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Take-Out Menu Organizer

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August 13, 2010

If you like to kick back and order carry out from time to time, chances are you’ve accumulated a few menus around your home. Corral your take-out menus and help keep your kitchen clutter-free with this handy project for organizing your favorite restaurants’ menus.

Organize Menus in Eight Easy Steps
Creating a take-out menu organizer is a fun and crafty way to approach organizing your kitchen. Follow these eight simple steps to create your organizer:

Step 1: Start by taking menus off your fridge and out of drawers so you can compile them into one stack. You can even stop by your favorite restaurants to pick up menus.

Tip: Lots of menus are available online, so try building your collection—and saving some time—by visiting your favorite eateries’ websites and making a few printouts.

Step 2: Once you’ve collected all of your menus, determine the size of your take-out menu organizer. Measure the height and width of your largest menu and use these dimensions to pick an appropriately sized notebook. For menus that are odd sizes or oversized, you can always fold them to fit a more standard dimension.
Step 3: Once you’ve settled on a size, purchase a notebook with thick pages. You will later adhere pockets to the notebook pages for storing menus, so sturdy paper is best. Sketchbooks will work well for the job—especially spiral sketchbooks since the notebook will thicken from the addition of your menus and pockets.
Step 4: Pick out some pretty decorative paper for creating pockets in your organizer. Scrapbook paper comes in lots of unique designs and works great for personalizing your project.
Step 5: Use a modest amount of rubber cement on each notebook page to adhere your decorative paper as a background. The pocket will be attached on top of this, so make sure the paper is securely glued to the original page.
Step 6: Cut the scrapbook paper down to the width of the notebook, and about half the height of the notebook. Lightly line the edges of the cut paper with glue and paste your pocket onto the already-lined notebook page.

Tip: If the notebook begins to bulge from thickness, consider tearing out some of the pages to thin the notebook out. You can even repurpose these pages by using them as scrap paper.

Step 7: Using our decorative label template, print out the labels and glue them on the center of each pocket. For easy organization, you can label each pocket with the name of the restaurant and style of food.
Step 8: There are lots of ways to get creative with the exterior of your organizer. Try decoupaging scraps of duplicate menus, or pictures from magazines. You can also wrap these panels with fabric or paper, making sure to keep them in place with a thin coat of glue. You can also use one of these cute decorative labels to adorn the cover of your organizer.

Using Your Organizer
Once you’ve assembled your take-out menu organizer, you’ll be ready to store your menus in style. Try these uses:

Store: Stash your finished organizer near a phone or an easily accessible area of the kitchen. You can even place it in the glove compartment of your car for simple, on-the-go ordering!
Repurpose: You can also use your organizer to arrange mail, bills and paperwork, too! Keep this in mind as you choose a size for your organizer, and consider making more than one for different needs.
Give: Consider making extra take-out menu organizers as gifts for newcomers in your neighborhood. For more welcoming ideas, read Think Outside the Box Gifts: Hometown Welcome Kits.

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