A friend gave me the book Operation Christmas Child: A Story of Simple Gifts, and y’all, it’s wonderful. It’s amazing to read the history of this ministry and have a glimpse into the personal stories of some of the recipients. I have dogeared the entire book because it’s just that good. My favorite quote is by seventy-three year old Doris Goodair who said “I stayed so busy with shoeboxes, I didn’t realize I was growing old.” I wanna be Doris when I grow up.
Here is a peek into the boxes we’re packing for 10 – 14 year old girls this year:
School Supplies: Composition book (college ruled for the older kiddos), colored pencils, pencils, pencils sharpener, scissors and erasers. In the interest of not shipping air, we stuff the pencil sharpener full of pencil-top erasers. Don’t you think a colorful or glittered pencil would make school work just *a little* more fun?
Personal Care Items: Included are a washcloth, soap, toothbrush and cover, Chap-stick, nail care set, hair elastics and shower comb. We sometimes use the hair elastics to secure rolled clothing items; it’s more useful to the recipient than sending a rubber band.
If you’ve wondered why we send a toothbrush but no toothpaste, this makes it easier to get the boxes through customs and because the kids were eating the toothpaste. I read of one boy who downed an entire tube of bubblegum favored toothpaste in one sitting! Yum. Yum.
Something to wear: Hat, socks, fun leopard print tights, tee shirt, panties, and soft cup bras. My sister had several fabric bags from new pillowcases, so we tucked the underthings in those. Because opening underwear in front of your friends is still not a fun party game.
Since we don’t know the girl’s sizes, we send 14-16 size clothing for this age group. I figure it’s better to send things she can grow into, rather than smaller clothes.
Fun Stuff: Paint brushes, watercolors, art paper, zippered wallet, travel sewing kit, beaded bracelet, water bottle and tiny trinkets.
I rolled the washcloth and socks and stuffed them into the water bottle. The Chap-stick, googly-eyes ring and tiny, new friends were jammed into the crevices.
We removed the foam packaging sheets from inside the wallet, and tucked these small items into the pockets.
Last year I learned that Operation Christmas Child receives the fewest number of boxes for boys 2-4 and 10-14. It’s got to be pretty upsetting for both the recipient and the distribution team to run out of boxes for a specific group. We’ve decided to focus our future efforts on the 10-14 year old boys category. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever pack for other groups, we just want to improve the collection stats for older boys. Here’s what we’re packing this year:
School Supplies: Composition book, pencils, double pencil sharpener, large eraser and full sized scissors. I like the scissors because they work for a lefty or righty and are practical for other uses in addition to school work. See the tiny fishing kit below.
Something to wear: 2 pairs of socks, 2 boxer briefs, a shirt and sunglasses. In early August, Walmart marks down summer clothing and we were able to find sporty tees and nice button up shirts for $3 each. The performance fabric shirts are great because they are practical for any climate and take up less room in the box.
Hygiene Items: Washcloth, bar of soap, shower comb and toothbrush with cover. I like the shower combs because they are very sturdy and work for any hair type.
Fun Stuff: Building kits, sticky catch game and a tic-tac-toe game made by our sweet nieces. The game board is a drawstring eyeglasses bag from the Dollar Tree with the grid drawn on using a Sharpie marker. The game pieces are decorator’s pebbles. We include an extra pebble of each color in case one gets lost. The wordless instructions were found online and we printed them four to a page.
Practical Gifts: Bungee cord, drawstring backpack, cup, bowl and utility spork, the little box holds a tiny fishing kit.
The fishing kit contains one bobber, four hooks, two sinkers and approximately twenty-five feet of fishing line. We included a sketch showing how to assemble the line on a wooden stick.
Nest as much as possible. In the interest of not shipping air, we like to pack those nooks and crannies full.
Once I’ve figured out how everything fits into the box, I snap pictures of each layer for reference. This is especially helpful when I have breaks between packing the boxes.
