How to Make Your Own Recycled Gift Boxes

As a new mama/mama-to-be [as of putting this post together, I don’t know where I’ll be!], I have enlisted the help of several other bloggers and creatives to guest post on my blog. They will be sharing DIY tutorials, recipes, and their thoughts on creativity. 

Hi guys! I’m Cody, from Lu & Ed. I make eco-friendly storage solutions and toys for kids in the form of monsters! Each aspect of my business is eco-friendly, right down to my shipping supplies, and I was super stoked when Bev asked me to submit a post on recycled packaging and gift boxes! 🙂

Presentation is key when running a small business, and when giving gifts. We want the recipients to feel loved and to treasure receiving the gift as much as the product inside of it.

When people look at their cereal boxes, chic and trendy packaging for products and gifts is the last thing on their mind. Let’s change that. While recycling is good, reusing is even better! Reusing food boxes reduces landfill waste, production pollution & energy consumption from cardboard factories & box factories, shipping pollution from distributing the box & energy consumption and pollution from recycling facilities used to recycle boxes.

Start with an empty box.

Separate all glued sections of the box.

 

Press all seams of the box to reform it, like so.

Then, you have this newly formed plain floppy shell of an inside out box.

Nothing a little tape can’t fix. I like to do one small bit of tape to hold the form then slowly apply the larger strips. It makes the process a bit easier.

Then turn the box end up, and tape down one end.

Put your products/gifts inside, and tape up the other end!

Boom! A blank slate. A simple plain cardboard box that was 100% free & reduced landfill waste or energy consumption from recycling facilities and cardboard factories.

Spiff it up as a gift:

Take some scrap fabric bits and tie simple bows around the box. Or, get creative and doodle on the box! It is literally a blank slate, waiting on your creativity to make it awesome!

Ship goodies in it: 

Dress up your out-going packages with some pretty washi tape that matches your brands colors. Use the tape to outline the return address and recipients address. Doodle on the box, add stickers or stamps or keep it simple. Write a little message to the buyer about how you recycle packaging to reduce your small business’s ecological impact on the Earth.

However you want to use your repurposed box, it will still make a statement about you – that you care. That you are making a difference. And possibly, that you happen to like bran flakes. 

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Cody has been making Mon-stors and monster toys since October 2009. Check out her line of eco-friendly and handmade monster-inspired products over at Lu & Ed. You can connect with Cody on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.