Eggs-lent Ways to Reuse Egg Cartons

Chances are sometime this week you’re going to be picking up a carton of eggs–if you haven’t already. That’s because while Americans buy, on average, about 72 million eggs each week, around Easter, eggs sales jump to more than 93 million, so says the American Egg Board. Add Passover to the mix (boiled eggs play a part in the Passover Seder), and you’ve got a lot of eggs changing hands in spring.

Though Passover won’t be here until mid-April, Easter is this weekend, and I’ll bet some of you will be dying eggs. Afterwards, you’ll be left with egg cartons, which I hope you don’t just toss in the trash. The cardboard kind of egg carton is recyclable, but more importantly, it’s easily reusable, such as when you turn it into:

* An hors d’oeurves holder
Serving deviled eggs or another kind of finger food at your next party? An egg carton with its top removed can be reincarnated into a clever serving tool

* A jewelry holder
My daughter is forever leaving her earrings scattered around her room. A couple of egg cartons could easily get her earrings in order. Finish it off with a pretty ribbon tied around or a scrunchy slipped on to secure it, and, voila, insta-jewelry holder.

* A bead or button organizer
Imagine a free organizer with 12 or 16 ready-made sections for keeping your beads or buttons organized. Well, that’s what an egg carton can do for you. Like the jewelry holder, finding a way to secure the carton closed would be the key to its effectiveness.

* A desktop organizer
Similar to the idea above, you can use an egg carton to organize your desktop supplies, from paper clips to push pins to rubber bands.

* A paint palette
If you don’t want to waste paint when your child decides to create her next masterpiece, pour a small amount of her favorite paint colors into the various sections of an egg holder. (Note: a Styrofoam egg container, while not recycling friendly, would work better for this trick since it won’t absorb the paint’s liquid like a cardboard egg carton might.)

* A makeshift piggy bank
If you’re helping your child to learn the difference between pennies and dimes, or to count money, use an egg carton to hold his coins as he counts.

* A potting tool
One of the great things about cardboard-type egg cartons is that they are biodegradable. That means that if you need something to hold saplings or newly potted seedlings, you can place them (dirt and all) in a divided section from an egg carton, and then plant them in the ground. Or you can use an egg carton to plant a garden starter with your kids.

* A fire starter
If you’re running low on newspaper to use in your fireplace or a campfire, a cardboard egg carton is an excellent stand in for the traditional fire starter.

Do you have creative ways to recycle and reuse your egg cartons? I’d love to hear them.