What Ironraven said. Lots of gift tins around, especially this time of year. Also a lot a things to use as containers. The advantage of a tin is that it's relatively crushproof, or at least crush resistant, and has a very high percentage of useable space. A Ziploc freezer bag also has a very high percentage of useable space, and is waterproof to boot, but rates zero in crush resistance. So the question is, how large a container do you want, and how are you going to carry it? Jeans pocket, cargo pocket, backpack, car trunk, etc.

But first, try free. Ask your family and friends if they have any tins they don't want. Look for people that are eating Altoids mints and ask them what they do with the empty tins. Most probably recycle them or throw them away, but some have dozens of them laying around. Search ebay for "altoid tin" and you'll see lots of 20-30 empty tins for ~$5.00. Of course, then there's at least $5.00 shipping.

If you just have to have a brand new tin, try specialtybottle.com. They have no minimum order quantity, but again, there's going to be at least $5-10 shipping, depending on mode. Here's a link for a tin slightly larger, and shallower, than an Altoids tin: http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=63

There's always the trusty BCB International tin, that is used for a lot of survival kits: http://www.bestglide.com/tin_info.html Kind of expensive, though.

You could always buy some Altoid mints, dump the mints into a Ziploc bag, and wash and reuse the tin right away. I think the cheapest tin I've seen was from Sweetarts. It was also the ugliest, but after you fill it and wrap it with paracord, who cares.

Finally, troll through your local dollar stores and thrift stores. You might decide the best "tin" is the tiny imitation Rubbermaid plastic container and lid.