Brighten Someone’s Day with a Sunshine Box! DIY

There are many occasions for which we should send Sunshine in a box. They’re little boxes of happiness.

Sometimes, we want to show our love and sympathy to someone who’s hurting but we just don’t have the words. Or maybe you just have a friend who lives in a part of the country where it rains a lot and you want to ship sunshine from your state. Or you want to give a box of sunshine as a get-well gift to someone who’s sick or you just miss them because of being in quarantine.

Even if you don’t know what to say, you can put together a cheer up care package that will bring someone out of a bad day and show you care.

Give them sunshine in a box to brighten their day! You’ll find lots of fun box of sunshine ideas and sunshine box printables to get you started.

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How to make a sunshine box

I made my first sunshine box when one of the ladies in my bible study group got the devastating news that she had breast cancer, we all banded together and set a meal schedule for her and her family. I didn’t know her well but as I thought about what I was going to cook, I figured it would be kind to bring some light into such a dark time in her life with a little box full of sunshine.

But a DIY sunshine box can also be used for happy occasions, such as a fun happy birthday box, or just a “thinking of you” care package.

Making a thoughtful and homemade box full of sunshine is easy. All you need are:

• A container (either yellow or wrapped in yellow)
• Yellow gift items (see below for ideas)
• Yellow gift packaging (wrapping paper, tissue paper, confetti, etc)
• A great printable sunshine card and smiley suns

Gifts Ideas to put in your sunshine box

I chose to use a regular shipping box and wrap it in yellow wrapping paper. But I’d encourage you to think outside the box. Any yellow container will do. You could choose a yellow gift bag, a pretty basket with yellow filler, or even a yellow sand pail. I even made a tag that says “A bag full of sunshine to brighten your day”, perfect for those little yellow favor bags.

To fill the box, I bought every yellow item I found. From a silly emoji toy, hand cream, Carmex and a plastic lei to delicious Toblerone chocolates, banana chips, lemonade, yellow m&ms, and even yellow nail polish.

Here’s a nice long list of gift ideas you can include in your homemade Sunshine Box.  Many are inexpensive. A box of sunshine gifts doesn’t have to cost much. Here it’s the thought that counts. A little sunshine box will cheer up your friends and family as much as a big one will.

It’s actually fun to walk along the aisles of a store and shop visually by color. You’ll feel like you’re playing a game of I Spy.

These items are all yellow or you can find them with yellow packaging:

When making my get-well box, I wrapped the lot in yellow tissue paper and placed it in my yellow wrapped sunshine box.

Sunshine box printable cards to DIY your box of cheer

Now that you’ve chosen your items and your container, your box of sunshine needs a little more. So when I made my box of sunshine I designed the cheeriest sun I could muster and used it to create sunshine printables to bring a smile to my friend’s face.

Now in remission, she has thanked me repetitively over several months. I had no idea the impact that simple gesture would have on her.

If you know someone who’s hurting, a sunshine box is a very easy, inexpensive, and thoughtful way to brighten their day!

It’s a great gift to convey sympathy for a friend who’s feeling blue, hurting, has cancer, or grieving a loss.

All the sunshine printables are available in my shop for the simple price of a card. The sunshine box printable package now contains an editable card, a “sunshine bag” card, and gift tags.

In the printable pack you’ll get:

► 7×7 card: “A box full of sunshine to brighten your day!”
► 7×7 card: “A bag full of sunshine to brighten your day!”
► 7×7 card: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine! You make me happy when skies are grey!”
► 5×7 editable card
► Gift bags handles (1 w. editable text)
► 4 Gift Tags designs – One editable to and from names
► Suns in 3 sizes