MAKE A GIFT RIBBON DISPENSER • You will thank yourself each time you look for ribbon to wrap a present, if you use a shoe box to make this handy ribbon dispenser. Take a used broom handle or piece of a bamboo garden stake—anything you can use as a small dowel—and cut it a little longer than the length of the shoe box. Cut two holes for the dowel, one in each short end of the box, at a height where a spool of ribbon slipped on the dowel would spin freely. Slip your ribbon spools on the dowel as you poke it from one end of the shoe box through to the other. Once the dowel is in place, you can tape it at either short end to keep it from slipping out. You could also cut holes along one long side of the shoe box for each spool of ribbon, and pull a little bit of each ribbon through the hole.
Kids can get creative by using a collection of shoe boxes as building bricks. Tape the lids on for them. You can even let the little ones color the ‘bricks’ with poster paint.
USE AS A WHELPING BOX • If there are puppies or kittens on the way at your house, reduce the risk of the mother rolling onto a newborn and smothering it by placing one or several puppies or kittens in a towel-lined shoe box while the others are being born.
GET YOUR STUFF ORGANIZED • There are lots of ways shoe boxes can help you get organized besides collecting old photos and receipts. Label the boxes and use them to store keepsakes, cancelled checks, bills to be paid, and other items you want to keep track of. For a neater appearance, cover the boxes with colored contact or any other decorative self-adhesive paper.
PACK YUMMY GIFTS • Shoe boxes are the perfect size for packaging loaves of homemade bread, cookies, or chocolates as special gifts for friends.