Tuck a Christmas card, your picture and a note of encouragement into your shoe box. Let the child know that you love them, and are praying for them. Include your address or email if you like; sometimes the recipient or their parents will write to you!
So that’s what we’re sending to big guys this year. I hope this post is helpful for shopping and packing inspiration.
With school supplies on sale in the stores, it’s time to ramp up packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Here’s a peek at what’s inside the boxes we’re packing for 5-9 year old boys.
School Supplies: Composition book, student scissors, double pencil sharpener, pencils, erasers and colored pencils School supplies are key. In some areas, children can only attend school if they provide their own supplies; a price of admission too high for many.
Something new to wear: Shirt, shorts, two pairs of underwear and socks For boys in this age category I buy size 8 pants and shirts. Bonus points for elastic waistbands.
Hygiene supplies: Washcloth, bar of soap, toothbrush with cover and a comb Can you imagine having to share your toothbrush or washcloth with several other people? I can’t either. This is a reality for many children in orphanages.
Toys/Wow Item: Jump rope, block type building kit and mesh bag, water bottle and Young Simba. Because even nine year old boys need a stuffed friend for sharing all their secrets.
So that tiny blocks don’t fall out of the mesh bag opening, I removed the manufacturer’s plastic bag and placed the pieces in a quart sized zipper bag.
A note about packaging: Many of the shoe box destinations do not have the infrastructure to handle trash. The packaging we ship becomes a burden for the receiver. Having said that, I did leave the colored pencils in the box for storage when they’re not in use.
I like to roll and rubber band soft goods to fit them into the box. Those rubber bands could be useful to the recipient, or just ammo for an epic rubber band battle!
When packing multiple like boxes, I snap pictures of each layer of the first box so that each box is not a new puzzle. I placed the package of colored pencils flat in the bottom of the box, then began the first full layer above. Sharpened pencils are positioned away from clothing, to avoid unwanted markings during shipment!
In the interest of not shipping air, I rolled and stuffed the socks and one pair of underwear into the water bottle.
Last layer! Position the notebook along the upper edge of the box and gently bend it over as you snap the lid on. My husband says the box is not full until you have to “Sit on it, to get the lid on it!” LOL! Rubber bands hold the lid in place until the box is inspected and taped shut at the processing center.
Tuck a Christmas card, your picture and a note of encouragement into your shoe box. Let the child know that you love them, and are praying for them. Include your address or email if you like; sometimes the recipient or their parents will write to you!
So that’s what we’re sending to little guys this year. I hope this post is helpful to you for shopping and packing inspiration.
My sister-in-law loves a local Japanese restaurant and we recently went there to buy her a birthday gift. Unfortunately, they were having computer troubles, and couldn’t activate any gift cards. So I asked for a take-out box, and put on my thinking cap to came up with an unexpected way to gift sushi money instead.
This also happens to be a fun way to make play food for your favorite tiny sushi chef. Wanna make some? Here’s what you will need:
Felt in dark green (nori), white (rice), medium green (avocado) and other colors for your sushi filling. Various shades of orange, green and purple would work for veggie sushi. How about orange micro pom poms for salmon roe? I didn’t have felt in a salmon color, so I went with two different pinks, one solid and one striped.
A note about the felt: My dark green and white felts are the thin craft store variety. The pinks and medium green are from felted wool sweaters and about .25″ thick. If you are using thin felt for your sushi filling, you may need to cut your strips longer than mine. I don’t want you to end up with sad, skinny sushi rolls!
Cutting mat, quilting ruler and rotary cutter – if you don’t have these, you could make paper templates of your sushi pieces, pin them to the felt and trim using scissors.
Hot glue gun and glue sticks – alternatively, you could sew each section together using thread that coordinates with your felt. If I were making this for a very young child, I might go that route. Nah. Who am I kidding? I would still hot glue it.
