DIY Convert Diaper Box To Storage Bin For Traveling In Car With Kids

DIY Convert a diaper box into a storage bin to use in your car for an upcoming family road trip. #diaperbox #diy #storagebin | mommygonetropical.com

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I’ve covered how to best prepare your family for an upcoming road trip and how to conquer packing for a road trip with kids in this series.

Today, I will show you how to convert a diaper box into a storage bin!

After I’ve shown you how to make a storage box, I will talk about quick and healthy road trip snacks for kids and adults.

I’ve mentioned in the previous post about having money budgeted for the trip so we wanted to make sure we don’t spend too much on the necessities for the car.

For a couple of months, I’ve pondered on how to store the kids’ toys, books, coloring books, snacks, and everything else in the car for the road trip. I needed it to be stored in ONE box if possible. So, it would be easier for me to grab whatever I need and for the kids to access their stuff.

I save a lot of things like empty glass jars, diaper boxes, empty food containers, toilet paper rolls, scrap paper, and many more. I enjoy being creative and make something useful out of those. A light bulb went off in my head when I saw a diaper box laying around my home. I knew I could convert the diaper box into a storage bin!

A list of what you would need for this project:

An empty rectangle cardboard box (like a diaper box)
A sharp scissor or razor
Tape/duct tape
Marker
Measuring tape (optional)
School Glue
Construction paper
Accessories to decorate the box if desired

First, make sure the box you’ve chosen will fit in your car. I placed the diaper box between the car seats in the back seat. It fits perfectly. If yours doesn’t fit perfectly, then you could cut the box to make the width narrower. Then use tape to put the box back together

Instructions:

Before I get started, I taped the top lid back together so now I have a closed diaper box.

I didn’t like how deep the diaper box was because the kids wouldn’t be able to reach in the box from their car seats. So, I placed a big empty snack container laying flat by the box to figure out where to cut the bottom end. It was about 3-4 inches tall.

I didn’t use a measuring tape because it was a temporary storage box. I don’t need a permanent storage box for my car nor home. However, if you desire a permanent storage box for your car and/or home, then please use a measuring tape to cut everything precisely.

Use a marker to make a line across the box lengthwise. Cut the line.

The top part was still deep. I preferred the top part to be narrow, just enough to hold everything but be easily visible. So, I cut two inches off around the top part.

Cut a big opening in the bottom half and a smaller one in the back (so it would be easy to carry around).

Flip the top part up. Tape both together.

Now you have a long two-inch scrap cardboard. What to do with it? Get creative! Use it to build dividers in the top part. Cut the cardboard length to fit the top part. See how I’ve taped two scrap cardboards together to make one divider? I made two dividers and taped those to the top part.

If you don’t want dividers, then you could use the scrap cardboard to make box handles, a lid for the big opening at the bottom, or whatever else!

I could have stopped here, however, I wanted to conceal the storage box a bit. I didn’t want it to scream, “I used to be a diaper box!”

OPTIONAL: You can decorate the diaper box in any way you’d like. I used school glue to stick black construction paper onto the box. After I’ve covered the entire box, my daughter, Coral and I decorated the box. She used chalk to draw on the sides of the box. I cut out stars and we colored the stars. I attached the stars to the front of the box with school glue.