What's in a box?

I understand the importance of buying locally, and I did buy at least a few Christmas presents at non-big-box stores. But I must admit the convenience of shopping from my home computer won out for the majority of the gifts I'll be giving this year. And that has created a whole new kind of big box experience for my kids.

 

Because when all those online purchases started arriving last week, they came in big boxes. Boxes that my kids were practically salivating at the thought of re-using.

 

In the photo above, AJ was carving out a hole for cannons. The kids named and re-named their creation numerous times as they cut and taped it together. Eventually they settled on Fort Tysington.The name Tysington didn't seem to have any particular significance other than it started with a T, the same shape as the fort.

 

 

As the kids worked/played, I was busy wrapping presents. And when I used up a roll of wrapping paper, that created all sorts of new possibilities.

 

Every fort needs a chimney, don't you know?

 

By this point, AJ had lost interest in the project.  He only wanted to build, not to play with the creation beyond that. This was a serious concern for Sydney who wanted to make sure they shared it equally. Everything must be fair, don't you know? I suggested she use two of the "rooms" and leave the rest for AJ to inhabit later. Sydney thought this was a great idea and quickly designated one of her two spaces for stuffed animals and the other for LaLaLoopsie.

 

And so we deemed the project complete and Sydney went in search of Dad to present their masterpiece. Dad, of course, was suitably impressed with what they'd done. But it turns out he's built his share of forts in his day, and with that background, he noticed one key thing they'd forgotten to do. Apparently you can't have a fort without a flag on top. And so AJ rejoined our efforts.

 

And Sydney decided her chimney could do double duty as a flagpole.

 

A few weeks ago, I posted a photo on Facebook of AJ playing in a box he'd decided was a pirate ship. A friend who saw it mentioned I should check out a new company in St. Paul called Play from Scratch. This company makes and sells cardboard boxes and tubes especially for kids to use for creating and playing. How perfect?! Ironically, two of the boxes that the kids used in their fort are the ones their Box of Boxes and Tube of Tubes were shipped in.

 

After watching the fun they had Friday night, I'm more excited than ever to give them these gifts. (And I can feel good, because even though I bought it online, I'm still supporting a small business owner.)