Old Man Winter has made his landing here in much of the United States. I’m coming off five glorious snow days! The world shuts down in Arkansas when we get a few inches of snow! Unfortunately, it’s usually mixed with dangerous ice here. But this time we got regular old snow! This week, it occurred to me how fun it would be to gift a snow day survival box gift for some of our neighbors – a brrr box, of sorts! And I wouldn’t even have to leave my house to find gifts to add to the snow box.
With an overloaded donations bag nearby that was ready to go to Goodwill, I knew that there were some gently used perfect gift-worthy things in there that my neighbors with cabin fever might enjoy.
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Not only is this snow box game a great way to spread neighborly love, but taking around some snow day survival gift boxes allows for an excellent opportunity to check in on neighbors that might live alone and let them know someone is thinking of them. And we’ve got free printables and a list of snow survival kit ideas for you to consider before your next big weather event.
In this post, we’ll cover our ideas and tips on how to make a snow day survival box gift for neighbors.
Have Fun Shopping Your Home for the Snow Day Survival Kits
What we love most about this snow day survival gift idea is that you don’t have to buy something new. Obviously, you will likely not be hitting the stores during this time! The fun of the whole idea is that you are passing on gently-loved items from your own home to share with someone new who can now enjoy them.
The exception is food. The food we gave in our snow day gift boxes were new food items the Hubs had just purchased at the store. We had plenty to share.
The Idea of a Snow Box Gift for Neighbors
I came up with the idea for a snow day survival gift as a spin off of the Halloween game “You’ve Been Boo’d.” That game involves leaving a surprise gift of random goodies on the door step of neighbors or in the offices or classrooms of coworkers. In fact, back in the fall, I came off with another spin off of the game – called “You’ve Been BOOKed – that uses books at the gift theme – perfect for book lovers! You can find it linked at the bottom of this post.
This snow day gift game is simple: you choose a recipient, put together a gift bag of books, snacks, games, and other goodies, and leave it on their doorstep anonymously. Along with with the books, you include a note explaining the game. (This is where our cute printable snow day gift box printables below come in handy!)
It is up to the recipient to decide if they want to pay it forward. And if so, they can reuse the printables – or you can print a second copy of printables for them to pass on to their recipient – to help the game continue on.
The goal is to spread the love of reading and promote literacy in a fun and creative way. The snow box game can continue throughout the whole winter, with each recipient passing on the gift to someone new whenever a new storm storm hits. Obviously, this means that the game can be played more often in some parts of the country than others.
What to Repurpose from Your Home for a Snow Box
Your snow day survival basket can include any type of snow day treats your heart desires! You can go with a cutesy snow-related theme or just go with a random theme. And, another great thing…this type of gift can be tailored to any age level or make up of the home. You can give a snow day gift to families with kids or you can gift a snow day survival kit to adults who live alone.
What to Put In a DIY Snow Day Kit for Families with Kids
Think about anything your family has outgrown. Maybe you have some puzzles that your kids have already put together three times and they are tired of it. Maybe they’ve outgrown some of the games in the game cabinet. Add those to a budget-friendly plastic bin or basket you have sitting around in a closet holding cutter. Add some kid-friendly snacks: individually packages brownies and chips, cocoa packets, popcorn and movie-style boxes of candy for snow day movies, etc. If you are in a baking mood, you can also add some homemade treats!
If you want to plan ahead for that next big weather event, you can easily pick up some things at the store in advance or order from Amazon. Again, you don’t have to buy anything new for this snow day box gift idea. But some of you may enjoy adding some of these fun snow-themed items to the snow box.
Amazon Snow Day Gifts for Kids
- Blizzard Book by John Rocco – This book, centered on a child’s amazement with a blizzard, has five stars on Amazon and is recommended for ages 3-5.
- The book, aptly titled Snow Day by Adam Gustavson, is geared for ages 4-8 and is a delight for kids. My girls used to have that book here at home.
- Any household of kids on your street would love some snowball making toys! This set of snow toys comes in two styles and has 5 stars on Amazon at this time. This huge set of 50 snow toys is cost efficient if you are wanting to make multiple snowstorm survival gifts for families in your neighborhood. You could easily split up the toys for five or more gifts. If you only new a few pieces, you can’t go wrong with this set of four snowball maker toys.
