I can certainly understand your stress. I was in constant fear of doing something similar when I was doing fairs. Only with the money. I had a gal that worked with me sometimes and she was so paranoid that someone would steal the cash box or our purses that she would take the bills out every so often and stick them in a cracker box or even a tampon box. More then once she nearly through the box away.
Speaking of putting money in boxes my husbands uncle was very wealthy and he used to put cash in boxes all the time. He had rentals and often people paid in cash. Well, I guess one time his wife was cleaning out the cupboard and tossing dry foods that were out of date. She threw away a bunch of open boxes of cereal. Months later the uncle was looking for some money and realized what had happened. He was so angry. He said there was nearly 40,000 dollars in one of the cereal boxes.
The aunt and uncle passed away a few years ago and my sister in law was telling me that when her cousin was clearing out the house, she had to go through everything in the house, piece by piece. Everything in the cupboard and every stitch of clothing, even the furniture had to be searched. In the end they found well over 300,000 dollars, just stuck here and there. The aunt and uncle had nice things, but I guess the uncle did not believe in having a safe. I really don't know. But can you imagine?