I don’t remember exactly when I learned to make boxes from greeting cards, but I do remember where I was taught and who was there. It was a family gathering, around Christmastime.
For whatever reason, one of my extended relatives was teaching us how to make these neat boxes. I think it was because she had given a gift in a greeting card box and everyone was really impressed.
Once you learn how to make these, you’ll agree with me — making boxes from cards is fun and easy!
Step 1: find an old greeting card, or an extra one you won’t need for its original purpose anymore.
Step 2: Cut the card in half, at the fold line. If you’ve got skills, like me, you could even gently tear it in half. Your call.
Step 3: Find a ruler and line it up along the edge of the card. Use a pen to draw a fold/cut line on the card. I just used the width of the ruler, but you could measure in 1″ if you want. This measurement will determine how tall your box is.
Step 4: Next, you’ll want to make four cuts along the lines you just made. DO NOT cut the whole length — just cut in to where the two lines intersect. You will be folding all the other lines, as shown below.
Step 5: Now it’s time to put the box together. Fold the sides of the box in, and then flip up the remaining part of the box side. Take a peek at the visual below to see what I mean.
Step 6: Secure the flaps you just folded with tape, or glue them if you prefer. I’m lazy and use clear tape, as shown below. You can tape the inside and outside, or just the outside, depending on how sturdy you want the box to be.
Step 7: Repeat Steps 2-6 for the other half of the card so that you can have a box lid!
Note that your box top and bottom will be the exact same size, so there may be a little warping/bending of the bottom as you fit them together. You can solve this if you want, by trimming a slim piece (1/16″ or so) of the width and length of the “bottom” card piece before getting started. Again, it’s all about priorities, and whether you want to spend the extra energy doing this.
Toby had lots of fun putting the boxes together and taking them apart again. he also started playing with them as boats, which prompted another greeting card-based activity, which i’ll be blogging about a bit later… 
We made many boxes, and Toby had fun stacking them. Wouldn’t these be cute for delivering little gifts?
There you have it. I told you this was pretty easy. And it’s addicting too. Here are a few snapshots from that first year we learned how to make the greeting card boxes. My mom and I got a little carried away with it. Or maybe not. Your guess is as good as mine!
You don’t have to limit yourself to using a particular season of greeting card. These ones were made from Christmas cards, but you could make greeting card boxes from wedding cards, baby shower cards, birthday cards,…. well, you get the idea.
Do you have any nifty ways to repurpose old greeting cards? If so, I’d love to hear about your ideas in the comments below.
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