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Today’s Hint: A Reminder to Save Your Holiday Gift Boxes – They Make Great Toys

December 26, 2013 By Hint Mama

When my daughter gets a new toy, she generally likes the box the toy came in better than the toy itself. So I’ve taken to saving the sturdier boxes, adding them to my toddler’s play area. Not only do they make great non-toy toys for toddlers, they also are frugal toy storage solutions (see the image above).

This is why today’s hint is a reminder to save your holiday gift boxes if you have a little one in the house. And I don’t just mean the boxes that toys like Legos come in. Bigger boxes (think the ones play kitchens or real appliances come in), also can serve as easy toddler activity centers and a way for parents to get some necessary downtime after the holiday madness.

Blogger Berry Sweet Baby, for instance, recently wrote about how when none of her usual tricks for winding down her two-year-old boy were working, she “plopped him in an empty” box with two crayons and some lullabies and he remained occupied for a full 45 minutes. People commenting on her post also testified that the trick worked for them as well.

Once your child gets sick of playing with a plain old box, if you have some extra time, you can transform it into something else.

One idea: If you have some cardboard tubes, you could turn a box into an easy do-it-yourself ball maze as blogger a happy wanderer did. Whitney Moss over at Rookie Moms, meanwhile, included a number of clever ideas (think shape sorter and play kitchen, among others) in a great roundup two years ago entitled “Toddler fun: sitting in boxes.” Finally, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m also a fan of saving food boxes and turning them into fun and frugal play food with the help of clear packing tape.

Got other transformation ideas or tips for saving – and playing with — boxes? Share them below.

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Filed Under: Activities & Classes, Holidays, Toys Tagged With: a happy wanderer, appliance boxes, Berry Sweet Baby, box toys, boxes, boxes make great toys, Hint Mama, holiday gift boxes, non-toy toy, non-toys, playing with boxes, Rookie Moms, sitting in boxes

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  1. Today’s Hint: A Very Easy Toddler Activity (Think Box & Crayons) – Hint Mama says:
    April 16, 2014 at 2:39 pm

    […] Don’t have empty boxes around your house? Check out your local grocery store and drugstore to see if they have any free ones, and try to remember to save the boxes you’ll surely have around the house later this year during the holiday season. […]

  2. Today’s Hint: Hint Mama’s Top Holiday Hints – Hint Mama says:
    December 24, 2014 at 2:45 pm

    […] A reminder to save those holiday boxes […]

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Before entering the corporate world, Jennifer Saranow Schultz (aka Hint Mama) was the lead writer for The New York Times “Bucks” personal finance blog and a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. Read More…

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