# What can you do with Altoid tins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457 "2015-04-11T23:31:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/21 "2015-04-12T04:31:29Z")
I use them for thumb drives too. I also put a couple of spare pony tail bands, barrettes and bobby pins in one to deal with whatever my thick hair emergency of the day is without having to totally unload my purse. In my sewing cabinet I keep quilting pins in one and safety pins in another. I keep those tiny velcro dots in one and or other small bric a brac. For Grammie time I have a few “play tins” ready to toss in my purse if I am with the grand boys. One has an assortment of stickers they can stick inside or outside the tin or on themselves if they wish. Another has a couple of tiny micro cars and a strip of fabric with a sharpie drawn line down the middle to look like a road. Another has mini crayons and a tiny notepad. Another has tiny magnets painted different colors. One has a small deck of mickey mouse playing cards. The older one is 3 and can play memory with them. They both like to just hold the cards and hand them back and forth to each other or me in a pretend game of “playing a game” emulating when the adults play cards. One has an assortment of bandaids, bright colors and from time to time, if I find them cheap, cartoon characters. Boo boo or not if you find this tin you get to put bandaids all over yourself and your brother and talk about the injury. “ouchie”, “Shark bite”, “ninja attack”, “fell off the slide”, 'hot stove" “bumped head” “toe hurts”, “door bite” whatever they think of. Two of them have the smalls tin inside the regular tin, one has a small bright rock we call the dinosaur egg, the other a small plastic dinosaur. Sounds overly simple but the younger one not yet two has spent the last year, opening one, carefully setting it aside, lid open just so, then pulling out the smaller, and opening that to find the rock or the dinosaur and being surprised and pleased with whichever, showing us while we exclaim, "you found the egg!’ or “you found the tiny dinosaur!”, then repeating the process with the other. I don’t bring them all, all the time, just grab a couple and change them out after they were played with so they never know which one the treat inside is going to be. Going in Grammies purse is fun. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/22 "2015-04-12T04:42:42Z")
Fill them with weed, then give them away as gifts. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/23 "2015-04-12T04:46:27Z")
I painted the lids white and put cute label tags on them. Then I filled them with paper clips, push pins, straight pins, safety pins, etc. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/24 "2015-04-12T05:36:45Z")
I use one to store my iPod Shuffle, its short USB adapter, and my earbuds. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/25 "2015-04-12T09:56:50Z")
I have a few around and 3 are in active use. One has my razor blades and carton knife blades, one has my travel bag drugs and the one on my desk has my business cards in it. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/26 "2015-04-12T10:21:26Z")
Safety pins. > [@tuesdayweld](#): > > You can put your weed in there. Damn! That was my answer! [QUOTE=WhyNot] ``` One holds my bobby pins. ``` [/QUOTE] Glad I’m not the only one with a bobby pin containment problem. I put my bobby pins in a tic-tac container. The large tic-tac container even holds the ginormous bobby pins (needed for topknot, because I have long hair). ---
**Author:** ![desertmonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@desertmonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/desertmonk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/27 "2015-04-12T10:30:33Z")
Build an amateur radio rig out of it. [http://www.mike-gualtieri.com/posts/rockmite\_qrp\_rig](http://www.mike-gualtieri.com/posts/rockmite_qrp_rig) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/28 "2015-04-12T13:33:07Z")
Condoms. For carrying, not as. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/29 "2015-04-12T14:59:58Z")
Wrapped up headphones fit perfectly into them - it keeps them from tangling. You can also [make them steampunk](http://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/crafts/recycled/projects/steampunk-altoids-tin1.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Kay\_Rock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@Kay\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kay_Rock)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/30 "2015-04-12T20:15:42Z")
I used them for my hoarder starter kit but it got out of control. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/31 "2015-04-12T22:06:27Z")
They’re great for storing finger picks, flat picks, thumb picks, some types of capos, and some spare bridge pins. And the box will fit in the little box thing in your guitar case. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/32 "2015-04-12T22:13:30Z")
I so love the SDMB. Helpful when needed… [http://indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/](http://indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/) how-to-build-your-own-altoids-tin-survival-kit-1609107708 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/33 "2015-04-12T22:23:53Z")
They are useful for holding gun cleaning patches inside one’s larger range box. Home made patches, obviously, don’t come in a box and the commercial ones usually come in a flimsy cardboard box. One can also use an altoid box to hold an entire pull-through style cleaning kit. I wouldn’t call it a survival kit, as such, but altoids boxes can be filled with a small selection of common size screws, a couple feet of wire, some nylon twine, a couple feet of duct tape, and a tube of superglue. This, in conjunction with a SAK or multitool, permits all manner of quick n’ dirty repairs. Having such a box in one’s desk at work or along on vacation can turn a major PITA into a simpe annoyance. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/34 "2015-04-12T23:41:14Z")
I was heavy into altoids after I quit smoking. My sister is an elementary school teacher, she took all the tins for arts and crafts. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/35 "2015-04-13T00:37:54Z")
Get some linen, poke some holes in the top, and make char-cloth. Handy thing to have if you ever need to reinvent fire. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/36 "2015-04-13T13:59:02Z")
They make great geocaches. Put a magnet on the inside, add a little log page in a ziploc and you’ve got a great little magnetic hide. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/37 "2015-04-13T14:10:27Z")
The minis are pretty good for SD camera cards. You could lose a spare or new card, or half a dozen, without much difficulty, small altoid tins make that a little harder. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/38 "2015-04-13T15:08:30Z")
I use them to store quarters in my car to feed parking meters. But clearly after this thread I need to think more creatively. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/39 "2015-04-13T16:32:42Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > I use them to store quarters in my car to feed parking meters. But clearly after this thread I need to think more creatively. I use plastic 35mm film containers for that; less rattle noise. ---
**Author:** ![Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phedre_no_Delaunay)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457/40 "2015-04-13T17:50:32Z")
I have saved a couple of the late, lamented Altoids Gum tins to keep Q-tips (cotton buds) in my cosmetic bag for travel. It keeps them straight, clean and yet easy to get to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-you-do-with-altoid-tins/717457.md?page=3)