Matchbox Project

December 2, 2008 4:50 PM

Each week, a decorated matchbox with a tiny present hidden inside is left by a girl (and sometimes willing friends) somewhere in her travels.
posted by Fiasco da Gama (16 comments total)

Some of those are really great. I like the box of stars. And the slingshot.

Years ago when I was bartending, someone left in my tip jar a tiny wooden box with an inlaid
heart on the top. When I slid the lid open, there was a single little purple flower (real) inside. I never found out who put the box in there, but it was one of the best tips I ever pulled out of that jar. These little boxes remind me of that. Good things, small packages, etc.
posted by Heretic at 6:32 PM on December 2, 2008 [2 favorites]

You know what else leaves surprising little "packages" all over the place? Dogs.
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:29 PM on December 2, 2008

I'm being a prick of course. This is a lovely project.
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:34 PM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think I might like it more if the matchboxes were unadorned, true little surprises packed away in an inconspicuous package. One that could potentially hold terrifying surprises, I suppose, for a lot of the population: anthrax, needles with AIDS on them, rabid bats, I don't know. So I suppose this is more practical. But I prefer the alternative.

Lovely project all the same! I wonder if those cookies got eaten. I totally would've.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 8:45 PM on December 2, 2008

Here is the first post of the project.

More pressing is what to do with a thousand matchsticks??

Man. What couldn't you do with a thousand matchsticks?
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:51 PM on December 2, 2008

I once hid easter eggs with Oblique Strategies quotes and/or origami inside. I think there were some very disappointed kids because family housing did their easter egg hunt in our dorm's nicer court yard.
posted by jeffburdges at 9:05 PM on December 2, 2008

this is how one gets AIDS.
posted by camdan at 9:56 PM on December 2, 2008

camdan, not if you wear a condom or use a dental dam while you pick up the matchbox.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 10:47 PM on December 2, 2008

She should geocache.
posted by twoleftfeet at 11:09 PM on December 2, 2008

Man. What couldn't you do with a thousand matchsticks?

1000 matchsticks = 1 giant match
posted by twoleftfeet at 11:12 PM on December 2, 2008 [2 favorites]

Internet's raison d'etre is to make the private steps people take to avoid becoming totally shut-off and inactive accessible to everyone, not for garnishing praise, but for inspiring distant strangers' own ass-moving. Fantastic.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:47 AM on December 3, 2008

Man. What couldn't you do with a thousand matchsticks?

Burn a million trees.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:14 AM on December 3, 2008

camdan, not if you wear a condom or use a dental dam while you pick up the matchbox.

I don't know what you guys are using to pick up the boxes. I generally just use my hand.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:16 AM on December 3, 2008

I have two of these matchboxes I bought years ago in an art auction (for very little)!

I'm not completely sure but it looks like even the same typeface used to label them.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 7:20 AM on December 3, 2008

these are lovely. I wish I could come across one, but I'm not in Australia. The boxes alone are pretty nice - tempted to start my own :)
posted by mippy at 7:44 AM on December 3, 2008

A Girl (and Sometimes Willing Friends) sounds like a great title for a musical collaboration project.
posted by Eideteker at 8:43 AM on December 3, 2008