UTILITARIAN WHITE boxes are hardly glamorous wrapping materials, but try thinking of them as blank canvases for artful holiday collages. With color, glued-on material, handwritten messages--and imagination--you can transform them into personalized packages for gifts. It's also a way to involve junior members of your family in the holiday preparations.

You can find unadorned boxes and containers of all sizes and shapes: take-out boxes (from delicatessens and restaurant supply stores), candy and cake boxes (from pastry supply stores), paper paint buckets (from paint or hardware stores), and odd-size boxes (from gift, paper supply, and party stores).

Use a wide-ranging palette of decorative materials. Felt markers, paint, construction paper, stencils, fabric scraps, stamps, ribbons, wire, buttons, beads, leaves, children's drawings, and cut-up snapshots decorate the packages in our photograph. You'll also need craft glue, tape, scissors, a craft knife, pinking shears, a punch, and a stapler. Use an inner lining of colored tissue paper to nestle the gift.

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