DIY Upcycled Pedestal Organizer

This is my second year as a Mom’s Survey Panel member for Chick-Fil-A. Every year, they take applications from moms around the United States to participate. If you are picked, you become part of a private Facebook group that answers questions, shares promotions and gives feedback about Chick-Fil-A, particularly in the Kid’s department.

For Valentines Day, they gifted us with a couple free coupons to try their comforting Chicken Tortilla Soup. With these free gifts came the challenge to think of a way to upcycle or reuse the plastic soup containers.

I always reuse them anyway, for leftovers or snacks, but I wanted to think of something a little more creative. Last years upcycling challenge was to reuse the salad containers. I recruited the kids help with that one and we made rubber band guitars. This time I wanted to do something a little more grown up.

My first idea didn’t turn out how I envisioned so I went on to idea #2, a pedestal organizer. I wanted to transform the containers a little bit so that it wasn’t super obvious that they were plastic so I cut the tabs off of the corners (rounding them out) and spray painted them. I picked gray because it matches most of our house and that was the only color I had without having to go buy something. I had to brainstorm about what to hold the containers up with and then I remembered that when we moved, I’d unpacked a couple of glass candle holders (that you can also buy from Dollar Tree or local thrift store) that I never used. So I dug them out and figured how I wanted to attach all the pieces and then glued them together (with my favorite sturdy craft glue). Ta da!

Now I have pedestal organizer that can be used for a ton of different things. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Q tips & cotton balls, jewelry, hair ties or bobby pins, tea bags or instant coffee and sugar packets, guest bathroom travel size goodies, candy dish (I only recommend this for wrapped candy), rubber bands, paper clips and post it notes…hmmmmm…..what else? Maybe essential oils or nail polish and manicure tools? Or a cell phone coop for dinner time that also holds Table Topic cards (provided by Chick-fil-A’s Kid’s Meal) to promote healthy conversation! The options are endless!

Thanks for the challenge Chick-fil-A! I had fun getting creative. For more great ideas on how to reuse your CFA soup containers, search #chickfilamomsDIY on your favorite social media channels. How would you reuse the containers?