I have mentioned before that we usually use handkerchiefs (I actually cut up soft pieces of flannel for my toddler; it is so much gentler on his little nose than even the softest paper tissue, but I digress). I do, however, keep Kleenex on hand for company so I occasionally have leftover boxes. Before I recycle an item, I like to see if I can repurpose it. Below are a few ways that I have found to reuse tissue boxes:
Cut off the tops and use the tissue boxes to hold colored pencils, markers, and other craft supplies. It is easier for young children to access the items and put them away:
Put an empty tissue box in the laundry room to hold the dryer lint. When the box is full, I put the lint out for the birds to use or add it to my compost pile.
The most creative use for a tissue box that I have seen is in this month’s edition of Family Fun. They used a tissue box to make a Marshmallow Catapult:
Some other uses for tissue boxes:
Use a tissue box to store plastic grocery bags.
Some of the images on tissue boxes are so pretty that they can be used to make gift tags and book marks. Cut out the image, glue a piece of colored paper to the unfinished side, use a hole punch to punch a hole in the top, and insert a ribbon to attach to gift.
You can use a tissue box and paper towel roll to make this tissue box guitar.
Next time I have two empty tissue boxes, I am going to make this tissue box traffic light with Rew.
And of course, you can always just remove the plastic, break them down, and recycle tissue boxes, but that is not nearly as fun as making a Marshmallow Catapult! Do you reuse your tissue boxes? Do you reuse other containers or boxes instead of tossing or recycling them?
More Frugal Fun for Kids:
Frugal Fun Fall Art Projects for Kids
martianne says
April 28, 2010 at 10:19 amWe love to repurpose, too. As my little ones are yougn and we are home preschooling them, I tend to keep old tissue boxes around for many purposes – crafts, activities, storage, etc. My youngest loves to play with little things, putting them into and out of containers, so tissue boxes ar eperfect for this. They also work for storing small toys on shelves, such as miniature plastic animal figurines. And, as big construction blocks… Ideas are endless. And, so often, up to a child's imagination more than a Mom's! 🙂
Sherry says
April 28, 2010 at 11:23 amCool ideas! I usually just put ours out for recycling, but I love these ideas and may have to incorporate for our homeschool.
Thanks for sharing!
Have a great Wednesday!
Sherry
Mom2fur says
April 28, 2010 at 12:40 pmI think the marshmallow catapult is hilarious! But on a practical note, I love the idea of storing dryer lint in a tissue box. I'll have to give that one a try!
Sheila says
April 28, 2010 at 12:41 pmI love the idea of using it on the dryer to put the lint in. I will start doing that–but love the catapult idea.
Meghan says
April 28, 2010 at 1:58 pmI use one to hold plastic grocery bags. I recycle all the surplus boxes.
Laura says
April 28, 2010 at 2:44 pmI would definitely do the dryer lint holder, except we don't buy tissue any more! I will have to ask my daughter to bring an empty box home from school. Our pretty tissue box cover is now in the kitchen holding plastic bags. I also like the gift tag idea!
Steady Plodder... says
April 28, 2010 at 7:42 pmI love these ideas! My youngest is in Scouts and we've been talking about reusing things instead of automatically recycling them. He turned an old tissue box into a bank. I like the ways you reused yours for your son!
Let'sMakeADifference says
April 28, 2010 at 8:42 pmGreat ideas! I always feel guilty throwing them out!
rana says
October 6, 2014 at 10:03 amI love these ideas! My youngest is in Scouts and we’ve been talking about reusing things instead of automatically recycling them. He turned an old tissue box into a bank. I like the ways you reused yours for your son
Bonni says
April 29, 2010 at 9:35 amThanks for commenting on my blog! I love the 'spontaneous vacation' idea!! If your daughter comes up with more sayings like that, she should write a book!
The Book Lady Online says
April 29, 2010 at 8:20 pmWhat fun ideas!!
Nikki says
May 1, 2010 at 1:16 amLots of fantastic ideas! I'm going to adopt the one for holding dryer lint. And I never ever thought of leaving it for the birds. How thoughtful!
I rarely get the tallish ones. But if I do, I know how I'll repurpose it. Thanks!
