Themed Boxes 101

 I should have done this in blog post form YEARS ago, because I don't even know how many times I've tried to type the idea up in a response to someone on FB or whatever.

This is ADHD gift genius right here. This is my baby idea.

Usually, this is a Christmas thing, but you could use it for ANYTHING- Graduation, birthdays, anniversaries, whatever. We're going to go with Christmas for multiple children in this post because that's my experience. The beauty of this is that you can do it on (almost) ANY budget!!! It's more fun if you have at least $10 per person and some crafty hands or friends with crafty hands.

The years we do theme boxes, we have our themes picked by July. We do this for a couple of reasons. #1 is that the kids can help choose their theme and then they've forgotten what it is by mid September. Reason #2 is you can take advantage of sales (yard or store or online), trades, etc. 

We've done the theme boxes twice now. The first year, the themes were D&D, Musicals, Pokemon, Barbie, Paw Patrol, and Rainbow. The second year, the themes were US Navy, Costume, Dragons, Amazonian Animals (mostly sloths and llamas), Minecraft, and Dinosaurs.

So what do I put in the boxes? First I make your budget. Or don't, it's totally up to you. If your budget is small, your plan will look something like this:

Small Budget Boxes:
1. Something to eat

2. Something handmade

3. Something to do

4. Something to display

and then you'd head to the dollar store. I will also post a list of practically free things you can do with different themes at the end of this post. (SQUIRREL)

Not that I ever had GIANT budgets, but let's be honest, I have zero idea how much I (or Santa) spent. When we lived in Utah, I was a stay at home mom and had DI at my fingertips and LOTS of opportunities to trade. So my kids got some really cool stuff that took lots of time by lots of people. When we moved to Kentucky, we had the sale of property and the guilt of making the kids give up so much to move here, so I may have gone a little overboard.

When I have a decent budget, the rules look more like this:

1. Something to eat

2. Something handmade (not necessarily by me)

3. Something to wear

4. Something to read

5. A cup

There are two ways to present these. The first year I did it, they each got ONE box that was just filled with their stuff. They did NOT have equal amounts of things and that was ok. I think. Nobody has brought it up in therapy to my knowledge. The second time, though, one kid requested that everything be wrapped because it's more fun that way. And so everything was wrapped and they then needed equal amounts of things. That amount ended up being 28. It took several hours to open things on Christmas. But some of the wrapping was fun, Wrapped things in wrapped things- it was great. 

Instead of breaking down every single thing that  was in 12 different boxes, I'll give you the highlights.

Paw Patrol: Dollar Store Activities, a blanket (gifted from a friend whose kids had outgrown it), a stuffie from DI, books, and more dollar tree toys.

Pokemon: A hat I had someone make, Pillows and blanket by grandma, cake pops by a friend, a tshirt made by a friend, some stuff from Wish, Pokeballs from DI that I filled with dollar tree toys, and a Pokemon Cursive book that I'm pretty sure he has never even opened. What I did NOT get him that I desperately wanted to but didn't have the money when I saw it and then couldn't find it after was this hand drawn Pokemon book that I saw at FanX. It would have been epic.

Musical Theater: T-Shirt and Cup I traded for. Game I made myself that took hours but I still think is genius (if I do say so myself), music (she doesn't sing anymore), a gift card to see a couple of plays at Empress in West Valley- naturally right when it shut down. DVDs, Cookies that I painted to look like playbills. Art that I painted for her.

D&D/Stranger things: The poster!!! There is a company that has special needs kids make art and then they are sold in malls for whatever you want to pay. I think I paid $20 for that poster and one of the Savior with a kid. Such a cool thing. Dice bag I traded for, 3D printed cookie cutter, DI Special movies, a game, Cup and T-shirt I traded for, and a Funko. Oh, I did attempt to make some little felt stuffies of the Stranger Things guys, but they were way harder than I thought, so I think he only got one. The most special of those gifts, though, was a book I got at FanX- the author drew him a personal D&D character when he signed it (Xander was with me when I bought it).

Barbie: This one was special. My Daddy built her this dollhouse. It is still one of her prized possessions. She had several 3D printed things here, a book collection, doll furniture made by friends across Facebook, and supplies to decorate the house the way that she wanted (including a gift card to Michael's for paint, etc) and supplies to make her own doll stuff with the help of My Froggy Stuff Also- some of the fanciest doll dresses Wish had to offer

This was my favorite. I LOVE the idea of Montessori projects, but have never had the ability to reel it in and get stuff like this made. So I enlisted the help of some friends. Gosh, I loved this one. She had a peg doll matching game, sorting trays, rainbow fairies, and all kinds of little learning activities.

Before I show you the next ones, beware that it's a little bit gluttonous. And honestly, it was too much. While it made me so happy to DO, when i saw everything put together, I was a little sick to my stomach about it. Nobody needs this much stuff. But again, they had left so much behind, I wanted them to just... I don't know. Have the things.

