Turn Plain Cardboard Boxes Into Christmas Decor Treasure With This Fun DIY

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The holiday season allows us to revisit decorations we've had for years. When you climb into your attic and pop open those plastic boxes, a wave of nostalgia rushes in. You see ornaments made by children who are now adults. You find trinkets or stockings that have been passed down for generations. Maybe one box contains the tinsel that was once popular in the 1970s, while another has the blow mold Santa Claus that stood on every lawn in the neighborhood you grew up in — one of the Christmas decor items that could now be worth a small fortune. 

While the hand-me-down decorations are essential to the season, you should also try designing a few new ones of your own. On TikTok, @posermym3wb offers an excellent idea of building a stack of gift boxes that will add a magical whimsy to your home during the holidays. This project is great for those who are decorating for Christmas on a budget, and best of all, it will allow you to upcycle some of those cardboard boxes that many of your gifts probably arrived in. 

All you need is three cardboard boxes of different sizes, a large Arbora Outdoor Planter, a smaller terracotta pot, a Hopelf Bamboo Dowel Rod, wrapping paper, velvet ribbons, and a bag of gravel. Before you get started, it's important to have an idea of the finished project. Your large pot will hold three boxes that will be stacked on their corners, as if miraculously balanced. This Christmas gift tower should take only about an hour to complete once you have the materials, and at the end of the season, you can pack it up for next season or dispose of it.

For this project to work, your dowel rod needs to be at least 4 feet long. Start by placing your dowel rod in the terracotta pot, and hold it in place so that it stands upright. Then, fill the pot with gravel to keep the rod from falling over. Place that pot inside the larger pot. The next step is to cut holes in the corners of the boxes and wrap them with your festive paper and bows. The final step is to run the dowel rod through the holes in the boxes. Stack your repurposed cardboard boxes from largest to smallest.

Depending on how large the terracotta pot is and how much gravel you use, you might have trouble getting the rod to stand straight. The best solution is to fill the larger pot with more gravel. This will create a sturdier base for your dowel rod. 

You can also use concrete, which appears to be what the TikToker did. This option is a little more involved, so it will take a lot more time. You will need a bag of concrete, a stir stick, and a container to mix the concrete in. First, read the directions on the side of the concrete bag to figure out how much water you need and how much time it needs to dry. Then, pour your concrete into the mixing container, add water, and mix it. Finally, pour the concrete into the terracotta pot, put the dowel in place, and allow it time to dry. To keep the dowel upright, you'll need to hold it in place while the concrete hardens.