Make Bookmarks from Girl Scout Cookie Boxes

My kiddos, looking for “prizes” to give away to good customers at their cookie booths this year, created bookmarks out of old Girl Scout cookie boxes.

I hope that you are buying LOTS of Girl Scout cookies right now!

Unless your kids are selling Girl Scout cookies… if so, I hope that you are selling LOTS of Girl Scout cookies right now!

One thing that Girl Scout cookies come with, however, is packaging. It’s distinctive, and it’s adorable, and it has pictures of your favorite cookies on it, but it’s packaging nonetheless, sigh.

Fortunately, that distinctive, adorable, picture-of-your-favorite-cookie business is an advantage that can allow you to divert a lot of that packaging out of the waste stream. My kiddos, looking for “prizes” to give away to good customers at their cookie booths this year, created bookmarks out of old cookie boxes. They cost nothing but a little embroidery floss to make, they’re really cute, and they’re easy enough for even a Daisy to make all by herself.

Here’s how:

1. Make a template. It helps to start with a template that the kids can trace. An older kid can make her own template, of course, but for my eight- and ten-year-olds, I gave them another handmade bookmark to trace.

If you’re using another bookmark as a template, make sure that it will be an appropriate size for the Girl Scout cookie boxes. You’ll want it wide enough that you can have both the cookie’s name and its image on the front, of COURSE!

2. Have the kids trace the bookmark onto cookie boxes, and cut it out. Cut the box apart to flatten it, then give the kids a sharp pencil and let them trace and cut out their bookmarks.

My kids like to put the boxes face up, so that they can see exactly what they’d like their bookmark to cover. They have to cut neatly, however, so that you can’t see their pencil marks. A younger kid might prefer to have the box face-down, with no pressure to cut out any particular image. The bookmark will still be cute!

3. Add embroidery floss. Give the kids a hole punch, and remind them that they don’t want the hole too close to the top, lest it rip.

Let the kids choose a couple of colors of embroidery floss (mine REALLY liked matching the floss to the box colors), and show them how to thread the floss through the punched hole and tie an eye knot or an overhand knot or something even fancier:

The back of each bookmark will be blank cardboard, so kids can embellish it further if they wish–stickers, pictures, thank-you notes to customers, etc.

And yes, your new bookmark WILL make you hungry for Thin Mints every time you look at it. You’d best go ahead and buy some more boxes to last you until next year!