Optional: If you would like to present your sushi in a tray, ask for one at your favorite restaurant, or just save and wash the tray the next time you buy take out. A perfect reason to have sushi for lunch! If you’re making this for a child, use a plastic tray, not aluminum. Those sharp edges will CUT you!
I made twelve pieces of sushi. For each piece, I cut: Striped pink felt to 1.25″ wide x 1.75″ long Solid green and solid pink felt to 1.25″ wide x 3″ long Dark green felt to 1.25″ wide by 5.5″ long White felt to 1.75″ wide by 10″ long
Using pinking shears, trim a scant 1/8″ from both long edges of the white felt.
Begin folding or rolling and gluing the filling pieces. Glue sparingly and toward the center of the pieces, so the glue doesn’t ooze out the ends of the roll. Next, glue the filling pieces to each other.
When glued together, the filling pieces should roughly form a circle.
Glue one end of the white strip to the filling and wait for the glue to set. It should hold securely because we’ll tug on it in the next step.
Wrap the white strip around the fillings, pulling it snugly to form the roll. Keeping the edges aligned, dot underneath the center of the strip as you work. Gently tug to tighten as needed.
Keeping the glue toward the center of the strip, glue the end to secure.
Next, butt the end of the dark green felt strip against the white strip end.
Glue and roll as you did the white strip.
And there you have a sushi roll! Repeat as many times as necessary to fill the container. This next step is totally optional. I created a label by matting the restaurant’s logo from the takeout menu with two coordinating pieces of scrapbooking paper, and a snippet of their gift card holder. Adhere using a tape runner. To complete the gift, I tucked cash underneath the sushi and popped the lid on top.
With or without a label, this gift would be charming tied with with a pretty bow and chopsticks.
I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. If you make this project, I’d love to see it! Send your pictures to me at arthurized dot home at gmail dot com.
Disclosure: In addition to occasional sponsored posts, Arthurized Home uses clickable affiliate links. That means that I may receive a small commission from sales at no extra charge to you. As always, my opinion is 100% my own, and I only recommend things that I truly love or use myself. Thank you for patronizing the brands that support Arthurized Home!
I know it’s cliche, but coming up with gift ideas for the men in my life is no easy task. Generally speaking, if they want something, they just order it. They’re problem solvers like that. If you get stuck trying to think of fun stocking stuffers for the men in your life, here are a few ideas:
My Grandpa would have loved this one; one of his favorite shirts said “So what?” on the front. The back side said “Who cares?”
Grooming Gifts:
Retro Rocket Trimmer – Ya gotta do it anyway, might as well make it fun. Mark’s had this one for several years and it’s still going strong.
Caffeinated Shave Products Fresh smelling and moisturizing. He needs a little more caffeine in his life.
A rock? Sure, if it’s one of these. Favorite scents: Watermelon Tourmaline, Turquoise, Marble and Malachite Have this one on hand if he’s on Santa’s naughty list this year.
For the guy who knows his way around in the kitchen:
Dishwasher Sign We have and love this. This handy product puts a stop to those scintillating questions like “Do I need to start the dishwasher?” and “Is this ready to unload?” You have more important things to discuss.
If you have go-to stocking stuffers for men, I’d love to hear about them in the comments. I’m always up for some new ideas. Happy shopping!
Disclosure: In addition to occasional sponsored posts, Arthurized Home uses clickable affiliate links. That means that I may receive a small commission from sales at no extra charge to you. As always, my opinion is 100% my own, and I only recommend things that I truly love or use myself. Thank you for patronizing the brands that support Arthurized Home!
Since the gift idea blog post, I’ve had some requests to show how those items fit inside the shoe box. While I can’t send every toy to each child, I squeeze as much as possible into each box, making use of every nook and cranny. It’s most important to send a fun “wow” item and school supplies, clothing and extra toys are secondary.
I ordered plastic shoe boxes from Samaritan’s Purse for a few reasons: They’re large (6 quart), sturdy and reusable. The children can use them to store their things long-term. Parents often use them for food storage in the home, to keep foods dry and pests out, or to hold washing water.
