Saturday, April 2, 2011

Eco-Friendly Party Favor Bag Idea - Capri Sun Wallet Tutorial

Capri Suns are a great thing to upcycle. I have been making tote bags, lunch bags, purses, aprons, wallets, belts, etc. My MOMS Club is going to be hosting a playdate at an indoor playground for a group of moms and kids from SafeHouse. SafeHouse is a safe place for women and children to stay when they break away from abusive situations.

We want to give both the moms and kids a "goody bag" when they leave. I thought that a great idea would be to use Capri Sun Wallets as the bags. It's something kids love and a great way to upcycle and not create more trash for the landfill.



I go to my sons school and collect Capri Sun pouches at lunch. The lunch room is really loud, but it's actually a lot of fun to hang out with the kids.I bring my Capri Sun tote bag and walk around to the lunch tables and collect the empties. It's really funny to watch the kids try to suck them down when they see me coming. I have been able to collect as many as 100 pouches is one day!

Once you get enough pouches, throw away the straws and peel any remaining straw wrappers off of the front. Next, put them in your sink and slit the bottom open. Then rinse them clean.



You will need 4 cleaned pouches to make a large wallet/goody bag.

Using a wide zig zag stitch, sew 2 pouches right next to each other. Make sure to overlap the pouches enough to make sure that they are sturdy. Sew 2 more together.




Then overlap the one row on top of the other and zig zag them together. Now you will have a rectangle made of 4 pouches.



Turn the rectangle so that the labels are upside down, but the silver side is showing. Fold the bottom side up. This will be the actual pouch.

Now zig zag stitch through both layers, starting on one end, making your way across the top and back down the other side.



This stitched side will be the flap. Fold it down and secure with some sticky velcro.



You're done!




If you don't want to make one yourself, you can check out my Etsy Store for my Capri Sun creations or my Facebook page, Made by Mel-Upcycle the Sun. A percentage of my Capri Sun sales will be donated to my son's school, David M. Cox Elementary!

Don't forget to "like" my You Made That? facebook page as well!

7 comments:

heatherowe said...

So easy and a great way to recycle! Thanks for sharing.

MamaMonki said...

I'm going to have to give this a try! Thanks for the how to.

Ricki Treleaven said...

This is so cute. I wish I could sew!

Anonymous said...

That is truly awesome, and so clever and original! :)

SJ @ Homemaker On A Dime said...

This is such a neat idea! Thank you for sharing. Btw, I'm your newest follower, thanks to the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop. Really appreciate you participating with us.

Cheryl said...

Oh, how fun!! I do lunch duty at my kids' school all the time . . . I will start collecting!!! I am totally going to make these! Thanks!
~cheryl

Debbiedoos said...

That is really cute. I actually have a capri sun purse, that I love using for the beach.
Thanks for sharing in my newbie party.
http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/