Introduction: The Exploding Box

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If you ever are in need of a last-minute, simple present - the exploding box is the thing for you! It takes less than 30 minutes and only requires items you can find easily! This idea came to me when I had completely lost track of time and my mom's birthday was in a few days. Also, a homemade gift is always better than a store-bought one. I enjoyed making an exploding box for my mom and she loved it, and I just wanted to share the idea with others!
**IMPORTANT: This can only be done with boxes with removable tops! They are super easy to find on Amazon and I included a link in the supplies section.

Supplies

What you need includes:

Photos A knife (if you are not experienced with knives please get an adult to help!) Hot Glue Gun Small gifts A writing utensil

Step 1: Cutting Away

First, take your largest box, and remove the top.

Cut the corners, creating five connecting squares like in the picture above. It is easiest to use an X-Acto, but a kitchen knife such as the one I used worked perfectly well!

Next, do the same procedure to the medium, or second-largest box. You should now have two of these flat boxes laying in front of you.

Step 2: It's Picture Time!

Grab the largest box, and set it on the surface in front of you. On top, hot glue the medium box carefully. Make sure to ONLY glue the center square, the other rectangles are meant to be unattached. I would recommend using small dots of glue to ensure the glue doesn't leak or escape from under the box.

After, add your desired pictures to all of the tabs. I glued my pictures in sequential order from the day I was born up until now. Don't use too much glue on the photos, excess glue might force the photo to curve or bumps in the photo will form.

Step 3: The Small Box & Lid

Having glued the medium and largest boxes together, now it's time for the smallest box. Cut the corners as you did in the first step to the other boxes, and write a message to the recipient of the gift in the center square.

Next, glue small gifts and presents around the tabs. Then you are to glue the center square to the medium box, leaving the rectangle tabs loose once again.

Following this, glue photos onto the largest box's lid, the other two lids can be kept for later use or recycled.

Step 4: Final Product

Fold the tabs up to form a box shape, and place the lid on top! The way the box works is simple.

First, give the gift to the recipient.

Next, have the recipient open the lid to the box.

Finally, the tabs will unfold like an explosion of gifts and photos!

I hope you liked this idea and encourage you to try it!