- What family wouldn’t love this cute snowman kit?
In our case, I had already started a big donation bag that was just sitting in our laundry room. This was all part of my January daily organization challenge that I started at the beginning of January. Perfectly good games were stacked in this bag, just waiting for a new family. Bingo! (Literally…or shall I say, Zingo!) I also like to add a few things for parents – chili seasoning packets, etc.
What to Put in a DIY Snow Box Gift for Single Adults
You can make DIY snow day survival kit for neighbors who live alone by focusing on simple items that would be used for entertainment and snacking.
I like to add things like brand new Chapsticks and gloves, if I have those available. Since we are just winding off of Christmas, I actually do have extra sets of gloves and Chapsticks because I over-bought items to add to stockings. Perfect snow day box gift ideas!
You can also add bottles of wine, packets of cocoa, your favorite novels that you are ready to pass on, 500 – 1,000 piece puzzles, etc.
If you have packages with individual cocoa packets or popcorn packets, you can divide those up to make multiple snow box gifts.
Presentation of a Snow Day Survival Gift Box
Another glorious thing about this type of casual surprise gift for snow days is that no special packaging is necessary. After all, most of the time, we will be grabbing an unused plastic bin from a closet or the garage (probably originally from The Dollar Tree or the Target dollar spot) and filling it up!
And the gifts do not need to be large. Depending on the size of your bins or baskets, you can judge how many things look best. Also, you can simply bundle some things together and tie them together. No bin necessary. I found a basket I had kept in the upstairs linen closet for ages.
You can even use some of those reusable shopping bags. I know at my house, we have a ton of those that have been collected over time from work conferences, community events, etc.
Print Our Free Printables for Your Snow Box Gifts
Don’t forget to print your free snow day survival kit printables below. I’m attaching them in color or in a low-scale gray and white which can be printed in grayscale or in black-and-white (for those without the option to print in color). Our color printer is ALWAYS running out of color ink – despite us refilling the cartridges. Therefore, I just printed my PDFs in grayscale.
Snow Day Survival Kit Blue Printable
Snow Day Survival Kit Gray Printable
Give the Gift of Regifting
For this winter gift game, I am publicly supporting the idea of the controversial regift! But here’s the thing. Someone on your street might have no new books to read in their house. Many people are still physical book people (me…I’m one of those people!) and don’t use audio books/Kindle, etc. Why let a good book go to waste when you can pass it along to someone who can enjoy it (and, hopefully, hasn’t read it yet)?
Also, you may have a huge stack of binge-worthy books at home that you have been trying to figure out what to do with. The same for games that your kids have outgrown. That slightly younger sibling set down the street might be just the right ages to enjoy such a game! The time is now! You might even write a clever little note on the PDF mentioning that you loved the book or game so much, you are sharing it.
Best Snow Day Novels to Gift Grown Ups for a Snow Storm
Here is a list of some novels set in a snow storm that will work perfectly for your snow storm survival gift box. Of course, you should definitely give the books a read yourself and then pass them on into the snow box gift! Granted, you can pass on any good novel – it doesn’t have to be set in a snow storm. But the snow storm tie-in does add a dose of fun!
Exciting Winter Thrillers
- An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena – This is the only snow themed novel I had on hand at the time of our snow storm. It’s a great one to pass along during this time of year! Shari Lapena is one of my favorite authors.
- The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf – A woman staying alone in an isolated farmhouse in a heavy blizzard…nothing will go off course, right?
Check out my other post for more ideas on winter thrillers, linked below!
Fun Romance Reads for a Snow Storm
If romance is more your jam, check out some of the highly-recommended romance novels for a snow storm! To be transparent, romance novels aren’t my favorite. But for snow storm and winter romance books, I did consult a few romance-book loving friends of mine!
- Rewriting the Stars: A Small Town Romance by Claire Kingsley – This romance unfolds in a sleepy little town, bringing the heat in a snow storm.
- First Flurries by Joanne Demaio – New York Times best selling author brings to life a snow-themed romance where the snow flurries foreshadow the flurries of butterflies.
For more snow storm book recommendations, check out Good Reads recommendations for books about blizzards.
The number of people you choose to gift with a snow box gift is up to you! But let’s face it. You may only have so many things in your house you are willing to part with! Have fun!
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