How to Make a Gift Box From a Cereal Box

Why waste a gift box if you can make your own?

Homemade gift boxes allow you to show your creative side, while also cutting down on waste. Instead of throwing a cereal box into your recycling garbage can, why not use it to make a decorative box? Try creating a gift box that represents your recipient. Paint pictures of her favorite sport or sports team logo. Your whole family can join in the fun of creating a gift box, and you can feel good about doing your part to protect the environment.

Things You'll Need

• Cereal box
• Scissors
• Paint
• Paint brush
• Paint stamps
• Hot glue gun
• Bow

Instructions

1. Open up the top of the cereal box.

2. Pull open the bottom of the cereal box. It is glued shut, but if you carefully lift the flaps, it will open.

3. Cut all the way through any one of the side seams. The box should now be a flat piece of cardboard.

4. Flip the cereal box so that the plain, brown side is facing up.

5. Fold all seams in the opposite direction many times. When you put the cereal box together, you will be putting it back together inside out.

6. Cover the surface with one coat of paint to use as the background. You will probably want to use a light color, so that the paint that you put on top of it will show. If the brown color from the cereal box is still visible, apply another coat.

7. Allow the box to dry for a minimum of four hours or until completely dry.

8. Use a different paint color to decorate as you like. Try using paint stamps to create perfect-sized shapes.

9. Allow the box to dry for a minimum of four hours.

10. Use a hot glue gun to apply a thin layer of glue to the seam that you initially cut.

11. Attach the side of the box to the glue. It will close up the way that it was originally sealed, only the decorative side will be facing out.

12. Apply a thin layer of glue to the bottom flap of the box. Tuck in the side flaps, and then seal up the bottom of the box, just as it was originally.

13. Place a gift inside the box and attach a bow.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not use thick layers of glue. Thick glue will make it hard to follow the folds on the cereal box to put it back together.

References

• Tip Junkie: Make a Gift Box out of a Cereal Box

Resources

• Amazon: Paint Effects Stamp Set by World Class Learning Materials