Here are some things I learned while packing the boxes:
Roll the clothes. I tried several different packing tricks but rolling made them the most compact. The boy’s socks are thick with larger cuffs, so I rolled each pair separately. When rolling socks, stagger them so that the cuffs aren’t lined up. The girl’s socks are thinner, so I rolled two pairs together.
Underwear: Folding and rubber banding the underwear together spares the recipient the potential embarrassment of opening underwear in front of their friends. That’s never gonna be a fun party game! I folded them so that the elastic waistband shows, and they’ll get an idea of what it is without removing the rubber bands.
Boys underwear: While I don’t regret buying the five pack of boxer briefs for $2, I’ll stick to only buying briefs in the future. They take up a lot less room than boxers.
This next point blew me away! It’s so important to remove the packaging. I decided to collect all of the paper and plastic trash in one bag, and see how much our boxes generated. WOW! Enough to overflow a laundry basket. When you think of sending all of this trash overseas, the decision to remove the packaging becomes very obvious.
I used my car packing method to pack the boxes in layers. Here’s what fit into the girl’s boxes.
Layer One: tiara headband
Layer Two: 20″ beach ball
Layer Three: pencil pouch with school supplies, comb, leggings, three pairs of underwear, pencil sharpener
Because we want to send as many gifts as possible, the pencil sharpener has three pencil cap erasers stuffed inside, along with two stretch headbands.
The pencil pouch contains: 6 pencils, 10 markers, 10 colored pencils, 1 highlighter, 2 large erasers and 1 pair of scissors
Layer Four: toothbrush, tee shirt, bag of jacks, toy turtle, toy fish, bar of soap, box of 24 crayons, smooshed Minnie, 2 glue sticks, 2 pairs of socks
Layer Five: washcloth
Layer Six: composition notebook
The lid snaps on flat (mostly!) and because the box is filled to the gills, I placed rubber bands around it. Godspeed to the fantastic volunteers in the processing center who have to unpack and re-pack these boxes to go through customs!
So, that’s what fits! I hope this post was helpful to you. If you have ideas to share about how to pack shoeboxes, please let me know in the comments. Click to learn more about Operation Christmas Child.
This post is not sponsored. I only endorse charities that I personally support, and I hope you will consider supporting them too.
Each year at the beach, the whole crew goes souvenir shopping at Callahan’s of Calabash. It’s tradition. We load up on tees, hoodies, ball caps, beach totes and usually buy a blown glass Christmas ornament or two. We try to find an ornament that commemorates a special occasion, accomplishment or event during the year. For the past several years, my cousin Ruby and I have selected a piece of costume jewelry so that we can ‘twin’ across-the-miles when vacation is over.
This beaded bracelet with wooden buckle clasp was our pick a few years ago. Over time the elastic has become slack on a few of the strands, so it’s time for a restring. While I’m repairing mine, I thought it would be fun to show you how to make these easy bracelets. This project is simple enough that older kids can make them, with a little adult assistance in tying the knots.
Here are the materials you’ll need: Buckle Clasp Beads Jelly Cord – I’m using 1mm E-6000 – optional, to secure knots Scissors Ruler Toothpick, or other small implement for applying glue – if using E-6000 Beading tray or kitchen towel – I don’t have a beading tray, so I use a terry cloth kitchen towel to stop beads from rolling off my work surface.
Now it’s time for math class! To calculate the length of beads needed: Using your favorite bracelet length, subtract the length of the buckle clasp when closed and multiply the result by the number of strands in the bracelet. (If you are using very chunky beads, make your bracelet a little longer than normal because of the larger bracelet circumference. The cord will sit farther away from your wrist. Does that make sense?!)
