Category Archives: Packaging Tape

Crafting a Box with Compartments

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Most things you’re finished with end up in the trash. That’s the nature of things in modern society, right? Outside of trying to recycle materials and different food wastes, there’s not as many options out there but to trash it. Candy boxes (like chocolate boxes) really aren’t any different. But there’s something unique about these boxes that make them more than trash and that’s their small compartments in the tray.

How else would you repurpose such a box, though? Well, to start, the small divided sections could be used for jewelry or even as a sewing kit. Just think about it: with 10 or more sectioned off compartments, you could put anything from earrings to necklaces and spools of thread to needles in each.

First, remove the tray from the box.

While the tray itself is very useful and the centerpoint of this project, you won’t want to be putting your jewelry in a box of candy. Rather, you’ll want to put the tray in something else homemade that you can call your own.

Spray paint tray preferred color.

Most of these trays are white when you purchase candy boxes. For the most part, that’s not a color that will make your jewelry look great or offset their multiple hues. Instead, think about spray painting the tray a matte black, purple, or even turquoise. These are all colors that set off the luster of precious metals and can allow gems to shine even brighter.

Craft a small wooden box to fit the tray.

Here’s where a little bit of actual work may need to be done outside of the tray itself. You’ll want to measure the dimensions of the plastic tray to make sure it fits in whatever wooden box you choose or make. The best part about this box is that you can customize it till your heart’s content.

Place everything within!

Whether you place earrings near each other or scatter your various spools of thread out in the different compartments, do it in a way that each piece has its own snug place to sit. This also helps you to keep everything in order and easily located for when you’re choosing an item. Again, you can feel free to include any type of jewelry you want, or you can go a different route like using sewing materials or anything else you may be able to store. Your mind is the limit here, so long as the items are able to fit in the container’s trays.

What to Do with Your Collection of Cardboard Over Time

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Over the past 10 months, I’ve accumulated quite the collection of large cardboard boxes. The funny thing is, I thought we had all the furniture and other amenities we needed upon moving in.

Yet here we are with multiple large boxes from random things as time has gone on. It just goes to show how you never really realize how much you add to your home on a yearly basis. Things just sort of add up over time and you never actually think you’re adding much to your place.

TV.

We had to have a new television for the basement (i.e., our hang out spot) when we moved in. While I opted to get a cheaper and smaller TV since it wouldn’t be our primary one, the box it came in actually has taken up quite a bit of space the past half year. While I’ve been keeping it behind our couch, I finally pulled it out recently to recycle it. It felt good to get that out of the basement!

Dartboard.

Ahhh, the true entertainment of the basement. We enjoy playing darts, especially steel tip. Well, we mounted a dartboard and cabinet in our basement after receiving it as a Christmas gift. Guess where its box ended up? Yep, right there in the basement alongside the other TV box that we had neglected to recycle. Just as we made sure to recycle our TV box, though, we did the same with the dartboard’s housing box.

Fire pit.

Well, it’s not an actual fire pit that we built from scratch (otherwise it wouldn’t have its own box). For Easter we just received a nice little porch fire pit with its own basin and dome cage on top of it. It’ll be the perfect addition to summer evenings with friends and family. It’s quite a large box itself, and since we haven’t been able to get it out to assemble it yet, the box itself likely will hang around our place for another month or so before I decide to get it along to the recycling center.

Ultimately, we’ve come into possession of quite a bit of cardboard boxes since we moved in last June. I’m just glad we’ve done our part in recycling all the material over time (even if it’s been sitting around in our place, making a mess all the while waiting to be recycled). Heck, we even used one of the cardboard boxes as our cardboard recycling container. O the irony.

Subscription-Based Sweets?

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Lately there’s been a craze for subscriptions. Namely, subscription boxes. Anything you can imagine most likely has some sort of subscription-based company marketing its goods towards you. From clothes to music and fresh ingredients for meals to makeup, people are crazy for subscription boxes that are sent directly to them.

Candy is no different. In fact, you can have unique candies from foreign countries packaged up and sent to you once a month with all sorts of new things to try each time. And it’s become very popular. Why has it caught on, though?

Just another product for subscriptions.

Just like all subscription-based services, candy has found its way into homes on a monthly basis thanks to the subscription box craze. It makes sense, really. Why would other products work on a month-to-month schedule and not candy? Especially when it’s unique, foreign, or seasonal candy that is considered exclusive or limited edition. People eat that stuff up.

