fragile however, it may be best to stick to the standard options.
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