Put all those Pringles cans you’ve emptied into good use and burn some fat and cholesterol along the way. Below are some things you can do with the long cylindrical shape of a Pringles container. These ideas range from obvious to awesome, with a little weirdness to pique your interest even further.
1. Storage Bin
The simplest way to reuse a Pringles can is to store it with all kinds of items, including pens, paint brushes, hairclips, plastic utensils, cleaning equipment, seeds, small trash, candies and children’s toys. Thanks to a few Pringles can, you can easily tidy up your home and make it more spacious.
Transform your Pringles into a first-aid kit by filling it up with medical supplies, such as bandages, ointments, alcohol, antiseptics and painkillers. Spin a little creativity to it by covering the can in white felt paper and topping it off with a red cross.
2. Percussion Instrument
Instead of household items, fill a quarter of the Pringles can with some dried macaroni, beads, beans and rice grains. Seal the can tightly and decorate the exterior with a nice Puerto Rican flavor. Shake the can and dance to the groove of your new maracas. If you slowly shift the can upside down, you get an instant rainstick. Enjoy two percussion instruments from just one can!
3. Molding Device
Erect a candle inside the Pringles can but make sure it doesn’t exceed the length of the container. While waiting for another set of candle wax to melt, fill the can with ice chips. Once the melted wax is ready, pour it all over the can until it completely submerges the ice chips.
After your creation cools down and hardens, drain the water and peel off the can and marvel at your latest masterpiece — a creative artificial source of light.
Coins
You can also create soap by simply substituting candle wax with melted glycerin. Once it solidifies, extricate the soap from the can and slice it into smaller pieces.
4. Coin Box
Cut a small opening on the plastic top of the Pringles can. Shut it tight and make sure it doesn’t open easily. If you are in a charitable mood, wrap the can with red, blue and white to make it appear like a Red Cross donation box. Make sure to give the collection to the Red Cross though, and not keep it to yourself.
5. Urn
In an incident somewhere between the bizarre and creepy spectrum, a couple of Pringles cans were recently converted into an urn. The ashes belonged to Fredric Baur, an American chemist who designed the cylindrical packaging of Pringles. Baur requested that his remains be buried in one of the iconic cans. Another can with some of his ashes was given to one of his grandchildren, while the rest of his remains were placed in a more conventional urn.
If you want to create headlines like Baur, simply store the ashes inside the container and decorate your new urn. You can also leave the cylinder as it is and preserve the face of Mr. Pringles instead.
6. Birdhouse
The most important items you need in building an improvised birdhouse are a small Pringles can, contact paper, a glue gun, glue sticks, toothpicks and a cutter.
Making a Bird House
Before punching a hole into the can, cover it with contact paper to make it waterproof.
A small Pringles can is only good enough for one hole. Make sure you carve it large enough for a bird to enter.
Make another hole right below the big one. This time, it should be small enough to hold a couple of toothpicks tightly.
Glue the toothpicks onto the small hole. This will serve as a perch for your birdhouse.
Put some moss or dried leaves inside to make it more attractive for the birds.
7. Cannon
This homemade bazooka is probably the coolest thing you can create from a Pringles can. It is great for celebrating the New Year or any other special occasion. Just make sure you don’t point it to someone or something important.
Cannon
For this project, you need two lidless Pringles can, a gas lighter, lots of masking tape, knife, foil, glue gun and glue sticks.
Cut a small hole at the end of one can. It should be big enough to insert a gas lighter through it.
Take another Pringles can and make a hole roughly the size of a tennis ball.
Hot glue the tip of the gas lighter through the first can. Leave the trigger exposed and wrap it heavily with tape.
Combine the two cans together. Stack the side with the bigger hole on top of the other can and secure it with tape.
Wrap the entire canon with foil to protect yourself against heat. Then, bundle the whole thing again with tape.
Roll more tape at the end of the barrel so it won’t crack each time you fire the cannon.
Before using your new gadget, complete these very important safety precautions first.
Make sure there aren’t any crevices in the areas where you made a hole.
Blow the barrel to get rid of gas residue from previous use.
Don’t fire the cannon consecutively because the barrel gets hot quickly.
Finally, here is how to use your new toy. Enjoy!
Use an aerosol can as fuel and spray it directly into the barrel.
Get any rubber ball and drop it inside the barrel.
Cover the end of the barrel with your hand and shake it a bit.
Aim your gun to an open field and pull the trigger.
With these recreational materials, you now have more reasons to enjoy a can of Pringles tasty chips. It may be an unhealthy habit, but at least you’re doing the environment some good by reusing aluminum containers. For some people, that’s called sacrifice.