I like a 7.5″ bracelet. The buckle clasp is 1.5″ long when closed, so my strands of beads would be 6″ long. I have 5 holes in the clasp, and 6 x 5 = 30, so I need 30″ of beads. I bought a little extra in case there are any wonky beads. Make sure the bead strands will be narrow enough to fit into your clasp without crowding – I’m using 6mm beads, but I could have gone a little wider. Okay, class dismissed. Now it’s time for the fun stuff!
Taking your bead length measurement from above, cut a generous length of jelly cord. Keep in mind that you will need extra cord to feed through the clasp ends and for knot tying. I cut mine at about 40″.
Slip one end of the jelly cord through an end hole in one of the clasp pieces. Tie a large knot in the jelly cord, and pull it tight. Tug on it to make sure that the knot will not pull through the hole in the clasp. String the first row of beads, measure for length, then weave the jelly cord through the other clasp piece.
Repeat the process for each row. Before tying the final knot, lay the bracelet flat and make sure that the rows are uniform in length, and the cord is pulled firmly through, but not stretched. I used the toothpick end to tighten the jelly cord loops, row by row. Tie a large knot at the end. Trim the excess cord off of each end, and place a dab of E-6000 on each knot to help secure it. Your bracelet is complete!
Do these beads look like Sixlets to you, too? Don’t you think this is the adult version of wearing a candy necklace? This bracelet is a fun way to perk up weekend denim or a plain jersey and would make cute, girlfriend gifts. Happy Crafting!
Disclosure: In addition to occasional sponsored posts, Arthurized Home uses clickable affiliate links. That means that I may receive a small commission from sales at no extra charge to you. As always, my opinion is 100% my own, and I only recommend things that I truly love or use myself. Thank you for patronizing the brands that support Arthurized Home!
Y’all, this is so fun! Operation Christmas Child shares the joy and promise of Christmas with children around the world, by distributing shoe boxes filled to the brim with gifts. For many of these children living in poverty, this is the first gift they receive. Some of these deliveries are made on camel back, loaded onto elephants, others strapped to motorcycles; but all are delivered with love.
In 2018, more than 10.6 million shoe boxes were collected for distribution to 112 countries and territories. That’s a whole lot of joy!
Boxes carried by oxen in Mongolia. (Oxen with boxen?! Ha ha!) Photo Credit: Samaritan’s Purse
With just twelve weeks to go until national collection week, here are some fun ideas for shoe box packing:
One Wow Item: Dolls, stuffed animals and deflated soccer balls (with a pump) are all great. Mickey and Minnie are our “wow” items this year; boys get Mickey, and girls get Minnie. We folded them over, and placed rubber bands around them to make them as small as possible. The indignity! I tried using hair ties, but the fabric is too slick and they slid right off. Oh, well. The kids can have a humdinger of a rubber band fight!
Other Fun Stuff: Marbles, jacks, jump ropes, Matchbox cars, beach balls, sticky catch games, water bottles, playing cards, stickers, coloring books, journals and Lego kits are all fun additions to shoe box gifts. See Shanika and Sherika’s story below to learn why they were thrilled to get a set of jacks in their shoe boxes.
School supplies: In many areas around the world, school supplies are the ticket to education. Can you imagine not attending school simply because you don’t have paper or a pencil? One lady on a distribution trip reported that teachers break pencils into several pieces, so that more students can have one.
Something to Wear: Walmart and Kohls had great end-of-summer sales on kid’s clothing. The boys get tees and shorts, and I found tees, capri pants and dresses for the girls. Shoes and flip-flops are useful and appreciated.
I sure hope that the boy who receives this outfit is a little spitfire. He’ll need a lot of personality to rock that monster tee!
We’ll KonMari the heck out of the clothing, and keep them folded during processing and shipment using rubber bands.
Personal Care Items: We’re packing for elementary age children this year, so a comb, washcloth, toothbrush with cover and a bar of soap will do the job. Just picture twelve children sharing a washcloth, or 25 children sharing a toothbrush. Such simple items can mean the world to a child in need.
