White Store standard kerbside delivery, and delivery to garden will involve customers having to dispose of the garden furniture packaging themselves. This will normally consist of pallets, cardboard, and maybe wrapping. This is to ensure your new furniture is kept in perfect condition from warehouse to your house.

Instead of throwing away your packaging, have you thought about upcycling it? Or what about getting creative with it?

We’ve already written a fun blog sharing 7 ideas to repurpose the pallet you also receive with your furniture. If you haven’t seen this, you can read all about it here. So now, we're going to give you 6 ideas for outside-the-box creative play and practical uses for your boxes.

Let’s make a costume!

Did you enjoy dressing up as a child? Same here! The freeing nature of pretending to be someone completely different. A robot, a plane. You can do it all with cardboard boxes. Open the top and bottom of the box, cut some arm holes in the side, and get decorating. This is a really fun activity to do with the kids, especially in the summer holidays!

Let’s walk you through how to turn an unused cardboard box into a train! Here’s a list of things you’ll need the following.

• a large cardboard box and a smaller cardboard box

• paper cup and paper plate

• glue and/or tape

• colour paint

• string or ribbon

1. Open the bottom flaps of the cardboard box. Draw three semi-circles on each side of the bottom flaps and cut around. These will be your wheels.   
2. Open the top flaps and cut a section out in the middle large enough for your body. Close this up and tape it. 
3. Stick the smaller box on top of the larger box, behind the body cut-out you’ve just made. This will be the back of the train.
4. Stick the paper plate to the front side of the large cardboard box. This will be the front of your train.
5. Stick the paper cup upside down on the top front section of the large cardboard box. This will be your steam engine pipe. 
6. How the body of the train is complete, paint the body with your choice of colour. Then paint the wheels with black and grey paint. 
7. Lastly, tape or glue your string or ribbon to the front, loop it long enough to fit the size of your body over your shoulders and fix it to the back of the train. Do this for both sides.
And that’s it. Your new train costume is complete

Get creative with the packaging and upcycle it

into something you and your family can get plenty 

of memories from White Stores

Let’s make a costume!

Did you enjoy dressing up as a child? Same here! The freeing nature of pretending to be someone completely different. A robot, a plane. You can do it all with cardboard boxes. Open the top and bottom of the box, cut some arm holes in the side, and get decorating. This is a really fun activity to do with the kids, especially in the summer holidays!

 

Let’s walk you through how to turn an unused cardboard box into a train! Here’s a list of things you’ll need the following.

  • a large cardboard box and a smaller cardboard box
  • paper cup and paper plate
  • glue and/or tape
  • colour paint
  • string or ribbon

  1. Open the top flaps and cut a section out in the middle large enough for your body. Close this up and tape it. 
  2. 3Stick the smaller box on top of the larger box, behind the body cut-out you’ve just made. This will be the back of the train.
  3. Stick the paper plate to the front side of the large cardboard box. This will be the front of your train.
  4. Stick the paper cup upside down on the top front section of the large cardboard box. This will be your steam engine pipe. 
  5. How the body of the train is complete, paint the body with your choice of colour. Then paint the wheels with black and grey paint. 
  6. Lastly, tape or glue your string or ribbon to the front, loop it long enough to fit the size of your body over your shoulders, and fix it to the back of the train. Do this for both sides. And that’s it. Your new train costume is complete. 

Make a game

Have you ever wanted to create your own game? Maybe you enjoy the classics like Snakes and Ladders? So, why not create your very own board game? Use the cardboard box as a blank canvas and start creating. It could be monopoly style, where players must roll a nice and move around the board. If your box is big enough, you could transform it into your very own twister mat. The possibilities are endless. 

Obstacle courses

This one was a real crowd favourite in our household. Turning cardboard boxes into tunnels and positioning them around the garden to create our very own obstacle course. The first one to the finish line in the fastest time wins!

Build your dream house!

Forget Barbie's dream house, it’s time to recreate your dream house. Is it a castle where you will live happily ever after? Maybe you want to build a fort to protect your land from enemy invasion? Cardboard boxes make the perfect building blocks to get started and transform nothing into something special. 

For now, let’s fun through with you how to build a basic playhouse. Here’s a list of things you’ll need.
- Large cardboard box
- Box knife
- Wallpaper or wrapping paper
- Paint
- Masking tape and or packing tape
- Hot glue
- Double-sided tape

1. Tape your box together and draw out where you’d like the windows and door to be. Lay it down and cut out the shapes with your box knife.
2. Paint any doors and trim. Use your double-sided tape or glue to adhere the wallpaper/wrapping paper to the box.
3. Use hot glue to glue shingles onto the roof and any other ornamentation you’d like on the outside of your house.

So much more!

Cardboard Easel
Do you have a budding Picasso Leonardo da Vinci in the home? Do you want to give them a new place to get creative with the paints and brushes? Say goodbye to messy newspapers, which quite frankly, don’t keep the tables clean. Create a triangle design using your cardboard box and attach the paper with masking tape. It really is that simple.
 

Storage Boxes
Are you planning on moving soon, or know someone who is? Chances are, you’re going to need a lot of cardboard boxes to make the moving process easier. In the meantime, why not use them to store unused goods in the loft space, or storage cupboard? Organise your things into room categories and label the boxes. This will make it easier to find things in the future.
 

BONUS TIP: Bookmarks
Do you enjoy reading but hate folding the corners of the page, so you don’t lose your place? Well, cardboard boxes make create bookmarks. Simply cut a small rectangle out of the cardboard box and decorate it however you wish.


We would love to see your creations! Share them on social media and tag us, or use our hashtag #whitestores - Happy creating!