How To Create A Graduation Card Box

My nephew graduated from high school last month and his mom asked me to make the card box for his graduation party.

It sounds so hard and like quite a process, but it really wasn’t!! It was actually really easy.

I bought all the material at JoAnn’s.

Materials:

(3) Paper Mache Boxes of different sizes that can be stacked together.
(1) 9″x9″x4-1/2″ Paper Mache Box
(1) 8″x8″x4″ Paper Mache Box
1 1/2″ ribbon, enough to go around all 3 boxes. The one I bought was 21 ft.
3/8 in. black ribbon
3/8 in. ribbon (same color as the 1 1/2″ ribbon)
Paint and brushes
Pocket Knife
Hot glue gun and glue
White sticker letters (or any color you choose)
A small graduation decoration

Directions

Paint all the boxes. I chose to paint the 3 larger boxes black, the bigger or the two smaller boxes red, and the smallest box black. You can do whatever is best for your theme or colors.
Stack the boxes and use a pencil to mark where the next box will sit. On the next step, you’re going to need to know how much space to leave for gluing.
Using a pocket knife, cut holes in the top/bottom of the bigger boxes. This is so that the cards can fall all the way through to the bottom. The bottom box should only have a hole in the top (and not the entire thing! You still need part of the box there for stacking and gluing). The middle box has to have the bottom AND the top of the box cut out (leave enough space for glue and stacking). The top box should only have the bottom cut out. I used a pocket knife because the boxes were too thick for a box cutter to cut through.

Notice I didn’t paint the bottom of the boxes. No one will see that part.
Hot glue the boxes together, stacking them like a pyramid.
Wrap the thicker ribbon around the 3 big boxes and hot glue it on the back of the box. I chose to put mine a little closer to the bottom instead of the center of each box but you can do it however you want. I hot glued on the back because when I noticed that you could see the hot glue through the ribbon.
Wrap the thin ribbon around the smaller boxes, gift wrap style. I used black ribbon on the red box and red ribbon on the black box. I hot glued it to the bottom of the box.
If you choose to use one, glue or tape a tassel to the top of the box. If you don’t have one you can make your own from the leftover thin ribbon. Make sure the smaller boxes will cover where it has been glued or taped.
Hot glue the 2 smaller boxes to the back lefthand corner of the top. I did mine a little crooked to change up the shape a bit. This is totally up to you, though. Do it however you like it best!
Add graduation decoration next to the 2 small boxes. I couldn’t get the decoration to stand up on its own so I put a small dab of hot glue and put the decoration toward the front of the dab so the glue wouldn’t show.
Cut a slit in the top of the box. Make sure it’s big enough to fit cards into. I used a birthday card of my son’s to make sure it was the right size, then I made it a little bigger just in case. I used the pocket knife for this, too. Be careful!!
Add the letters. My nephew’s mom wanted his first and last name on the box, so I did his first name on the top box and his last name on the bottom box. On the very top of the card box, I put the abbreviation of the school he graduated from.
Add any other embellishments. The middle box definitely needed some embellishment so I used a sticker that our local school district passes out and stuck it to cardstock to make it thicker and more durable. I cut around the sticker so the cardstock wouldn’t show then I hot glued it onto the box.
Touch up any paint. Throughout the process, I dinged the boxes up a little. When I was completely finished, I went back and used a small brush to touch it up.