How To Make A Beauty Box For Family and Friends

Hey guys,

So, it's my (not-so) little sister's twenty-fifth birthday at the end of the month, and yesterday I was putting her birthday presents together. Before I continue... Sarah, if you're secretly reading my blog, stop reading now unless you want to spoil the surprise... If you're not my little sister, please continue!

So, this year, I've put a little box of goodies together for her. Now I'm a girl on a tight budget, but I also like to give as much as I can with what I have to spend without compromising on quality. I don't often buy from budget brands; but I've learnt how to find great products at budget prices! I want to show you how you can fill up a beauty box with quality beauty products without spending a fortune. The gift will look more substantial than if you picked up beauty products on the high street or bought a prepackaged beauty set, and is sure to be an instant hit with the ladies in your life!

So let's get started!

Materials Used To Create The Beauty Box

So, let's start with the materials I used to gift wrap everything, put it altogether, and make it look pretty.

Materials You May Wish To Use

♥ A gift box, or gift bag. (You could use a small sturdy cardboard box, and cover it with wrapping paper.)

♥ Wrapping paper to cover the box.

♥ Pretty tissue paper to line the box, encase the presents, and to wrap everything in. 

♥ Scissors, selotape, pens, and glue.

♥ Sticky labels and stickers to decorate and seal gifts

♥ Ribbon to decorate the box.

♥ A button corsage for a finishing touch (optional).

Gifts I Filled The Box With

The most important part of the beauty box is, of course, what you put in it. There are endless options, so let's start with what I put in this one to give you a few ideas.

Dainty Doll colourful powder eyeshadows (and here) x 5, Jemma Kidd liquid eyeliners x 3, Body Shop fruity soaps, Body Shop bath lily, Body Shop shower gel, L'Occitane mini shower gel, Anatomicals set of 3 facemasks, Moomin bath confetti, and novelty moustache erasers x 4. 

I bought the Dainty Doll and Jemma Kidd eyeliners from £1.99 on Fragrance Direct and Amazon (usually £10.50-£11.50), and used outlet stores for most of the rest. The remaining products were inexpensive and bought online.

How To Put It All Together

First, let's start with a gift bag, or box.

If you're using an old, used box like I am, you could cover it with wrapping paper, wall paper, or fabric. I used a sheet of bright and cheerful polka dot cupcake wrapping paper from Sainsburys.

Wrap the lid and the base of the box separately, fixing the paper in place with glue.

Now, you could just add everything to the box unwrapped, if you wanted to; it's really up to you.

Or, you could make everything prettier with coloured tissue paper. I recently discovered the prettiest packs of tissue paper from Hobbycraft, which cost about £1.79 for 10 huge sheets. This is a bargain compared to most you will find. I adore the colours in the green and blue pack above.

I used the five different colours in the photo above to make the beauty box bright, and colourful. The teal is particularly beautiful.

Add a sheet of tissue to the box, leaving enough to cover the contents when you've finished filling the box. Half a sheet of the Hobbycraft tissue paper was plenty for this one.

Wrap each gift up separately in the colourful tissue paper. I used cute stickers instead of selotape for sealing most of the presents.

I then arranged everything in the box, with an assortment of colours on show at the top. I also decorated a few of the items with Cath Kidston stickers to make them even prettier.

Cover everything with the remaining lengths of tissue.

Then fit the lid back on the box, and tie it with some ribbon.

For a final touch, I embellished the bow with a little rosette, which was from a pack of six from Hobbycraft.

And, voila! That is how to put a good quality beauty box together!

I spent just over £30 in total, although I only spent about £19.00 on the make up, and had many of the other items squirrelled away from earlier in the year, which I added to bulk it up. (I was originally intending to just give her the make up). I'm sure she's going to love her beauty box, and I can't wait to give it to her.

A few ideas about what else you could fill a gift box with.

You could also add nail polishes, chocolates / sweets, body lotions, hair accessories, inexpensive costume jewellery, mix CDs, lipsticks, stationery, mini toiletries, lip glosses, lip balms, blushers... the possibilities are endless! You're only restricted by your imagination! Try to personalise each parcel for each person's individual tastes- it's a great way to show you care (and pay attention!), and will earn you major brownie points. Also, don't forget to add a hand written card or letter to the top before you seal the box!

If you're thinking about doing something similar for your loved ones, I've also got a few shopping tips that you might find useful for creating it on a budget.

And finally, a few tips for creating a box of goodies on a budget.

Shop with Fragrance Direct
They sell cut price make up, nail polish, and beauty products from a huge selection of brands. I've personally bought Dainty Doll and Jemma Kidd make up from as little as 99p- products which normally retail for over £10! It's also a great place to pick up Sally Hansen, Essie, and Opi nail polishes from just 99p too.

Shop on Amazon
Whatever it is you're looking to purchase, always do a little search on Amazon for it. They often sell cosmetics for less than the retail price. There are a lot of Dainty Doll products on there at the moment, which are fantastic.

Shop with ASOS
Check out their clearances and promotions, as they often have a sale of some description running. Bargain beauty products + free delivery = success!

Look out for 3 for 2 and buy one get one free offers
on make up and beauty products in pharmacies and supermarkets.

Pick up products in outlet shops and during sale time.

Use your Nectar points and Boots advantage point and the like to buy items for free!

Buy multi packs
of the same or similar items. They can be used for several beauty boxes if you have more than one person you'd like to create a box for.

I hope you've enjoyed this post. If you made it through the whole thing, thanks for reading- I know it's rather long-winded! Let me know if you decide to put something similar together for your loved ones!

Have you ever put together a beauty box for someone in your life? What did you put in it?

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