How to make a Gift Box from Waste materials?

Recycling and reusing are two major mantras of today and I enjoy making useful products from old fabric, used tins or boxes, paper, plastic glasses or bottles and so on. I always save these things for making some kind of useful items or just give a twist to add them into pretty gift packs.

In this hub, we shall see how to make a glam gift box or pack using some old colorful clothes and plastic or paper boxes.These are simple, easy to make, useful projects which anyone, including children can try making. I usually make these type of packs for gifting homemade chocolates or cakes to friends and family.These boxes look exquisite that if you purchase a similar packs, it would cost you much much more than what you spend for making them.

Things required:

Old Cloth

Old box - paper or plastic

Glue

Method:

We all know that if we cut a fabric into a circle or square, gather all sides of the fabric around our gift and secure it with a ribbon, this creates a beautiful package for small items. This cloth gift box here is a small variation of this type of packing.

First, we have to take a square or rectangular or a circular paper or plastic box. I have used the empty plastic box of Ghee sweets purchased from Sreekrishna sweets. After my family eats the sweets, these plastic boxes are of no use. I washed them to remove all the grease left by the ghee sweets. These boxes come in perfect square or rectangle. Dry them well and the base material is ready.

So, the next time you get a box at home and before you throw it in the bin, try making one of these gift packs. I'm sure you can turn them into beautiful gift packings.

You can take any colourful, patterned cloth, irrespective of the type of the fabric. I've used a piece from my old silk saree which tore near the border for one pack and a net cloth for making another pack. I didn't want to throw away that. It had attractive, glossy zari border which I cut and fixed on the plain cloth portion. I positioned the zari border in such a way that when I glue the cloth over the box, the border occupies the sides of the box.

Measure the box. Mark the measurements on the fabric. Add some extra inches for folding inside the edges. Apply some PVA glue or can use a glue stick for pasting the cloth on the outside as well as the inner sides of the box. Do leave some extra length for gathering at the end after you pack in the gift item. You can use different type of cloth pieces and stitch them together to form a collage of fabric.

In the yellow box, I've used the plain silk cloth. In the pink net cloth, I've attached a blue zari with heavy work as the border.

You can either stitch the free ends or leave it in a zig zag manner. The gift box is ready fro packing.

Put some gift item inside the box, gather the free end of the fabric and tie a ribbon or bow to enhance the look of your gift pack.