Thanks to General Mills® for sponsoring today’s post. All content is 100% original and honest. Pinky promise.
Last week I talked a little bit about why I love the Box Tops for Education labels program so much. It’s an awesome way for my family and I to be able to contribute to my children’s school without having to volunteer a lot of time and effort. While other volunteer opportunities are wonderful, I don’t always have that option with two other youngsters at home. With the Box Tops labels, I can still help out and it fits into my hectic and crazy life. All I have to do is buy participating products, clip the labels, and send them into school with my son. His school gets $0.10 for every label and the money can be used wherever the school needs it. Last year’s Box Tops money helped them keep their Physical Education teacher this year. Definitely a worthy use of the money to me. And I don’t have to go out of my way to buy special products I won’t use. The labels are on many of the things we already buy. And, right now, at Walmart you can score BONUS Box Tops labels, making each product worth $0.50!
But, with all these Box Tops labels being cut out and saved, it’s not difficult to end up with stacks and piles of small rectangles of paper. I know from experience, these are just begging to be eaten by little ones. I knew I needed a system to keeping them collected and all in one place (and away from the baby!) so that when it was time to turn them in to school, I would be able to do just that. So, I made a simple little collection box to help me, and the rest of my family, know what to do with the labels after we’d clipped them. It’s nothing fancy and it was pretty simple to put together. Ready to test out your origami skills?! It’s really quite easy, I promise there’s no mountain or valley folds waiting for you.
BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION LABELS
DIY COLLECTION BOX
Materials:
– Small box or a larger box you can cut down
– Scissors or a box cutter
– Packing tape
– Ruler
– Pencil
– Magnets, if you’re going to keep the box on your fridge (reuse some old ones or check any craft department or store for blanks)
– Hot glue gun and glue sticks (if you’re going to put magnets on your box)
– Box label (optional)
– Scrapbook paper (optional)
– Scotch Tape (optional)
– Any other embellishments or decor
Directions:
– I knew I didn’t want a huge collection container hanging around my kitchen; because, after all, those Box Tops labels don’t take up a lot of space so my collection container didn’t need to either. I decided to cut up an old empty box to fit my size needs. I used a cereal box and it was perfect.
– If you want to make a box like mine you can use the following steps to make your box from the back of an old cereal box. Make adjustments if you need to or make or find your own box. I searched for “box template” on Google and the results were a little overwhelming, so I’m sure you can find something that will work for you.
– Use the scissors to cut the back panel off the box. You can use the front panel too, but mine had a hole in it (where I’d cut out a Box Tops label…). Lay it out on a flat surface in portrait orientation.
– Fold the box as shown in the image below. Just a single straight across fold about an inch and a half before the two edges line up.
– Make another fold just like the last one but about two inches before the two edges line up. This will create the bottom of your box.
– Measure in an inch on each side and mark it with the pencil.
– Cut off the inch you measured to create the front of the box. Then, cut in an inch on the first fold line you made to create a tab.
– Measure the bottom of the box and then take the same measurement on each of the sides of the box.
– Fold the cardboard back where you made the marks and put a strip of packing tape on it with the sticky side up. Repeat this step on the other side of the box too.
– Fold up the front of the box and secure the tape by sticking your hand or the ruler inside the box and pressing down down firmly.
– When your box is all assembled you can take your scrapbook paper and cover up the old box print. Fold it around your box and use the Scotch tape to hold it in place. It’s like wrapping a present.
– I wanted it to be incredibly obvious what the little box was for, so I found a large photo of the Box Tops logo and printed it out to put on the front of my box.
– Attach the magnets to the back of the box with hot glue. Hang on your fridge or other metal surface.
You’re now ready to begin collecting those little Box Tops labels! Or transfer your current collection into their new home for safe keeping. This will help make sure we don’t have Box Tops labels floating aimlessly around our house and that they get turned into cash for our school. I can’t wait to see what they decide to do with the money they earn this year! Guess I better go eat another Mint Chocolate Brownie so I can turn in that Box Tops label. <Wink, wink> Right now, you can score BONUS Box Tops labels on select General Mills® products at Walmart! What are you waiting for, fill up that collection box!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of General Mills®. The opinions and text are all mine.
