Make Your Own Milestone Box; It Takes Less Than a Naptime!

Milestone boxes have grown in popularity over the last few years. Understandably so, I'll admit. What better way to keep and organize your child's lifetime of things. I'm all for keeping things in a tidy and easy-to-find manner and this fits the bill. No questions asked!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, a milestone box (or Milestone Tote, Memory Tote, Memory/Milestone Bin, School Box, etc.) is traditionally a hanging file box with hanging files in a beautiful colour of your choice labelled with titles to organize your child's memories, important documents, etc. from birth to post-secondary. The front of the box usually features some sort of name, monogram, etc. to identify the child the box is intended for.

I'm a total DIY mom. If I can do it or make it, you better bet I'm going to give it a go before I pay someone to do it instead. I love supporting local and small business, but sometimes it just is not feasible to do so - things are tight these days with a baby, inflation, a recession looming... I'm pinching my pennies where I can these days. When I found small shops offering Milestone Boxes starting at $75-95, I knew it wasn't something I couldn't do, and do for a fraction of that price, too.

Getting Started

I promise, once you have the items (hello Amazon prime!), you can whip this up in less time than your child naps! It's that easy!

I fortunately already had a plastic hanging file box, but this one I found with a quick Google search, and it's only $15.99. I had a ton of letter-size hanging files in various primary colours, but I wanted to be fancy, and I ordered a pack from Amazon that were all one nice grey colour (you can get literally any colour under the rainbow). This pack of 25 was $16. I then created my own labels to put on the tabs that came with the files, but you can absolutely hand-write them on the already included tags, which costs absolutely nothing. I have included a link at the bottom of this post to get the labels I made (they're formatted to Avery 5160 mailing labels) absolutely free!

The labelling system I went with follow school grades. You can choose to do your files by age, instead. Choose what is going to work best for you!

Now the label for the front is 100% optional. You could honestly put a piece of masking tape on that baby, Sharpie on your kiddo's name, and BAM, you're done. But if you're "extra-on-a-budget" like me, read on, haha.

I already own a vinyl cutting machine, so I was able to make a label for the front of the box. If you don't have a vinyl cutter of your own, I'm sure you know someone, or someone you know knows someone who has one. They have become so easily accessible for the everyday DIYer, and most people I know would be willing to cut a decal for someone for just a couple dollars, if anything. I recommend asking around, posting an ask on your personal Facebook/IG stories, or ask on your local buy nothing/buy and sell pages.

Putting it All Together

Hang your file folders, put on the labels, stick on the decal (if applicable), and voila! Literally couldn't be easier!

Additional Items

The Milestone Box market is popping, and upon some research, I found some really great ideas that I couldn't help but include in mine for Bubs too!

First & Last Day of School

First and last day of school pages ready to go in each grade folder means there's no scrambling on the first and last days of school to get your act together and do all the things you're supposed to do as a good mom (please tell me you sensed my sarcasm there!). Lucky for you, I made a first and last day sheet and included it in the freebies section of Life Design just for you! Find the link at the bottom of this post.

Pregnancy & Birth Journal

What's more fun than looking back after your little one is all grown up and having captured your journey into motherhood to bring all the memories rushing back. Nothing. Nothing is more fun, heart-wrenching, or will make you more proud. For this reason I am so passionate about keeping a pregnancy journal throughout your pregnancy as you prepare for the arrival of your new babe. I created a perfectly curated journal available here.

Let me know if you attempt your own Milestone Box!

Here are the links to the labels and the first & last day of school pages I made, available to you for free :)

xo.Meg