I may be known as a Rae of Sparkles now, but I used to be a Rae of Sunshine. According to my parents anyway. Which is great, because it fits in perfectly with my blog post. How coincidental is that? I also love that my middle name inspires me to be creative. Who else can say that? Thank you parents for not naming me after my great grandma Gertrude. Or handing down my mother’s real name. Just saying (I love you mom). She’s much more fun than a Roberta could ever be anyway. That’s why we call her Bobbie. Thankfully, my mom wasn’t out for revenge when she named me. I got lucky.

It may come as a surprise to some, but I really like to send things in the mail. I know, shocker right? When I first started on Pinterest years ago, I saw an idea for a Box of Sunshine (now they’re everywhere!). Originally I just sent this to my sister who loves the color yellow, but then it escalated to sending to anyone going through a tough time. They are super easy to make, and you can really decide how much you want to spend on each (mine range from $10 – $20 plus shipping). I used my handy dandy $6 USPS Flat Rate box and went to work.

First, you’ll have to line the box with something yellow. I used decorative scrapbook paper, and use a different kind every time. You could also use construction paper or even wrapping paper. Whatever floats your boat. A good Modge Podge or glue can secure it down for you. Then fill the box with a filling, I got mine at the Dollar Tree in the gift wrap section (You could also use Easter grass for this as well). Then print these free printables I created, and glue them wherever you’d like: Box of Sunshine Printables. You could also use one of these as the front of a note card for the box!

Onto the fun part: finding fillers! The Dollar Tree is always my favorite place for this, but Michael’s dollar bins or Target’s Dollar Spot are two good locations to find goodies as well. I recently found an inflatable sun at the Dollar Tree (see below) that made the PERFECT addition to my boxes! I bought a ton obviously.  Another good spot, if you’d like some random candies, is the candy stores that sell candy by the pound. You can pick out the yellowcandy from any bin you’d like!

Some ideas:

Lemonheads

Peanut M&Ms

Juicy Fruit

Laffy Taffy

Mr. Goodbar

Butterfingers

Lemons/Lemonade Mix

Yellow nail polish

Decorative Pens

Decorative Note Pads/Cards

Carmex

Stickers

To add a little extra flair, I take the candy out of the bags, and put them in little clear plastic bags. You can find these at Michael’s in all different sizes, I typically use the 3×4″ bags. Then use the free printable above to print off the “tags” for each bag. Simply cut out the word “Sunshine” or the single sun, fold half over each side of the baggie, and staple (see photos)!

I also add a card to my boxes, and I’ve added the photo below. It’s not hard to make, but I didn’t take pictures of steps so the photo is just for reference. I used a scalloped scissor to create the sun shape, and just used different textured paper for the back and middle.

I’ve created so many different versions of this box (and even in a basket form), and they all turn out differently. Just to give you a few extra ideas, here are a couple other’s I’ve made: