Creative Uses of Common Office Supplies for the Bored Employee

Life in a cubicle can be boring at times. To liven the day up a little, here are a few ways to unwind and have a little fun with those everyday office supplies in your desk drawer. Yes, it’s a little insane, but a little creativity never hurt anyone, and it’s fun to boot.

Wrapping Paper

Is there a spur-of-the-moment party and you need to wrap a gift? Then, those big presentation paper pads in the conference room, a pack of colorful highlighter markers and a Sharpie marker are the perfect combination of supplies for making wrapping paper. A good, easy design is flower vines. Just draw one long line all over the page, put a few leaves here and there along it, and add a bunch of simple flowers. Go find some tape, and wrap your gift. Simple and easy.

Homemade Greeting Cards

First, get some paper out of the copy machine, letter size. Then, fold it in half, and decorate with a simple design, using highlighters and Sharpie markers. Use the Sharpies for block lettering near the top, then color them in with the highlighters. Pass the card around to your co-workers, and give it to the person that you made it for. It may not be high art, but who cares, it came from the heart. They’ll be happy that you cared enough to do it.

Make Ink Stamps

Take an eraser and carve whatever design you want to print into it with an Exacto knife, being careful not to cut yourself. A box knife can do the same thing. Make a simple design for best results. Clean off any stray eraser crumbs. Then, use a stamp pad and put the eraser, design side down, onto it. Test out your stamp on a piece of scrap paper and see how it looks. If it still needs work, go wash it off and keep carving. When you get it the way you want it, you can stamp your design on whatever you like, such as notes to friends or co-workers. If you have multiple colored inks to stamp with, all the better.

Fun with Staplers and Sticky Notes

For a nice party garland during the holidays, staple a bunch of colored Sticky notes, corner to corner, until you have a long line. Then, make another. You will have multiple strands of colorful garlands for draping in a pinch. If you really want to get fancy, take a Sharpie marker and draw something on each Sticky note before assembling. Or, use it to make a message, such as “Happy Birthday,” using one Sticky per letter.

These are just a few thoughts to get you started. Surely, you can think of some better ideas than these. Having a little fun at work makes the day go by faster. If you use a lot of supplies, do your boss a favor and go buy some more to replace them later. A little creativity at work never hurt anyone, if anything, it’s momentarily entertaining and fun. So, break out of that 9 to 5 slump and live a little.