My wife’s hydroxitone jars-they look so nice…a shame to throw out! n, I once was given a few bottles of Norwegian “Voss” water-the bottles look so nice-Im thinking of converting them into lamps. And my brother send me a gift from Japa-the wrapping paper was so exquisite (it was a scene from medieval Japan)-I framed it!
Anybody ever recycled some nice containers?
My cousin gave me a watch for Christmas, and it came in this cool aluminum box. I was about to throw it away when I discovered I needed a discreet case for my bedside table to hold, um, my condoms. So it was rescued and put to that use.
o, yes. I love recycling stuff like that. But if I’ve had a pretty bottle/box/widget for more than a year, and haven’t done anything with it, I have to make myself put it in the regular recycling bin. Otherwise I’d be up to my eyebrows in stuff.
One of my fonder memories of my great-great-grandmother was her absolutely huge collection of empty bottles. My brother and I used to play with them whenever we would visit her house. When she died, she left those bottles to us.
Wish I knew where they were now. Probably in some forgotten corner of my parents’ attic.
I have lots of cool Kenneth Cole boxes that used to contain cufflinks and metal collar stays that I keep just in case I need a cool little box to put stuff in, which I usually don’t but I’m stealing Matt’s idea. Although I would be better if they were FCUK boxes I suppose.
Oh, and I saved a wine bottle sized beer bottle of Piraat just because it looks cool and it doubles as my rolling pin on the few occaisons I need one.
I hate to throw away Godiva boxes or bags. They are way too nice. The bags I can reuse but I can never think of what to do with the boxes. For awhile I had a pantry shelf full of Godiva boxes and bags. I ended up throwing them all away in one of those purge moments.
My brother finished off a fancy bottle of some VSOP here, and left the bottle. I decided to keep it just as a decoration. But then I decided to make some salad dressing without realizing I didn’t have a proper bottle, so I used the VSOP bottle.
Shortly after I had a party and put out the salad dressing, and several people were like “wow I didn’t taste the brandy in this dressing at all!” 
If we’re talking bags, any of the heavy paper/twine handled jobs that come from the higher end stores seem a shame to toss out in the garbage. We fold them and save them to use if we need to bring food or beverage to a get together because some of those high end department store bags can carry a lot more than they’ll ever be asked to in terms of weight.
Yeah, I’ve got a bag full of those for just that purpose. Plus they just look a little classier.
Somebody once mailed me some CDs in a Tiffany box. I love to give presents in it (but I always ask for the box back . . .)
I adore the biscuit tins. Well, I adore the biscuits even MORE, but I reuse those tins. One of them is on a bookshelf not ten feet away from me, and it holds my fountain pen ink cartridges, some markers, and drawing pencils and erasers. Sometimes the boxes or whatever have ribbon around them, which makes dandy bookmarks.
Ages ago, my mother remarked that the Tupperware containers she paid good money for couldn’t stand going in the dishwasher, even on the top rack, while the margarine and whipped topping containers would go through the dishwasher with no problem.
I went to a beergarden here in Fort Worth, and I was asked if I wanted to keep my empty Grolsch flip-top bottle. I was told that some people did, but I declined. I do keep some empty wine bottles, and yeah, I stick candles in them.
I’ve always kind of wanted to recycle glass bottles into drinking glasses, but I really don’t want to deal with glass slivers and splinters.
Also, after accumulating any number of nice Christmas-themed cookie tins over the years, on Christmas 2007 I baked dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies, filled them all up, and gave them all away. It was nice to have the shelf space back.
I save containers of all shapes and sizes. They’re great to store gewgaws and little souvenirs in. I fill them up with assorted stuff and store them away on a shelf somewhere. Later on, I’ll go through them and it’s like finding lost treasure.
A few of my favorites: Tin containers for Glen Fiddich and Glen Livet, a heart-shaped tin that held Mrs. Fields “Decadent Chocolates”, and a Jelly Belly apothecary-style jar.
I like the mint tins. Sometimes I’ll sand one down and paint or do something else artsy-fartsy with it. The larger ones make lovely holders for gift cards. The smaller ones are great to make a mini-sewing kit or use as a pill box.
I also keep tea tins. They are a decorative way to keep small quantities of pantry staples (especially the ones from the Asian market).
The Grolsch thing is usually about home brewers since the bottles are easy to fill and cap without having any special tools around.
I hate to throw out any thing that can be re-used. I made a Mr and Mrs Santa Clauses out of old creamer bottles. I re-use plastic coffee cake containers to store Cookies, donuts, and home made coffee cakes in my freezer. I use plasic bags to line my garbage recycle bin. I use coffee cans to store bird seed and cottage cheese and other types of containers to give leftovers to my kids. I spray paint plastic coffee cans to make decorative containers for flowers; they can also be used to make stepping stones by digging a hole putting the dirt in the can then making a path.