Repurposed Santa Treat Box

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Originally published November 16, 2012. Updated December 2020.

This repurposed Santa treat box is a great way to give homemade baked gifts to friends and neighbors. It’s also an easy craft to make with children. You can create this simple craft for free with an upcycled container and paper scraps you may already have.

top image two repurposed containers decorated to look like a snowman and Santa, bottom image a repurposed container decorated to look like Santa with title text reading Santa Box from an Upcycled Container

I love crafting for the holidays. Wait, who am I fooling? I love to craft anytime of the year. But it extra fun to craft during the excitement of the Christmas season. It makes me even happier when I’m able to craft with a repurposed container or jar. And then I’m even happier when the projects turns out as adorable as this repurposed Santa treat box did. This would be a great craft to make with your child. It’s a fun and easy kids craft.

You can use the Santa treat box as a decoration or to give homemade baked treats to friends and neighbors.

At some point this year I noticed that French’s Fried Onions changed their packaging.  I’ve held onto this container for several months thinking about what I wanted to do with it. Then it called out to me one day, “I’m perfect for a Santa craft.” Good thing I was listening.

red plastic food container with white lid

Repurposed Santa Treat Box

Santa Craft Supplies

  • Red Plastic Container – The fried onion container is perfect.
  • Red and White Card Stock Paper – A great project for using up paper scraps.
  • Greeting Rubber Stamp and Ink – You could write a message by hand, if you prefer.
  • Paper Cutter or Scissors
  • Decorative Scalloped Scissors
  • Decoupage Glue
  • Rubber Bands
red plastic food container with white lid

I briefly tried to remove the label, but it was going to be more difficult than I had the patience for today. Next time I’m going to work longer on removing the label, but for today, I simply covered the labels with red paper and Mod Podge decoupage glue.  Because the container is curved use rubber bands to hold the paper in place while the Mod Podge dries.

collage of 4 images turning red food box into DIY Santa suit

While the red paper was drying, I cut a strip of white paper with decorative scissors for the trim on the coat.  I also cut strip of black paper for the belt and a piece of silver paper for the belt buckle.

red plastic container decorated to look like Santa suit with rubber bands wrapped around it

Because the sides of the container are curved I used rubber bands on the belt and belt buckle to hold the paper while it dries.

a Santa treat box made from a repurposed container

The top of the lid has the logo that I wanted to cover.  I simply cut a piece of white paper and rounded the corners so it would fit the lid.  I stamped the paper with a greeting and left space to write a personal note.

The entire process took less than an hour and cost nothing since I used a plastic container that would have gone into the recycling bin and scraps of paper that I already had.  Now I only have to wait until after the green bean casserole at Thanksgiving so I can make another repurposed Santa treat box. 

More Easy Santa Crafts

More Free Fun Christmas Activities

Be sure to pin this repurposed Santa treat box so you can find this adorable craft every Christmas season.

Check out the snowman treat box I made from another repurposed box.

white plastic food container decorated to look like a snowman

See all my most festive Christmas ideas, printables and recipes in the table below. You can scroll though the table and look for ideas or search for specific ideas with the magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner (on desktop). Click on the topic and then click through the specific article.

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24 Comments

  1. This is adorable! I’m adding french fried onions to my weekend shopping list, just so I can get a container like this :-).

  2. This is so cute. I love it when you can take a potential “trash” item and save it from the landfill by giving it a second use! GREAT job!

  3. What a great idea, this is so cute! Would love it if you linked up on my blog hop. Also let me know if you’d like to follow each other!

  4. These look amazing! You are a Featured Favorite this week at Saturday Show & Tell on Cheerios and Lattes! Thank so much for sharing this and others last week; we love having you! Can’t wait to see what you’ve got for us this week! Have a great weekend!Mackenzie 🙂

  5. I’d like to invite you to join me at the Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week! I hope to see you there!Cheers!Kathy Shea MorminoThe Chicken Chick

  6. That is too cute! I love that the little container already kinda looks like a santa, great choice! Thanks for sharing at The Fun In Functional!

  7. Well looky here! I love this idea. Very clever from that onion box. Thank you so much for stopping over at our party and linking up 🙂 ~ Julie

  8. What an awesome idea! I’m going to have to use this for teachers’ treats this year. Thanks for sharing.

  9. This project is so great! I’m thinking I could do this on my old vitamin box! Thanks for sharing on the homemade holiday party.Marilyn

  10. What a great idea! I am always looking for ideas to repurpose containers like this and I give a lot of food gifts that sometimes get crushed in the little baggies so this is perfect! Found you from the Homemade Holiday link party at 4 You With Love. I’m a new follower!

  11. Oh, that’s just brilliant! I adore it. Great recycle, upcycle really! Thank you for sharing it on our blog at the linky party. Oh, I cant’t wait to find out what you’ll link up tomorrow!

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  15. This is soooo cute! I’ve been saving mine up to make these. I’m curious to know what you filled yours with for gifts. I’m thinking of Hershey Kisses or something like that.
    Also, did you find a solution for removing the label??

    1. Shelly, I couldn’t figure out how to remove the label because it appears to be painted on the surface. I simply covered the label with a piece of red paper. I filled mine with holiday candy. If you air it out long enough to remove the onion smell, you could fill the container with homemade candy. Have fun and I’d love to see a photo of the Santa boxes you make.

      1. Thank you! Actually, I just pulled out my containers and they are white! I had forgotten!! Lol
        I saw your snowman idea and these will be perfect for that and so cute!! I’m thinking of homemade cookies now. 🙂

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