DIY birthday presents: How to make a birthday box

A birthday gift box is such a fun present: both to receive and to make! Discover all the details you need to get started, from how to make gift box yourself and decorate it, to creative birthday present ideas you could fill it with. You’ll also find inspiration for those personal touches to help make your craft-gift for birthday celebrations extra-special.

How to make a gift box, step by step

When it comes to craft ideas for birthday present giving, the box itself is just as important as the contents. You don’t need to have woodworking skills or papercraft talent to create a box from scratch. Embrace that DIY spirit with these fun design ideas, using an empty Tempo tissue box as your base.

Takes about 1 hour

1. First, place an empty facial tissue box on your work surface. Carefully cut open the top, leaving one side intact.
2. Next, take a sheet of wrapping paper and place the box on top. Starting at the front, wrap and stick the paper around the box with glue, including the inside of the lid, and neatly trim off any excess with scissors.
3. Make neat folds at the sides of the box and glue in place.
4. Use some sheets of tissue to make a soft base for your gifts. Then make some confetti with card from a second tissue box punched into shapes (or cut freehand) and coloured with pens.
5. Make a string of Cushelle Original tassel bunting to decorate – colour some sheets of tissue with food dye, and when dry, cut into thin 0.5cm strips. Fold a bundle of strips in half and tie a spare strip of tissue around the top creating a loop to thread onto string.
6. Another decoration idea is to turn the box into an animal – our cute bear was created with ears, eyes, nose and feet simply cut out from paper and stuck on to the box with glue.
7. Or, use a brighter wrap to cover your birthday box, and simply decorate with a stylish ribbon bow and colourful confetti.

Personal touches to make your birthday present DIY extra-special

Once you’ve covered the entirety of the birthday gift box in colourful paper and decorations, you can set to work making it more personal. After all, the beauty of DIY is the level of personalisation you can achieve. Personalised craft ideas for birthday present boxes include:

• Initials. Monograms add a classy touch, so place their initials discreetly in the corner.
• Name. You could go the extra mile and add their entire name in stickers.
• Photos. Stick on special photos of your favourite times together. Polaroids work particularly well.
• Message. Handwrite a message on a gift label and attach it to your box.
• Favourite colour. Personalisation can be as simple using the recipient’s favourite colours in the decoration.

What to put in your DIY birthday present

So you’ve been creative by making a DIY gift box, but what about the presents to put inside it? Here are a few creative birthday present ideas to get you started:

• Jewellery. Line the inside of your craft birthday present box with some soft material, like velvet, and it could become the inside of a jewellery box. This is particularly good for large pieces of costume jewellery.
• Mementos. Have you been saving all those ticket stubs from movies and concerts that you’ve been to with your sweetheart? Put them inside your DIY birthday present box to make it a memory box. This would be an ideal Valentine’s Day gift, too.
• Trinkets. Add an assortment of little trinkets and toys for a fun gift for a child. They’ll enjoy the “lucky dip” vibe! You can even use these as alternative party bags at a child’s birthday party.
• Cash. If you usually put cash in an envelope this birthday present DIY box is the perfect alternative – making monetary gifts for birthday wishes all the more special.

Now that you have a bevy of birthday party gift ideas, you can start making them for all your loved ones. From giving monetary gifts for birthday presents in an attractive way, to treating your sweetheart to a box full of memories, they’ll enjoy receiving these birthday gift boxes as much as you’ll enjoying making them!