Think outside the Chinese takeout box

If there's one thing I learned (actually there are many) from planning my wedding last year it was to shop for things in places with no connection to wedding or special events. When retailers tack wedding, holiday, party or special event onto things, or heck, when they aim them directly at female buyers, they have a tendency hike the prices way up. The key to getting things at the best price is really all about patience and using a little savvy when it comes to searching online. A great example of this is Chinese takeout boxes. In lieu of wedding favors I had a candy buffet at my wedding and wanted to use Chinese takeout containers as the vessel into which guests would place their candy. What I didn't want was to spend $1.00 or more per box.



So I set out in search of cheap Chinese takeout boxes in Toronto, firstly the old fashioned way –by visiting stores. This search took me to Michael's, Wal-Mart, Party Packagers, a craft shop in the Vaughn Mills mall and a bunch of other places I can't recall. However, ever one of those places wasn't giving me a good enough price. That's when I let my fingers do the footwork…across my keyboard of course, and set out searching for wholesale Chinese takeout boxes.


 
What I discovered was an awesome place called Uline. Uline isn't a party goods store; they're shipping supply specialists, and fantastic! There, I managed to get 100 pint (16 oz) black Chinese takeout boxes for, wait for it … $18!!! Seriously! That's a teeny tiny $.18 per box, for the same boxes all of those other stores were charging upwards of $.99 each. On top of that, I had my boxes within a day or two of ordering, with no crazy over the border taxes or charges tacked on.



When you're searching online, what you want to do is avoid all of the specialty wedding/party sites. Go directly to the source instead. Chances are this is where the specialty wedding/party shops are getting their good anyway. If you need wedding favor bags or gift boxes, there is virtually no limited to what you can find at a place like Uline. Here's what you'll find:

Frosted Chinese takeout boxes

Chinese takeout boxes

 

Frosted bags

 

…even those really cute drawstring Organza favor bags…

 

..and Velvet gift bags

  And a lot of other things. The boxes and poly-bags are FDA approved, so you don't have to worry about them being safe for food. So next time you're having a party, getting ready for a holiday or have a wedding that needs some interesting favor packaging, don't buy your Chinese takeout boxes or other packaging from a specialty store; go right to the source and save $$!