Thanks to candy boxes, candy is more than just the sweet treat itself. It’s the presentation of that treat, the colors that accompany the sugary snack. Specific art on the boxes can trigger emotions and desires to buy the product because of its look, its statement, or its ability to stand out among other candies. This is how marketing applies to all sorts of products and is exactly what ropes customers into buying it in the first place.

Why not just buy some candy from the store?
What makes these services work so well is the specialness of it all. The feeling of gifting yourself something new and exciting every month is a powerful one, especially to break up the monotony of life. People look forward to the feeling of unpackaging and ripping apart a box with unknown items within. It’s engaging, it’s interesting, it’s exciting, and it’s practical to not have to go buy your own stuff. It’s like a gift to yourself, really.

Another factor is how easy it is to simply sign up for a product and have it delivered to you. There’s no going out of your way to get it, such as driving to the store. It’s packaged nice and neat for you and sent to you. This all ultimately takes the effort out of obtaining it, at least on your end.

When it comes down to it, subscription candy boxes are just another good checked off on the list of “Things to Make into Subscription Companies”. And like all the items on that list, it’s a profitable service.

Easter is Near

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With April showing showing its face and spring finally in the air, there’s one thought on a lot of kids’ minds: Easter.

And with Easter at the forefront of a lot of kids’ minds, parents everywhere are starting to think of what they’ll fill their children’s Easter baskets with this year. Perhaps it’s a few candy boxes, some fake grass, and a video game. Maybe they’re choosing to give something more nontraditional like a plant to take care of or tickets to a music or sporting event.

However you choose to celebrate Easter, whether it’s for the religious aspect of it all or more from a seasonal standpoint, you almost definitely celebrate it in some fashion in America.

I remember growing up and always getting a basket full of different candies, sometimes apparel, and always some eggs with cash and other candies within. While I don’t consider myself an atypical child growing up, I definitely wasn’t about all the kinds of candies that came with Easter. Rather, I was more interested in what my parents (i.e., the Easter Bunny) would put in my basket that was unexpected.

I think one year I ended up with a video game that I’d been wanting for awhile. That was pretty unexpected, as I always looked at my Easter gifts as something below 20 bucks. Another year, I ended up with a spring jacket that was warm enough to ward off bitter winds and rain yet light enough to wear when the temperature began to rise.

No matter the reasons I celebrate Easter down the road, though, I’ll be sure to make it a fun event for my children. While the abundance of candy boxes and chocolate eggs won’t ever leave the tradition, I’m quite excited to put things like books, accessories, and useful items in their basket to show them that it’s more than just about the candy.

Of course, I don’t think I could ever forget the egg hunts I participated in growing up, so I want to make sure that I keep that tradition going for my children someday, too. That’s undoubtedly the best thing for all kids every time spring comes around: who can find the most eggs and how much money is within all of them.

While Easter means one thing to others, it’s always signified life and regrowth to me. More than anything, I’ve learned to appreciate the holiday as a celebration of the new season and new plant and animal life after winter’s long stay.

What’s in a Name: Cardboard

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Often if you’re told to picture a general thing, the image you conjure up in your own mind differs wildly from the next person’s imagination. This is common simply because the thing that you were told to picture isn’t one extremely specific concept but rather has multiple variations or can be interpreted differently depending on someone’s culture or experiences.

Think about it for a minute, though. If I told you to imagine a house, you may think of a grand, two-story farmhouse with 5000 square feet if you grew up in a wealthier family located just outside of small farmtown. On the other hand, you may think of a small 1500 square foot house abutting other small similar houses, each with fenced in front yards and toys scattered about, if you grew up in a family with lower income located in the city.

Basically, a lot of the concepts out there differ so much from one person to the next because of our experiences and what we have come to know. If I say to picture a mug, you may think of something which we drink coffee and tea out of or you may picture a beer mug if you’re from a different culture.

One of those things that most people picture the same, however, is cardboard boxes. For the most part, we think of a rectangular brown box composed of corrugated cardboard. There’s not much else that springs to mind when you hear that term.

But did you know that these sorts of boxes can range from round to long and cylindrical to highly specialized for specific purposes? One of those boxes in particular is candy boxes. The last thing you’d think of when I say the word cardboard boxes is a box made for packaging candy, right?

Well, if you’re a baker or own your own confectionary business, candy boxes actually may spring to mind when you hear cardboard box.

This entire article goes to show that there are so many different things out there that one word doesn’t encapsulate what an entire population perceives as that word in particular. It all boils down to your own experiences, culture, and preferences.

And since there are a variety of items and concepts that fit into more general terms like “cardboard boxes” or “houses” or “mug,” it’s no surprise that different people would imagine different things when first hearing these terms.