'Becca says
April 30, 2010 at 9:14 pmGreat ideas! I added a link to this article to my What Do You Reuse? article. Another use for any thin paperboard boxes is making name tags; put them on people with string or pins.
We are handkerchief users too, and we keep some of our smaller hankies (mostly cut-up old T-shirts) in an old tissue box next to the bed.
RobbieKay says
May 9, 2010 at 11:09 pmI have a question from looking at your picture. That looks like the peppermint Dr. Bronner's. Do you use that in your laundry? I was going to try a new detergent recipe using castile soap, but then realized that all I had was the peppermint Dr. Bronner's and worried that the oils in it would end up staining my clothes. (BTW, it's the best thing I've found for cleaning brushes and combs!)
Alea says
May 10, 2010 at 4:33 amThanks for the tip on cleaning brushes and combs. You can use the peppermint Dr. Bronner's in laundry soap, (I usually use Fels Naptha when making my laundry detergent), however even diluted it leaves your clothes with a minty scent which we don't really care for. I had just used it to wash saddle pads. I use 1/4 cup of Dr. Bronners and 1/4 washing soda when I wash them and they come out very clean which always amazes me.
Alea says
May 10, 2010 at 4:45 amRobbieKay- Not sure if that last comment made sense (cold medicne makes me really loopy), but even though I don't use the Peppermint Dr. Bronner's on our clothes, I do use it to wash animal blankets, sleeping bags etc. I also use it as an organic insecticide in my garden by using 1 T. Dr. Bronner's to 1 quart of water.
BTW, Do you have a blog? I clicked on your profile and it didn't list one, but sometimes bloggers forget to add it. If you do leave me a link, I'd love to visit.
RobbieKay says
May 11, 2010 at 9:15 pmYou made sense. No, no blog, at this time, just a Google account. 🙂
I actually noticed when I was washing my hair with Dr. Bronner's peppermint castile liquid soap this morning amidst everything else on the bottle it did say that it was safe to use on silk and wool. I may give it a try as I am getting tired of grating soap to make detergent (I don't have a food processor). If we can't endure the scent, we can always use it for washing rags, I suppose.
Anonymous says
October 18, 2010 at 3:31 amVery enlightening and beneficial to someone whose been out of the circuit for a long time.
– Kris
Laurie says
January 16, 2012 at 1:21 pmI use all of our leftover boxes on my cricut. Typically I am covering both sides of the project with pretty paper anyway, and love to know that I am reusing.
Glenda says
January 17, 2012 at 5:30 pmA friend gave me a holiday box of Kleenex–one of those square ones with the pretty decorations and a ‘hologram’ (can’t remember the technical term for it}. It was so nice but well, it was a tissue box and I had to justify keeping it. So, I used it to hold the plastic cutlery at our next holiday party and got raves on it (had to put a plastic grocery bag in the bottom of it because it was too deep but that just made positioning the cutlery easier.
Michelle says
February 21, 2012 at 12:32 pmGreat ideas! I just wrote a post not too long ago about repurposing a tissue box to hold grocery sacks to keep in my car. I’m taking your idea of using one to keep dryer lint…so much easier than taking my trash can upstairs to empty!
vijaya lakshmi says
February 2, 2015 at 1:24 amMy God ! you even reuse lint!Good recycling. I never thought of reusing it and simply through it away ! Now I get ideas on it. The first one I am going to do it is to make a bird’s nest for my daughter’s school project combining it with coconut coir (one more thing which I often throw when ever I break coconuts as an offering to The God in our prayers ) But I often recycle many card board boxes, cereal boxes etc.
vijaya lakshmi says
February 2, 2015 at 1:28 amAnd again This catapult project is a fun and great idea for my daughter’s monthly recycling projects in her school.
Thank you !
Gena says
February 3, 2015 at 3:13 pmHi – do you have written directions for the catapult? My daughter is trying to make it but we can’t see what is going on with the bottom rubber band that looks like it’s attached to one of the pencils and maybe just taped to the other side of the box??? Very hard to tell from the picture. Thanks so much!
Gena says
February 3, 2015 at 3:32 pmAs a follow up to my previous question above, when I click on the link for Marshmallow Catapult, it takes me to the Disney crafts website but when I search for Marshmallow Catapult, it doesn’t have one on that site?? Thanks for your help!