I received the bottle boxes & tote shown below, to facilitate my review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Mbare.com is a site selling “contemporary art from Africa.”  They carry a wide variety of beautiful things: baskets, carvings, chairs, stone figurines, jewelry, and more.

In this post, I wanted to point out, in particular, some of the options they offer that make fantastic containers for gifts.

Bottle Boxes

I love these bottle boxes.  They’re made from upcycled soda bottles, so they’re very eco-friendly.  Of course, they’re lovely to look at.  And they’re quite versatile.

This would be a fun way to give chocolates (like Hershey Kisses), or jewelry.  You could stuff a lightweight scarf in here.  Or a pair of gloves.

Put a plastic baggie inside one, and you can fill it with soup mix, hot cocoa mix, bath salts, etc.

Unfortunately, my photo came out fuzzy, but these are great together as a set, too.  Fill each of the three bottle boxes with a different — but related — item, and line them up together in a narrow basket.

This is what they look like open:

Then when you fold down the “petals,” it seals the box.  (It isn’t air-tight or anything, though, which is why I’d use a sealed baggie inside if you want to put something powdered inside.)

Tote

Another upcycled plastic option is this tote.  (It comes in a few other colors, too.)  You’ll have to click through to read the story behind these — it’s a neat cultural tidbit!  This is a very sturdy, all-plastic tote.  It would be great for the pool or the beach, because it’s not going to be damaged by water.

It’s also a great option as a gift bag.

It is a tad stiff and a little hard to get to stay open right away when it’s new, as a result.  But it’s very sturdy!

 

What’s your favorite Mbare product?