Tuck a Christmas card, your picture and a note of encouragement into your shoe box. Let the child know that you love them, and are praying for them. Include your address if you like; sometimes the recipient or their parents will write to you!
Here are some helpful tips I’ve learned from the Shoebox Shoppers Facebook group:
You do not have to use OCC boxes, although they’re nice! Any shoe box will do. Standard sizes are best because they can pack more into a carton when they are a uniform size. However, odd/larger size boxes will not be rejected.
Remove all packaging material from the shoe box items. Most of the receiving countries do not have the resources to handle trash. The recipient will not think that your gift is used if it’s not in the manufacturer’s packaging.
Fill the box to the brim. Don’t ship air!
Boxes are inspected at 8 different processing centers around the U.S. The volunteers view each box as your unique gift to a child, and do not remove items unless they’re on the prohibited list. (Liquid, glass, seeds, war-related, etc.) They do not re-distribute gifts from one box to another. They will add to a box if needed, and keep small filler items on hand in case a box has extra room.
Track your box online, but know that some boxes go to sensitive countries and you might not learn the final destination of your gift. Be sure to include $9 per box to cover the costs of shipping and transportation.
Here’s a quick and inexpensive way to add some interest to gift packages. Tie varied knots using lightweight rope instead of ribbon. In addition to being unusual, these embellishments are practical because they will not flatten during transport.
You will need: Nautical theme gift wrap (Maritime designs, maps, paper in beachy, bright colors would work as well) Gift Wrapping Tape Scissors Nylon clothesline or other rope – $2 Spring Link – optional – I call them caribiners – $2 Lighter – optional Large letter stickers and tags – optional
Unless you’re a knot-tying expert, (I’m knot! Get it? Heh.) watch the videos that I’ve linked below. You can play the video and pause when you needed, or click the right or left arrows to see one step at a time.
I struggled with this knot until I realized that the loop looked like a lowercase “g”. Do you see it?
After I tied the bowline knot on one end of the caribiner, I wrapped the rope snugly around the package a few times. Then I tied another bowline knot at the other end of the caribiner. Push the knot close to the caribiner before tightening, so that the rope stays fairly tight around the package.
Careful adults only step: I sealed the cut ends of the rope by melting them with a lighter. If you do this, please don’t set yourself (or anything else) on fire, and take care not to breathe fumes from melting plastic. Don’t attempt to seal the ends of cotton rope. We call those ‘candle wicks’.
Single Rope Braid – I didn’t know that you could form a braid like this with a single piece of rope. This braid is simple, so I added a paper tag with the recipient’s initial. https://www.animatedknots.com/single-rope-braid-knot
And there you have it! Simple nautical (knot-ical?) gift packages. I hope you will try this out. If you do, I’d love to hear from you in the comments or via email: arthurized dot home at gmail dot com
Disclosure: In addition to occasional sponsored posts, Arthurized Home uses clickable affiliate links. That means that I may receive a small commission from sales at no extra charge to you. As always, my opinion is 100% my own, and I only recommend things that I truly love or use myself. Thank you for patronizing the brands that support Arthurized Home!
Years ago, we took two of our nephews and a niece on a white-water rafting trip in West Virginia. We tent camped that weekend and planned to roast our dinner (and s’mores) over a campfire. My niece and I got to work starting the fire. We had nice, dry firewood, sturdy matches and kindling gathered from the surrounding area.
There were thunderstorms that day and the humidity was nearly 100%. We couldn’t get our kindling to ignite, so we started looking for paper to burn. Having none, we did what all intrepid explorers do and burned our atlas! (This was in the days before GPS, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.) Fortunately, that worked. We had a nice cookout that night and were able to find our way home at the end of the trip.
Shortly after that, my sister gave us these awesome egg carton fire starters and we’ve been using them ever since. The combination of wax and paper helps them to burn for several minutes; long enough to ignite a nice fire.
