Make a Magazine Storage Unit. I’ve never really used these for magazines, have you? I always end up using mine to hold paper, small notebooks, and other odds and ends. I have always loved them, though, and find the cheapest ones to always be plastic—not much fun!—and the truly beautiful ones a bit out of my price range. For this reason, it’s a fantastic idea to make your own by cutting a cereal box in half—a diagonal across the front and back of the box, leaving a good three inches to the bottom—and taping the bottoms down tightly to keep them firm. A full tutorial can be found here. I like to decorate mine as well, with scrap construction paper from our other craft projects.
Make Wall Shelves. By cutting the box in half width-wise, you can make excellent wall shelves. Cut the box on in fourths on one side, leaving a high back (the full back of the box) on the other, then decorate as you wish. We have a few of these hanging in my office where we keep drawing paper for my daughter, my correspondence supplies, and other office stuffs. Remember that these won’t be able to hold very heavy items, however.
Make Small Boxes. Cut the box like you would for a wall shelf, but instead of leaving the high back, cut it so that all of the top edges are uniform. Boom—you have a quick, easy box to use! These are great for holding pencils, paint brushes, glitter pens, and whatever else you need to organize. Cut them even shorter for quick drawer organizers.
Make a Village. Cereal boxes are great to decorate and use for a village for your children to play with. Cut out windows, doors, even bridges for them to use with their toys and cars. Decorate them for themes—such as with snowmen, wreaths, and paper lights—and use them for holiday decorations in place of expensive ceramic villages as well. You could make a whole set for every holiday! When you’re finished, you can often fold them up for easy flat storage as well.
Use Them for Projects. I find that cereal box cardboard is often the best to use when crafts call for cardboard. It’s just sturdy enough without being too thick for everything from masks to puppets to gift tags and more.