After four years of living in our rambler, it was time to move our kids down to the basement. It sounded simple enough, but it was a little tricky. The basement is dark and scary. But I discovered some simple ways to make the transition an easy one.

Prep your kids ahead of time

Kids like surprises, but not in this case. If possible, kids your kids plenty of advanced notice of the upcoming move. That way it will give them time to prepare mentally and think about it. In our situation, we had someone renting out our basement, so I kept reminding our kids that when she moved out, they would be moving downstairs.

Move multiple kids down at once

If you only move one child down to the basement, you are setting yourself up for failure. I wouldn’t want to be down in the basement by myself. Neither do any of your kids. Plan on moving at least two or more down at the same time even if they won’t be sleeping in the same room.

Keep the basement well-lit

My kids have always been scared of the basement. That’s why it was essential that I plug in multiple LED night lights throughout the basement, up the stairs and down the hallway leading to my bedroom. They have a dusk to dawn sensor so they automatically turn on during the day. It eased my kids’ minds that if they woke up in the middle of the night, it wouldn’t be pitch dark.

Decorate their bedrooms

Put some extra effort into organizing and arranging your kids’ bedrooms so it will be a comfortable and happy place where they will want to be. You don’t have to spend a fortune either. As long as it’s clean and cozy, they will love it. I made sure they have curtains to cover their windows at night.

Here’s some other great bedroom decorating ideas:

Let your kids have a say

If you decorate your kids rooms exactly the way YOU want it, your kids may not love it. Allow them to have a say when you’re putting their bedrooms together. Let them pick out posters and decide what goes where. My oldest son wanted a floating shelf in his room where he could put all his action figure. Done!

Actually hang out in the basement

If you go to all this effort to make your basement a fun place for your kids, but then you never go down there, they will catch on really fast. Consider it an excuse to my some new furniture and decorate. If it’s a place that you’ll want to be, your kids will want to be there as well.

Spray for bugs

Our basements, like many others, are notorious for bugs and spiders. My friend told me that she moved her two kids downstairs but after a week, her son was covered in spider bites. Needless to say, they moved back upstairs. There are a lot of indoor bug sprays that will do that trick.