Deck the Oatmeal Box For A Christmas Gift

Use this kind of oatmeal box that does not have a plastic or cardboard lip on it. The only part that is plastic is the lid. The top side of the lid has edges overlapping toward the center. (See photo with decorated lid.) These work well because the lid still fits well even after the box is trimmed shorter. They can be found with brand name and generic oatmeal. These come in large and small size. I used the small size.

Decide how tall you want your gift box to be. I wanted mine 3" high so I cut a 3" strip lengthwise off of my card stock.

I held the strip onto my box by lining it up against the bottom edge (it helps to flip your card stock strip over when you do this so you don't get marks on the front side), then I traced around the upper edge to mark where I will cut.

Next I cut strips down to drawn line. Cut on yourdrawn line. The cut strips make it easier to cut along your line.

Place the lid bottom side down and trace around the lid onto card stock, then cut along inner line.

Gently push your circle into the lid, because of the lid edges no glue is needed.

Glue your strip to the box.

The bow ~ I cut five 5" x 7" pieces of tulle that match my card stock and layered them one on top of the other.

I then grabbed the tulle by the short end and folded it like a fan in small folds. Tie tightly in the middle with a thread, then bunch each side of the tulle together so you can cut each end the length you want.

Pull each layer apart separately and pull upwards. Remember doing this with tissues when you were a kid after raiding the tissue box? I tied matching little ornament balls to the middle of mine.

You can put a gift tag on a string and glue it to the lid if you'd like. Put glue on the center of your bow where the string is tied. Place on center of lid and apply pressure.

Now you can sit down and admire your pretty new box while you eat your oatmeal and contemplate which special gift it will hold.