8 Steps to make your own Origami Treat Box

Remember these yummy little things? And the box that they were wrapped in? With permission from Liz I am posting her fabulous tutorial on making a little paper treat box.

What you will need:

One square piece of paper. This is a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper (recommended).

Step 1: Find the center of the paper and fold all corners into the center. (If you fold the paper in half each direction and make a small crease in the center you will find the center pretty easily, as pictured).

Step 2: Fold two opposite sides into the center.

Step 3: Unfold the folds you make in step 2 and repeat with the two remaining sides.

Step 4: Unfold recent folds and unfold two opposite corners.

(and just to make it easier, refold the sides in)

Step 5: Fold corner (arrow #1) to center (arrow #2). Then repeat with other corner on the same side.

Step 6: Bring flap inside to create box side.

Step 7: Repeat with other side of the box.

Step 8: Fill up with goodies and share!

Felt Fortune Cookies

I like this idea for packaging a little treat found here. You can make fortune cookies out of felt and put little treats and notes inside.

Here are the easy peasy instructions (slightly modified from website)...

1. Cut a 4 1/2" diameter circle out of felt

2. Cut a piece of matching ribbon slightly shorter than 4 1/2" and cut a piece of wire slightly shorter than 4 1/2" with wire cutters

3. With a hot glue gun, glue the wire across the diameter of the circle and then glue the ribbon over the top of the wire (as pictured in the second picture above).

note: you can also use matching pipe cleaner in place of the ribbon and wire and glue it down with hot glue

4. Fold the circle in half with the wire/ribbon going along the inside of the fold.

5. Take the two ends of the fold and pull them back towards eachother (but not touching), bending the wire in half, to form a fortune cookie shape

6. Carefully fold up the top flap of the fortune cookie and insert small treats and fortunes.

Variations: For Valentine's Day include a scripture reference about love or a quote about love instead of a fortune. But, this isn't just a Valentine idea. You could make the fortune cookies any color for any holiday or theme. Even a Christmas neighbor gift idea: "We are 'fortunate' to have you as a neighbor!" could be inserted into red and green fortune cookies.

Cream Soda Bottle Valentines

These empty cream soda bottles created a sweet valentine jack pot. Check it out here if you want the how-to. This was made as a gift for a husband but it could easily work for anybody on your list (minus the lovey tags on the bottles, of course). I love how the cardboard case has been recovered and used as packaging.

Heart Wax Paper

A simple idea to dress up your baked goods found here. Just cut hearts out of tissue paper. On an ironing board lay down a layer of paper towels, then wax paper, tissue paper hearts, another layer of wax paper, and another layer of paper towels. Set an iron to medium heat and lightly iron over the layers to set the hearts onto the wax paper.

Consider all of the different shapes you could use to dress up your wax paper for baked goods. This could be great for any holiday or occasion.

Treat Cups

I know it's really early to be thinking about Valentine's Day but sometimes I find really cute ideas a little too late and I always wish I would have started earlier. So here I go. This is one of my favorite packaging ideas because it is simple - found here. These are made with clear plastic cups with a piece of cardstock wrapped around it. And I love the heart cut-out window, don't you? Then you glue a piece of double-sided crepe paper around the top of the cup and fill it with treats or gifts and tie a ribbon around it. Click here to get a free template for the paper that fits around the clear cup.

S'mores Kits

I absolutely love this cute gift idea: s'more kits found here. You could do these any way you like. These particular clear boxes can be found at any packaging store or site and you can buy in bulk and save big (either go in on a bunch with some friends or save them for your own gifts). Here is a sight I found that seemed pretty reasonable to me. You don't have to package it this way though. You could come up with your own fun way to present a s'mores kit (and then share it with me!) What a fun gift for a family to get! I always love gifts that give us something fun to do together. Or what about a miniature s'more kit for an individual? oooh.

Grass Baskets

All you need is potting soil, a container, and some wheat grass seeds to give the gift of SpRinG. Just fill your container 3/4 full with potting soil, then sprinkle a thin layer of seeds, and add a thin layer (1/4"-1/2") of soil. Then water it! The picture above came from here.

I have done this for my Visiting Teaching ladies before for Easter. I grew the grass in a spring basket a few weeks before Easter and then delivered their basket with some Easter eggs filled with treats set in the grass.

This would be a fun way to deliver any Spring/Easter treat or gift. Kids would love it too!

Bow Bouquet

Hair bows are a great gift for any girl. If you want a unique way to package it try a bow bouquet. Get a basket or other container and put a Styrofoam block or a green floral foam block then cover with Spanish moss. Then cover wood skewers (or some other kind of stick) with floral tape and clip the bows to the skewer. Then stick your skewers into the block at varying heights. This idea was found here along with tutorials on how to make bows here and here.

And if you are looking for a GREAT price on alligator clips, bows, flowers, and other accessories then go to haloheaven (as long as you don't mind buying in bulk - I went in on an order with some friends and it ended up being 50 cents per flower/clip including shipping).

Japanese Newspaper

These packages were wrapped in Japanese newspaper. Then wrapped with a strip of Japanese paper and tied with string. Next time you are looking for a new way to wrap a gift (especially if the gift isn't from the U.S.) try buying a newspaper in a different language. This idea was found here.

Create Your Own Pop Top Treat!

Save your pop top cans! These cute little treat cans were found here with a great tutorial here. Don't pop the top on your grocery cans. Instead, use a can opener to open the BOTTOM of the can and empty the contents and clean out the inside (make sure the bottom of the can is flat and not rounded so that you can actually open it with a can opener). Then, fill it with a treat and glue the bottom back on with hot glue or E6000. The lucky recipient gets to pop the top to find your special treat. Totally cool!

Fun Clothespins

Clothespins are a cheap and easy thing to dress up. You can find a package of 30 at the dollar store. These cute clothespins were found here with a tutorial too. They are just mod podged with some scrapbook paper. Use these to dress up any gift wrap job and add a magnet on the back to make it even more useful to your recipient (great addition to a magnet board gift!). Consider adding other things to the clip like ribbon, buttons, or flowers too.

Reusable Grocery Bags

Ali suggested buying reusable grocery bags for $1 each and giving them as a gift. She has been collecting these cute patterned bags to give a bundle to her sister-in-law for Christmas.

A reusable grocery bag would also be a practical and useful substitute for a gift bag (and their cute too!)

Printable Favor Boxes

These are the cutest little boxes. They are actually meant for wedding favors, but I think they would be fun for any occasion. If you have a color printer then you are set. Print some of these out and get them ready for a quick gift wrap solution.

Origami Cubes

When I first saw these here (via here) I thought this little cube would be a fun way to wrap a tiny present. Click the link for a great step-by-step.

More Printable Packages

These look so fun to print and make into templates too. Can't wait to try them out!

Printable Packaging

Go to this website to print out unique packaging templates. There are 36 to choose from. Just print them out on cardstock and cut them out to make your template. Then you can make patterned paper designer packaging. I'm excited to try these out.

What a great way to make your gift more extraordinary.