So you can’t think of any presents to give to your children for the next gift-giving occasion? Well, how about a fort, a robot, a train, a storage container, a house, a basketball hoop, a tunnel, and a pet house. If you think the sum of these purchases is a little out of your budget range, think again. Can you afford wrapping paper and cardboard boxes? Of course you can. Proceed to your local rental store and purchase assorted boxes in a range of sizes. Wrap them up—fill one or two with a little imagination—and you have showered your children with all these gifts and more.

1. Turn over a large box, and children have their own private fort.
2. Cut holes for windows and doors, dress it up with crayons and paint, and they have a house.
3. Place a few well-chosen holes in a medium-size box, color it, and your child can become a robot.
4. String together small boxes, and create the little “boxcar” train that could.
5. Provide shoe boxes as containers for all their little toys (cars, blocks, balls, dolls, toy soldiers).
6. Place a large box on its side and provide the catalyst for make-believe worlds of schoolhouse, fire station, restaurant, hospital, and so on.
7. Put a medium box against the wall to make a basketball hoop, challenging early coordination, where any object is fair game in an attempt to make two points.
8. Put long rectangular boxes end to end to fabricate a tunnel.
9. Place food and bedding in a small box as a temporary home for a surprise house guest (lizard, frog, caterpillar).
10. Give your children the best birthday present ever; place a box inside a wrapped box and DOUBLE their pleasure.

Without a doubt, the cost-to-playtime ratio of boxes is second to none. Nevertheless, as with any apparently perfect scenario, there is always a downside. Prepare for the possibility that one day your children might have to buy a house twice the size than they might otherwise need; enough for their belongings and all the boxes that they came in.

Rex Bowlby is the father of two boys. He is the author of the book, Why Would I Want the Toy, When I Can Have the Box? (101 Ways to Make the Most of Your Children, With the Least from Your Wallet*) *For parents with children ages 3-8. He lives in Los Angeles, California, USA.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 10:48 pm and is filed under 02-03 yrs: Toddler, 03-05 yrs: Preschooler, 05-12 yrs: Schooler, Crafts and Activities, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.