Friends are simply the best!  Especially friends that don’t mind answering my frequent question, “what do you think of this?”  A few days ago, I asked a friend for an opinion about an idea for Easter using french fry boxes.  She liked my idea (will share it shortly), then the creative wheels in her brain started turning and she came up with a great St. Patrick’s Day gift or favor … Gold and a Rainbow in a box …

Thank you Steph, for the fun idea!   These french fry boxes came from Michael’s in the Valentine’s Day 50% off section, yippee!!!  When I find a great bargain … want to share it … usually on Facebook, if you would like to follow along … click here and “like” my page 😉

French fry containers have been around for a while now and I’ve hesitated buying them.  I never really had a reason to buy, which usually doesn’t stop me … the 50% off sign was my reason … ideas came later!

Sometimes everything falls into place … just may take a while!  After I finished making this St. Patrick’s Day box … realized that any candy wrapped in gold foil (Rolos, Hershey Nuggets, etc.) would work or even real gold coins!  If you can’t find the boxes at your local craft/party store … found them online here and templates here.

For each favor box, I used …

• 5 large gumballs (in rainbow colors)
• 1 cello bag (about 2″ x 10″, size for pretzel rods)
• 1 gold pipe cleaner, cut in half (or twist ties, ribbon, etc.)
• 5 gold coins (chocolate wrapped in gold foil)
• a handful of grassy stuff (shredded paper)
• 1 french fry box (brown kraft paper) & a shamrock sticker or some sort of cute decoration
• double stick tape or glue gun (if necessary)

1. Put the gumballs in the cello bag, use twist ties/pipe cleaners on each end of the bag to create a “loose” tube.
2. Bend the gumball tube slightly and tuck ends of tube/bag into the french fry box, forming a rainbow.  Secure with a small piece of tape or dot of glue, if necessary/desired.
3. Fill the box loosely with grassy stuff.
4. Arrange gold coins as desired.
5. Add sticker/decoration to the front of the box.  Alternate idea … tie a ribbon or baker’s twine around the box!

It’s been raining here … no rainbows yet … let alone a pot of gold!  Guess I’ll settle on chocolate gold coins until I find that leprechaun!

I have more ideas lined up using french fry boxes … don’t know why I didn’t buy them sooner!  Many of my friends and family are great bargain hunters.  The winner is a friend of mine that bought a $200.00 pair of shoes at Nordstrom Rack for $.01 … yes, she bought them for a penny!!!  I’m in awe of her!

Are you a bargain hunter … found anything that you would like to share?