I did Bengals for the husband. We went to a Bengals game at the beginning of the season, their only Thursday game that year, to see how we felt about being in this new area with a new team. We hadn't watched much football in the previous years because we weren't attached to any team and had no way to watch the games anyway. Needless to say, I don't think that date will ever be topped and we are Bengals Fans for life. Roger's was mostly food. The merch I got mostly at this store called Home Buys- it's like a Walmart surplus, lol. There are some playing cards in there, too. But mostly food that I bought a pack of black reusable lunch containers and slapped some stickers on the top.

Yes, Abraham IS cryin in that pic. and yes, it DID break my heart because I think I physically worked the longest and hardest on his. But to be completely fair, this kiddo was so overwhelmed. I made him the minecraft boxes, hand did that stiff plastic canvas bag. I traded for the crochet creeper, found a clearance t-shirt or two, and the best- a joke book. This kid LOVES to tell jokes. And I found a minecraft one. :D

I had my nephew, Austin living with us for this Christmas and let's be honest, my siblings pretty much bought his stuff. It was so fun to put the list together and he may have been my favorite to watch open them. His theme was cars. We introduced him to the Fast and the Furious just before Christmas. He got a car detailing kit, car accessories, projects to do (model car, etc). I did crochet him a scarf. I think his favorite (mine, too) was a set of pens that all looked like tools in a stack of tires.

US Navy- I'll be honest, my heart is aching writing this because I miss my kid SO BADLY right now, but I'm so proud of his decision to do this hard thing. His box was a lot of fun. You can see the blanket. I had a friend make him some shirts. His "something to eat" was my favorite- I found out which countries have Navy Ports and headed to Jungle Jim's- there's something from each of those countries in that box. The books were donated by my brother. He does have a tumbler in there, too. And, one of the cheapies that's also a fav- a yellow submarine tea steeper thingy.

Lorelai's theme was dinosaurs! I traded for the crocheted dino. He favorite was something that was surprisingly affordable- it was a set of dinos that you "build" with "power tools". Lots of shirts- either on clearance or from Once Upon a Child. Some stuffies, school supplies....I can't even remember.

Jules was the easiest and hardest box. After Halloween was awesome for costume bits and pieces. Lots of makeup (that she gave to her sister because she doesn't like anymore). But my very very very favorite- which I can't remember how we tied into the theme, but my fried Ruby at Mama's Little Shop of Herbals let me send her some custom artwork made by my friend's daughter so that they all fit with the Lunar Chronicles. Seriously, they are incredible.

Paisley's theme was Amazonian Animals. We were kind of all over the place on this one. Used clothes, new stationary, handmade jewelry, notebooks, some kits to make cookies and brownies, and so many little trinkets. Three stuffies, which are still her favorite.

Dragons!!! I had his shirt and tumbler made for him, found some amazing art at FanX, made a box for his dragon egg, dragon gummies, a stress/stretch dragon thing, and I just don't remember all the things!

Anyway, I hope these help! OH! And here are somethings you can do for literally any theme.

1. "Paint" cookies- the recipe for the paint is food coloring and milk. You put a stiff white icing on any cookie and boom- you have a canvas

2. Notebooks. There are several different ways to bind- if you want to find someone with a binder, cool, but you can also stitch them closed. All you need is either printed pages in the theme (for real, google some coloring pages), or a patterned piece of paper in the theme (craft stores have paper per piece), printer paper, and boom.

3. Food. Pick a color scheme. Somethings already have them- for example if you're doing iron man, you're going to use yellow and red. Get a food container in one of those colors and put treats in, handmade or otherwise. If you want to splurge and put a sticker of the the theme on top, there ya go (water bottle stickers are the best because. they can handle being washed). Bonus points if the treat inside is another color in the theme!

4. Artwork. If you are not an artist, you know someone who is. I guarantee it. Please don't steal art by printing out images from etsy. But if you post on FB that you'd like some artwork in a certain theme and you're willing to trade or have an extremely limited budget- you'll probably find it.

5. Perler Beads- if you can't find a pattern on their website, head to pinterest and look up embroidery patterns for the thing.

6. Books-  bet your library has a booksale fairly often. You can find books for less than $1 or again, ask on FB. 

7. Stories or Story Prompts- you don't have to be a writer to spark your kids' imagination. Peruse the internet and you'll get some really cool quotes or ideas. Type up a list of those quotes

8. Coloring books- if you can't find them at the dollar store, you can print them. If you have a little budget, there are some beautiful ones on Amazon for literally any theme. LITERALLY ANY- you can buy a farting animals coloring book.

9. Movie and Book Lists- all it takes is a little time and internet research. You can even talk to your librarian about what they've got available (don't give the library books/movies AS the gift, though, in case it is not understood that they need to be returned)

10. Online experiences- you might have to be creative for this one. It might be making a Pinterest board with your kid. It might be a free online class. It might be an interactive website.

11. Jokes- again, you & Google can make it happen.

12. Recipes- Pinterest is your bestie for this one.