Lindt Box is not just for chocolates, its perfect for waste!

There's a beautiful white Lindt box that I kept when a dear Uncle gifted the chocolates to my son. The box has 'Lindt' in golden letters. It is a compact white box that looks too chic and expensive to be thrown away. Well, I kept it. For a very long time, I thought to myself, "What do I put in this box?" I had nothing to put in it.

Then, Adi's school began. Projects of one sort or the other began to come in, sometimes weekly, monthly or quarterly. While many parents in his school prefer to get them 'custom made,' I saw it as an opportunity to flex my weak 'creative design' streak. I am pretty bad at it but I thought "Why don't I and Adi learn together?" So, there began my collection that found its way into the Lindt box that was still in pristine condition.

In the Lindt box, I would collect scraps that we would normally throw away such as bright chocolate wrappers, old postcards, brochures of any company that they use as promotional material, interesting shapes or designs that are from old calendars, covers of products like perfumes, incense sticks, then stray buttons, shells, and yes, even retailers' wrapping paper. A favorite of mine is Sugar & Spice wrapping paper. I make cards, sweet little notes or messages and sometimes wrap gifts in them and adorn it with personalized notes.

Another example, you would find many little decorative ad satchets that come with magazines. These satchets are glossy, decorative and have fantastic design elements on them. Since they drop out of the magazine, I collect and keep them in the Lindt box. It always comes in handy for a project, or sometimes to make a card or something interesting for the class.

I wouldn't claim that any of these creations are artistic works because they are not. But what I can say is that we have so many 'waste materials' around us that we can put to good use for kids and their projects. So, do try checking your home for them and make a collection that suits your tastes and interests. Remember, whatever waste material you choose, make sure its clean before it goes into your box. Or else, the other materials will get spoilt too.

Here are some creations Adi and I made from waste materials as part of his school project:

1. Project Title: Decorate one new notebook with color & creativity. Let your individuality come through.

Theme I chose as the underlying design for the project: Christmas
Reason: You can go wild with colors, designs and shapes. Festivity in a notebook seemed to enchant me and delight the child in me who never liked the plain, school notebooks.

Materials used:

• A notebook
• An old Britannia marketing promotional material I collected and kept from the magazine Good Housekeeping's Christmas issue of last year
• Old Birthday wrapping paper, barely a meter was left but I had kept it for use in the Lindt box
• Cellotape to stick the little material onto the b'day wrapping paper.
• A note to place inside the 'Boot' like a name label that helps the teacher identify the student

Here's the note placed inside with Adi's name:

At every stage, I involved Adi in deciding colors, materials and so on otherwise there is no point to completing this project.

What do you think? Tell me honestly if it sucks. I am ready to improve for the upcoming school projects:)