Best of BrickNerd — Article originally published January 3, 2022.

As we wrap up the holiday season, hopefully you’ve all received some great gifts - especially those containing our favorite interlocking brick system! However, gifts aren’t always received like we expect. For example, do you remember being confounded when you gave your kids a giant, expensive present only for them to discard the gift itself and start playing with the box it came in? While it may not seem very fun on the surface, your kids managed to find some value in it.

Likewise, the packaging may not seem like the most appealing aspect of a new LEGO set at first glance, but today we’re going to demonstrate that, with a little creativity and ingenuity, it can have its uses.

First up is this scene from Harry Potter, built by WookieWarrior, depicting the climactic end scene from Order of the Phoenix. WookieWarrior made brilliant use of a plastic parts bag from a LEGO set to depict the fog in the gateway!

Fellow BrickNerd Andreas Lenander also used a plastic LEGO parts bag for an otherworldly gateway, albeit in a completely different setting this time. The shimmering effect captures the feel of a portal perfectly, hinting at the presence of something there while still feeling intangible and mysterious.

Kingdomviewbricks also used the bag’s natural transparency and texture but took it in a different direction by using it to depict water. The bag helps blur the bricks underneath it, giving the effect of reflections.

This small wintery scene by Balbo (who we’ve featured before) also uses a parts bag as water, but by placing a white sheet of paper underneath he gives it an icy, frozen look. All that’s missing are some ice-skating minifigures!

While most pieces come in parts bags, some more fragile pieces such as minifigure capes, rubber bands, and string come in small cardboard boxes. Inthert put these boxes to good use in this series of builds he made for an article over on New Elementary, using them as storage boxes, ice fishing holes, and even an alien arcade game! You can get a more in-depth look at his findings here.

Brickthing built this extraordinary alien swamp, and creatively used the background cards from 850487 Halloween Accessory Set for the murky swamp water (or maybe that’s swamp ooze). One wouldn’t be able to tell that it was an official LEGO product if not told!

And, finally, we have this build by LittleJohn depicting Oscar the grouch from the show Sesame Street. John incorporated LEGO instructions, parts bags, set boxes, stickers, and more to depict the garbage strewn throughout the scene, proving that LEGO packaging has its uses and deserves better than the trash (despite the fact that it was actually used as trash here)!

I hope you have a little more appreciation for the various forms of LEGO’s packages and some of their surprising uses! And, if you still don’t feel like you’ve had your fill, don’t worry, we’ll be back soon with another article exploring even more uses for LEGO packaging!

And make sure to check out the previous installment in this series, “The LEGO Dark Arts: Incorporating LEGO Gear Into Your MOCs”.

Does using LEGO packaging satisfy LEGO purism? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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