Chica and I were browsing the local craft store when we spotted a huge display of photo storage boxes . They seemed to call to us from across the store, enticing us with cute patterns and vibrant colors. Luckily, they were running a great deal on them so we decided to snag a few to take home. Once I got mine home, I started trying to think of fun uses for them. Please let us know if you have any unique ideas on what to do with these practical and economical storage boxes. Currently, my list consists of the following:
- Wedding day survival kits for bridesmaids and groomsmen: Choose boxes that complement your wedding colors or decorate plain ones. Put the name of the recipient on the outside within the metal area on the front. Fill the box with a bottle of water, aspirin, light snacks, safety pins, clear fingernail polish for the ladies, sunscreen for an outdoor wedding, small travel deodorant, tissues, Tums, a small lint brush and a nice thank you card.
- Box lunches for a bridal or baby shower: Especially good for an outdoor party. Line the bottom of the box with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Put a frozen gel pack in the bottom of each box and cover with tissue paper. Put plasticware, napkin, a wrapped sandwich, a small container of salad, a skewer of fruit with a small container of dip, some crudites and dip and a small bottle of water in each box. Make some boxes vegetarian and label the outside appropriately. A guest can then pass a table decorated with all of the beautiful boxes and pick one from the pile. For a smaller party, label the boxes with each guest’s name and customize the contents somewhat. Chica and I did something similar for a baby shower but we used baskets instead but I think the boxes would have looked even cuter!
- Baby memory boxes: Decorate the box with your child’s name and birth stats. Fill it with the keepsakes that won’t fit inside a baby book very easily such as: the coming home outift, first shoes, favorite rattle, and favorite stuffed animal. I currently have my daughter’s items like this in an old cookie tin, sad, I know. I am going to work on a cute box now instead for her. I will make sure to post a picture of my finished product.
- Make fabric softener sheets pretty: Put your sheets in a box with a nice design to make the laundry area a little more tidy and less blah.
- Store extra flatware: Whether its the odds and ends that don’t match your current set anymore or a set you only use for company, store your flatware in a labeled box in your closet to free up space in the kitchen.
- Receipt box: Put one in your kitchen to be a catch-all for receipts. At the end of the month, when it is time to do the bills, receipts will all be in the same place.
- Art kit for kids: Put all of the supplies they would need to do an art project in a box. When the weather is frightful, your kids can grab a box and enjoy a little arts and crafts time.
- Storage for small toy pieces: A friend gave our daughter a Fisher Price Snap ‘n Style doll
as a gift for her birthday. An additional bonus gift was a box to hold all of the pieces once we opened the package. We still use this nicely decorated box and it inspired me to pass on the organizational love whenever I give a child’s gift with lots of pieces. It only adds a couple of dollars to the gift price and the parent will love you forever!
- Lost-and-found: I am forever finding odd pieces around the house that I don’t know what they are or to whom they belong so I decided to label one of these lost-and-found and dump all of these mysterious pieces there. Now, when my husband asks me if I threw away his very valuable random metal or plastic thing, I can say no, look in the lost-and-found box!
14 comments so far:
I have three of these, and I used one for actually storing pictures. The other two I use for storing medicine (pill bottles can be unsightly!) and the other I keep my various thank you, birthday, and other cards.
Very clever ideas, Jenny. Thanks for sharing!
I use two of these boxes for my recipe file.I have listed all of the categories in the lid from 1 to 25 inside the first box and 26 to 50 inside the lid of the second box. Then I placed a small number on each upper right hand corner to match the number of the correct category to help me refile the recipes quickly. for instance: my collection of rhubarb recipes are all placed in category #40 and each rhubarb recipe has a #40 on the upper right corner to facilate me ( or anyone else willing to help me) re filing later when I have time .
Alice, I love the idea of putting the numbers in the corners and having the categories on the box lid. Very organized!
Love this post! I went crazy one day when these lovey things were on sale & bought a dozen. I’ve done quite a few things on the list, including passing the organization love on to the kids around me. I made an art kit for one of my best friends daughter to carry her supplies between her mother’s and father’s houses. I gave it a handle by poking a hole on the bottom part under where the lid hits with a strong knitting needle and stringing it with nice wired ribbon. Also, I use a few to display my pretty balls of yarn for future projects. Turn them up on the short end and you can fit about 6 balls or small skeins and they look so nice and stay well-contained.
What great ideas, Suzie. Thanks for sharing!
I absolutely love photo storage boxes. Besides about four of these full of mine and my husband’s photos, I have several of these boxes in use for other purposes:
1. small scrapbooking supplies, such as scraps of card stock, embellishments, decorative scissors, etc.
2. note cards, greeting cards and other stationery items as Jennie said, back in 2009.
3. decorative punches used in scrapbooking, greeting card making, etc.
4. office supplies, such as glue sticks, file folder labels (blank, sticky ones), blank mailing labels, etc.
These boxes are a wonderful way to clear small clutter from desk drawers.
Those are wonderful ideas, Lady D. Thanks for sharing! You guys make me want to go pick up some more boxes
I like to use them as a reusable already “wrapped” alternative when giving away presents. I add a note to remind the recipient it is an acid free safe storage alternative. I just tie ribbons around it to close it.
Coquisong, that is a brilliant idea! I’m kinda kicking myself for not thinking of that myself
But what do you do w/the unused divider tabs? Any clever uses for those??
Interesting point, Tina. Hmm… I wonder if you could put holes in them and put them in a small binder? Or maybe use them to separate coupons in an expanding envelope? Anybody else have any fun ideas?
I just discovered your site and you are brilliant. I am attempting to organize my home and you have great and workable ideas.
I recently got the same boxes at the same great price and use them in my pantry. Each child has one for their individual snacks and lunch items (no more, Mommy, he ate my poptart and no one is accused of taking the low cal packet that wasn’t theirs), one is for all the gravy mixes, dip mixes, salad dressing mixes and all those things that come in envelopes, and another is for the Koolaid packets, the Crystal Light, etc. At first I thought it would waste a lot of space but since I have a large household, and everybody likes different flavors and such, and I frequently go to the warehouse and buy bulk, the boxes don’t have as much spare room as I thought. I also like the look of the pantry shelf with the uniform boxes and pretty labels. The other benefit is that the kids can pull any one of them out of the cupboard and be able to easily put the lid back and slide the box back anywhere on the shelf neatly. Letting them help me put stuff away is how my pantry got to be in such a mess in the first place. They haven’t quite gotten the concept the largest goes on the bottom. It sometimes looks like a Jenga game in there and the next person to open the door is going to get an avalanche of food stuffs.
Since I also do scrapbooking, I save all the dividers and they are on my to-do list to make individual little scrapbooks with them, with sort of the altered book look. I have enough to send one home with each child in my youngest son’s grade with suggestions on how to decorate it and it will be assembled for the end of the year teacher’s gift.
Keep on providing the great inspiration.
Antoinette, thanks so much for sharing those great ideas with us! I think I might have to put a couple photo boxes in my pantry now, too. And I love your idea for re-using the dividers… so clever!