Boxes!

My friend taught me how to make these a few years ago and I have made them countless times. Sounds silly, but learning how to make these boxes was one of the most valuable things I've learned how to do because of how useful they are.

Kids love to make them. One summer at my sister's house we bought a pack of 12x12 paper, taught the kids how to make them and they were occupied for a couple of hours.

I use them for visiting teaching, for treats for neighbors, for kids' teacher gifts, and friend gifts. You can use different paper for different holidays. In fact one year I made boxes out of Christmas paper for my kids' teachers in September and when things were crazy in December I pulled them out and filled them with cream puffs, it was so easy! I've also filled them with assorted cookies, fudge, one big brownie or one big rice krispy treat the size of the box, candy, bark...anything.

For treats: I cut a square of wax paper (twice the size of the box) lay it in the box, fill the box with the treat and fold the wax paper over the treat and place the lid on and tie with ribbon or twine and attach a tag (made out of coordinating paper-I usuallly cut it with my cricut)

Other gift ideas: We've also filled them with coordinating paper items like tags, note cards, and bookmarks. My daughter has filled them with assorted "girly stuff" like chapsticks, lotions, hand sanitizers, and nail polish for her friends.

I tried to take pictures of how I fold the boxes, but being on bedrest it was quite cumbersome to get good shots. (in the pic above the boxes are sitting on top of my baby bump!) But I found this video that explains how to make the boxes. It is a little different than the way I do it, mine requires cutting but the end result is exactly the same. Make sure your paper is a perfect square, I use 12x12.

Just make two boxes the same size from the tutorial above. You might have to squish a little bit to get the top on.

Check out some of my favorite yummy treats here to put inside and go doorbell ditch a neighbor!