Sweet Tooth Box

• 1). Gather bags of gummy bears, gummy fish and small, flat lollipops, plus paper towels and a can of polyurethane. Lay the towels down outside on a flat surface, and stand downwind (so you don't inhale the chemicals). Place the unwrapped candies on the towels so they do not touch.
  
  
• 2). Spray a layer of polyurethane on the candies and let dry, which will take about 20 minutes. Fold the towels into a little sack and shake the candies, then separate them and spray them again, which ensures a full covering. Take the candies inside and throw the towels away.
  
  
• 3). Remove the cover of a shoebox and set it aside. Glue colored tissue paper to the inside of the box (it's OK if some of the tissue wraps over the outside of the box). Glue a different color of tissue paper around the outside of the box, smoothing any lumps of glue with your fingers. Consider using contrasting colors such as pink and lime green or two similar hues such as deep purple and lilac.
  
  
• 4). Repeat with the shoebox cover, but reverse the colors; wrap the outside of the box lid with the color you used for the inside of the shoebox. Cut away any excess tissue paper. Let both the box cover and box dry.
  
  
• 5). Hold a gummy fish in your non-dominant hand (left hand if you're right-handed) and squeeze a dab of glue on it, then press it gently onto one side of the bottom of the shoebox. Repeat with a gummy bear. Continue the process as you work your way in a circle around the circumference of the entire shoebox, alternating fish and bears all the way around. Add more rows if you prefer. Set the box aside.
  
  
• 6). Dab a dot of glue on the flat surface of a lollipop and press it at an angle onto the cover (toward the left side). Dab a dot of glue on another lollipop and crisscross it on top of the first one, so they make an "X." Repeat with two more lollipops on the right side of the top of the lid.
  
  
• 7). Cut a tooth shape out of white paper and write your friend's name in a glitter marker. Glue the tooth to the box lid.
  
  
• 8). Fill the box with a variety of candies, gum and snacks.
  
  

Crossword Keeper

• 1). Remove the lid from a white shirt box. Cover the lid in a checkerboard pattern with masking tape (press down lines of tape vertically and horizontally, crisscrossing each other). Cover the sides of the bottom of the shirt box (outside only) with crisscrossing tape.
  
  
• 2). Paint the entire lid with black paint, brushing paint directly over the masking tape lines. Let dry, then turn over and paint the inside of the lid.
  
  
• 3). Paint the entire bottom of the box, brushing paint over the tape. Let dry, then turn upside down and paint the bottom. When dry, turn right-side up and paint the inside of the box and let dry.
  
  
• 4). Peel off the masking tape from the lid and bottom, taking care not to rip off the box's cardboard.
  
  
• 5). Write the gift recipient's name, one letter per box, across the top of the lid in a diagonal, horizontal or vertical pattern. Fill with crossword puzzle books, magazines or other games.
  
  

Night Sky

• 1). Take a shoebox outside and remove the lid. Spray paint the entire box bottom---inside and out---white, letting dry before turning over to each side. Spray paint both sides of the lid white and let dry.
  
  
• 2). Attach foil star stickers all around the box bottom's outside and inside, then press them down on top of the box's lid.
  
  
• 3). Spray paint the box cover's outside blue, then spray paint the outside and inside of the box bottom blue. Let dry, then turn over and spray paint the box's bottom and inside of the lid cover blue. Let dry.
  
  
• 4). Peel off the star stickers. Cut a star shape from a white piece of paper, then write your gift recipient's name in a glitter pen and tape it to the lid of the box.