DIY tin drum

I really dislike throwing things away.  The inner eco-nut in me comes out on trash day, and I am always trying to keep things from ending up in the garbage bin.  After the holidays, I try to recycle the boxes and wrapping paper and donate all the decorations I'm not going to use again.  But I was somewhat stumped with what to do with all the tins in which we received Christmas goodies this year.

Then I remembered that my son--who loves to play "drums" on anything--really wanted a drum that he could hang around his neck so he could march with it.  Remember the post on these Swedish gingersnaps?  Well, we went through two tins over the holidays, so I decided to convert one of them into a kid's drum.  Here's how we did it:

First, I washed out an empty tin and found some leftover grosgrain ribbon.

Next, my husband drilled two holes in the sides of the tin.  If your drill leaves sharp edges, be sure to crimp them down with some pliers.

I threaded the ribbon through the hole and double knotted it.  If you have a hard time getting the ribbon through, you can use an upholstery needle to get it started.  After that, just put the lid back and you're finished!

{The final product!}

The drum in action!  Josh had to show how it's used because our son was too busy crying, "You took my Christmas decorations and made them into a drum!!"  We ended up removing the green ribbon since apparently he had plans to use it to "decorate" his room (his words, not mine).  I also had some leftover red ribbon, so we used that instead, and all is well.