Use it at Christmas time and wrap it with gift wrap or foil and present gifts with it. Your friends and family will enjoy recycling it over again themselves.
By Nicole
By Jill Z
By Carol
Per the "trading spaces" idea, maybe a candle would be a bad idea, but placed on a wall would make it an excellent shadow box. They may be useful for packaging gifts like a box of soaps, herbs, etc. The boxes can be covered or painted.
By Mickie
By Pat R.
By Weatheredoaks
By Bill Jehle
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I need some ideas on what to do with about 30 cardboard cigar boxes I got at an auction this afternoon. Some are pretty old and some are not. Any ideas?
Boy, am I jealous of your auction find! What a treasure trove you've won. The boxes would be good for drawer organizers, used either with or without the lids. You can use them as-is or paint or paper them first.
To make a jewelry-type box, paint the box whatever color you like. Glue felt or fabric in the bottom of the inside and decorate the outside if you like with cut-out magazine pictures, old beads, jewelry pieces, sewing odds and ends (rick rack, trim, etc.). Let your imagination run wild!
These also make great potpourri boxes, just paint and decorate, fill with wonderful potpourri, they are great to give friends for their bathrooms, etc.
You could paint some red, cut out cute Christmas pictures from wrapping paper, Christmas cards, magazines, etc. and decoupage those onto the box and filled with Christmas candies and chocolate. The boxes could also be wrapped in Christmas paper and used for gift packages.
You might want turn them into a recipe box by decoupaging words from a restaurant menu all over it. Copy recipes onto index cards and filled the decorated box with the recipes.
Although many of the following ideas call for wooden cigar boxes, one could easily substitute cardboard cigar boxes. You may need to change the directions a bit; for instance, paint the box, rather than use it unpainted but the ideas should work just as well. A quick search of the Internet found the following:
Cigar Box Purse
www.hgtv.com/
www.hgtv.com/
www.craftbits.com/
www.sunshinecrafts.com/
www.sunshinecrafts.com/
Cigar Box Memo Board
www.azcentral.com/
Cigar Keepsake Box (you may need to scroll down past other project(s) to see this)
www.gluedots.com/
Memory Box
www.enchantedlearning.com/
Cigar Box Jewelry Box
www.diynet.com/
Old cigar boxes make wonderful craft projects
havasumagazine.com/
And right here on ThriftyFun.com:
Uses for Wood Cigar Boxes
www.thriftyfun.com/
Have fun!!!
Kathy
I bought a bunch that were called "school boxes" at Safeway that were on clearance ... same as the "cigar boxes" to use in a craft project at the nursing home.
I negotiated .25 cents each for the 20 of them. Since I donate the materials, try to keep it as cheap as possible.
I spray painted them all the same color and I glued a piece of styrofoam on the lid before the craft class, then had the residents decorate them with silk flowers and leaves ... very pretty!
Slice the box in the middle and use them for decorative tissue boxes.
You can make shadow boxes to hang on the wall for any season.
They make great receipt boxes or candy and cookie or stationary boxes.
Ooh, the old ones are the best, aren't they? I have a lovely old "Joan of Arc" sans lid that I use as a CD holder on my nightstand for my CD-radio alarm clock. Turn the box sideways and place the CDs in title-side up.
There are lots of things that you can do with cigar boxes. The older cigar boxes may be valuable. I would check google or ebay. I love to paint cigar boxes. I have made closets out of them for Barbie dolls. I paint the outside and inside of the box, Then sponge paint a design, stand the box up on its end and put a knob on the "door " of the closet and cut a wooden dowel to fit inside of box (to hang clothes on) and hot glue the dowel in place. My daugher and her friends enjoyed them. For the smaller dolls I would make a bed out of the cigar box. Pain the box, make mattress, pillows, blankets, quilt, etc and have the lid to close and hold everything in place. My grandson loves boxes to put things in. When he was little, (after I painted the box)) I would paint bears or something he liked all over it and he could keep his "treasures" in the box. Hope this helps.
Judy in NV
I have several wood and cardboard cigar boxes 70 to 100 yrs old. The art work on the inside cover is a collectible. jaderealty AT aol.com
Most cigar stores sell these wonderful boxes for little. $1.00 each at my store. The ones with the little hinges are great for glue crafts. I made my husband (a cigar smoker) a specility Cigar Storage box with Air Force Fabric and gold braided trim glued on. Then I decoupaged a personalized poem inside and the date, and occasion. He was so touched & just loved it!
I have serveral cardboard cigar boxes and I am not sure as to what to do with these to make good use out of them. Any ideas?
By D Partain
These look like fun projects.
Cigar box clock
www.theholidayspot.com/
Cigar box purse
thinkcrafts.com/
Cigar box organizer
blog.craftzine.com/
