I like the style of this. I like wrapping gifts in brown paper and string for an olde-worlde look.

muteboy

Nothing quite says class like a cereal box repurposed as a gift box. Were you out of brown paper bags? Using this for a handy, cheap storage item for screws, nails, or other small items is a much better, less tacky use.

Pizza_Guy

My friends are quirky enough to dig this kinda thing. Too bad I only eat raisen bran.

goodywitch

be sure to get all the crumbs out first, wouldn't want then to think you're cheap :P

MuglyTheWorm

@Pizza_Guy: "were you out of brown paper bags"....

I'm still laughing...

snoop-blog

nice! an alternative to my newspaper wrapping paper! lol! :D

atomicrabbit

Nice idea on this one -- definitely cuts down on waste.

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

What if you only buy the cereal that comes in bags? ;-)

theblackdog

@atomicrabbit: I have to say I still wrap gifts in the Sunday Comics. You can also use as filler for a gift bag.

AdamG

I was just thinking the other day how I should switch to bagged cereals because of the wastefulness of boxes. Now I have an excuse to stick with quality boxed generic cereal. (Or I can switch to bagged and use brown paper bags for gift wrap.)

sumocat

I hate to be the one to say this but the elitism around Lifehacker is getting to be too much lately. "I always use newspapers as wrapping" "I only buy bagged generic cereal." "I follow a diet based on an ideological mantra" "I've reconfigured my car to run on my own smug sense of satisfaction". It seems like every time there is an interesting article there are many people who feel the need to speak out on how superior they are for some activity. Please tell me someone else has noticed this too.

Before anyone comments, I like this craft. It is something neat. It doesn't hurt that it is using something that would otherwise be waste.

Smashaga

@Smashaga: +1

Especially the dietary ideological mantra.

rscotta

First, this is a great project; too bad I don't eat a whole lot of cereal (maybe one bowl full bimonthly). I have found that a tampon box makes a great place to put a gift. Brown paper bags are great for wrapping those hard to wrap gifts, and stapling them adds some extra class.

Duane

Okay, I didn't RTA but regardless of how they say to re-work a cereal box, you can just cut to the chase by recycling virtually any box--food or otherwise--provided it's clean and stable enough to wrap.

When I was a kid (30ish years ago) my mom was apparently creative and paranoid we'd figure out Christmas gifts under the tree... She'd raid the pantry for suitable sized boxes to wrap our gifts in, and lots of them were a complete & utter suprise until we'd torn off the paper and opened the box! Fun and harder to guess! ;)

About the worst thing to hide/disguise was a music (cassette) tape because they rattled inside the plastic case. (oh, well)

I used the same idea for wrapping my own gifts for friends and family, and I get double the pleasure back--first for seeing their face when you give 'em a box of instant oatmeal and second when they understand you didn't give them such a goofy gift after all. ;) :D

Kids are the funniest... Warring within as to whether they should be polite and thank you for your gift (even as they puzzle over WHY?!) and then the look of relief when they finally "get the joke."

Have fun with this life "hack"! You'll never look back...

Karyn

better yet: [www.changingthepresent.org] no gift box required.

zenhead

I also hate to be a persnickety but this isn't recycling. This is re-using. There is a big difference.

/pet peeve

MonkeyButter

@zenhead: Or you can send me a check made out to The Human Fund.

AdamG

@Karyn: Hey, I happen to like instant oatmeal for Christmas =P

Cereal and the like is a common birthday/Christmas gift around my family, now we can give the gifts back as wrapping when we're done ^_^ Thanks LH!

MichaelTV

Reminds me of a time my daughter gave me a jar of Nutella for Christmas. She told me I would like it yet I suspected she was reusing the jar as a gift container (for maybe a gift certificate).

Imagine my surprise to learn that she had actually given me Nutella... even more, imagine her surprise to realize she had mistakenly given me a nearly empty jar of Nutella.

So... in the spirit of the article, you can apparently recycle not only the containers but the content as well.

The Consultant

One time I got a pair of nunchucks from my best friend in a box of Rice Krispies.

Not kidding.

Parapraxis

@Smashaga: You think its bad check out Consumerist. It might as well be "Prius? My bike is all I need, I bike 24 miles and live to tell everyone how environmentally conscious I am"

I really would hate anyone who gave me this tacky crap. I'm not a homeless person, don't give me your waste and act like you're cool. This is the same crap as those "vintage" t-shirts that I hate so much.

JoshMac

Usually I just leave the box as is and put dead spiders in it, "Acrophobia" style.

JoshMac

@MichaelTV: Well, I don't like it for Christmas, per se, but I'm game just about any other time of the day or night! ;)

@JoshMac: Fine. No oatmeal for you! :)

Karyn

I actually just made this 5 minutes ago to see if I could do it without it looking awful. It turned out nice, but would definitely not be a good gift box.

strabes