September 8, 2011

12 Ways to Reuse Diaper Boxes



The average baby goes through more than 7,200 diapers in the first two years of life. That's a lot of diapers! If you're using disposables, you will frequently have empty diaper boxes available for reuse. Aside from being the best *free* moving boxes ever, there are plenty of other ways to repurpose and upcycle your empty diaper boxes.

Most diaper boxes are strong and sturdy. Pampers' large diaper box, for example, uses cardboard with a weight limit of 65 pounds! That's a strong box with a lot of potential. Check the seal on the bottom of box for your brand's specifications.

You can even cover with fabric/paper and embellishments to spruce it up a little. Here I used an old pair of pants and some leftover fabric to line the box which now holds all those teeny tiny toddler books.



Here are a dozen creative ways to reuse your diaper boxes...

  1. Store gift wrap and bows. Wrap box in paper. Store tape, scissors, bows, and other gift wrap essentials.
  2. Store old textbooks. Still saving your old textbooks from college? Load them up in one of these boxes to keep off the dust and easily organize your storage closet. Bonus: the finger holes on the side of the box make for easy lifting.
  3. T-shirt forms. Cut out t-shirt forms to place between fabric layers and prevent bleeding when painting t-shirt crafts. (Think handprint shirts for grandma.)
  4. Organize your craft room. Long-term projects (like quilts) can easily be stored with all the necessary tools and pieces together in one box.
  5. Beanbag/ball toss. Encourage your little one to throw a ball into an open empty box. As an extra challenge for older kids, flip the box over and cut out a small hole and you have a bean bag toss.
  6. Small pet bed. Cut off the top flaps and 2/3 of the front panel. Drape with a soft towel or pillow and little Fido now has a new place to sleep.
  7. Car trunk organizer. Use multiple embellished boxes to organize your trunk space.
  8. Finger painting in the yard. Take your kids out in the yard and let them finger paint the box. It's 3D art your kids will surely love.
  9. Bubbles, chalk, and bouncy balls- Little outdoor toys tend to end up everywhere. Store them together in one box in the garage.
  10. Photo mailers. Cut out a rectangle of cardboard and place inside envelopes to prevent bending when mailing photos.
  11. Lawn waste. Take a box into the garden when pulling weeds to collect lawn waste.
  12. Grocery box for camping trips. Keep your bread from getting smashed during camping trips by packing your food in a box.
  13. Transport Christmas gifts.
  14. "Box"car rides. Glide your little one over carpeted floors by looping a bed sheet through the box finger grips.
  15. Shelf liners for built in wire closet shelves. Hate those little lines imprinted onto your folded clothes by wire closet shelves? So do I. Cut a side panel from your diaper box, wrap with decorative paper and use as shelf liners to prevent annoying little line marks.
 Positively Splendid has an awesome tutorial for creating a canvas lined crates out of diaper boxes.

Diaper box + old bed sheet + mom = boxcar rides

Where I keep gift wrap, bows, etc.
Store craft materials


5 comments:

  1. This is a perfect post for my season in life (26-month-old and 13-month-old). Thanks for making me feel better about not switching to cloth diapers! :)

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  2. Thanks for the ideas, I'm going to be sharing this on my blogs Facebook and Twitter pages on Monday!

    Amber
    www.lifelovegreen.com

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  3. You have given new purposes for items that most of us just simply throw in the bin. From old newspapers, paper documents, plastic items as well as diaper boxes - they can still serve a purpose if only we make it an effort to take part in practical measures of re-using and re-purposing them. Thanks for being an inspiration!

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  4. Love this! We use cloth but when I do buy disposables I always reuse the box somehow! :)Thanks for sharing!

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