How to Use a Altoids Tin as a Christmas Box

Several years back, I received a small gift that was wrapped in a small tin. Long after the gift was gone, I put the tin to good use, I currently use it to store my wedding ring and tie clips.

It turns out that the little tin was a Altoids tin. The peppermint tin has dimensions of 3 inches and 3/4 in length. It is 2 and a half inches wide. It is 7/8 of an inch deep.

The tin had the imprinted Altoid sign hammered in. You could still make it out but, not very well. The tin had been spray pained gold on the outside. The edge of the lid had been painted with a bright green to accent the can. The inside of the can had red tissue paper on the inside of the tin. It looked very attractive.

I talked to the High School girl that had given me the gift. She said that she loves to use different paints on the tins. She uses regular craft paint. She also said that you can use small stencils and put a persons initials on the lid as well. Besides stencils and paints, you can also put stickers on them to make them look good.

Girls like them for jewelry, necklaces, hair combs, earrings, pins, bracelets, and rings. Boys use them for rings, keys, change, pocket knives, and other items. She said that the tins are easy to put in your purse, pocket, or store in a drawer.

They are ideal for little "Hot Wheels" to put in as well for little boys. You can even use them to make a miniature first aid kit. You stock it with aspirins, bandages, a needle, gauze pads, and a small tube of Bactine.

For ladies you can also make it as a small sewing kit. You can place a needle and thread along with a few buttons. You can even put a small pair of scissors in it.

So there are a lot of good ideas for the use of a small tin. If you decorate good enough, you don't even have to wrap it with paper.

The best way to prep the tin, is open the lid and face it with the insides down. You can use a hammer and gently try to hammer out the Altoids sign if you want. You can leave the Altoids sign if you want. Select your spray paint and put a coat or two on it. From there decide what type of design that you want to put on it.

Once the tin is finished with it's original use, it can be used again for other things.