Disclaimer: I should warn you up front that this project is for careful adults only. Always use caution when working with fire, flammable materials and heat sources. I don’t want you to singe those beautiful eyebrows off. Or worse.
That said, and because I love an element of danger, let’s dive right in!
Here’s what you’ll need to make the fire starters:
Paper egg cartons with lids removed – do not use foam!
Wax from discarded candles
Flammable Filler, small pine cones, tree bark, sawdust, etc. The lid of the paper egg carton torn into small pieces will work.
Scented/Decorative Filler, dried citrus peel, cinnamon stick pieces, etc. – this is entirely optional
Double boiler for melting wax – Mine came from the flea market for $1. You can often find vintage, aluminum double boilers inexpensively at yard sales and thrift stores. I do not use this one for food.
Metal ladle – optional, but useful if you’re like me; not very accurate when pouring liquids.
Sturdy scissors – I used herb scissors.
Cardboard, plastic and newspaper or paper grocery bags for protecting your work surface.
This is a great way to recycle/upcycle both the egg cartons and discarded candles.
Cover your work surface with cardboard or plastic with layers of paper on top. The melted wax makes this a messy project! Children could help with gathering the supplies and arranging them in the egg cartons, but the wax melting and pouring is an adults only step in the process. You may just want to send them to Grandma’s (or at least out of the room) while you’re working with hot wax.
Remove the lids from the egg cartons, Set the lids aside for another use or tear them into small pieces to use as filler. Using scissors, cut in between the cups without cutting them completely apart, like the photos below. This will make it easier to break them into individual fire starters.
Fill the cups of the egg carton with your choice of flammables. If you are using scented/decorative filler, arrange that on top of any less attractive filler. I layered mine with torn egg carton lids, dried orange peel, hemlock cones and birch bark.
Gluten for you, gluten-free for me! Kidding. Don’t eat these.
Over low heat, melt the wax in a double boiler. Watch the wax as it melts. Do not leave it unattended and certainly don’t let it come to a boil. Also, don’t bother cleaning your stove until after this messy project!
Once the wax has just melted, remove it from the heat and carefully pour or ladle it into the prepared egg cups. Fill just the whole cup section. You can carefully press the filler materials down into the wax if needed.
I wish that you could smell these fire starters. I made two batches, one is from a vanilla bean scented soy candle and the other is cinnamon scented. Both batches smell amazing!
Let the wax harden completely, and then pull the cups apart. You’ll appreciate that you cut the cups before filling them. I forgot one time, and spent the next few evenings hacking at them with a utility knife. #blisters
To burn, just light a corner of the fire starter.
These fire starters make great gifts (hint: Christmas) for the outdoorsy people in your life. Or anyone who enjoys a fire pit, chiminea or wood burning fireplace. Fill a pretty basket or bowl with fire starters and a nice box of matches or a butane lighter. If your friends love a fire in the fire pit, give a pretty bag of these fire starters along with a cozy throw for chilly evenings.
Fill a cellophane bag with fire starters and place into a large gift bag with s’mores fixins’: a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers and some Hershey’s chocolate bars. Go crazy, and add some Reese’s peanut butter cups to the kit. (Don’t grill foods directly over the fire starters, wait until you’ve got a roaring campfire.)
Throw a few of these into your pack when you go hiking or on a camping trip. As Pa Kettle says, “you just don’t never know” when you’ll need to start a fire.
I hope you will give this project a try. If you do, I’d love to hear from you! Comment here or email me at arthurized dot home at gmail dot com.
I’m not in partnership with any brands referenced in this post. I’m simply sharing products that I use and enjoy, and I hope you will like them too!
Disclosure: In addition to occasional sponsored posts, Arthurized Home uses clickable affiliate links. That means that I may receive a small commission from sales at no extra charge to you. As always, my opinion is 100% my own, and I only recommend things that I truly love or use myself. Thank you for patronizing the brands that support Arthurized Home!
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