Exhibit 31.1


                          CERTIFICATIONS PURSUANT TO
                SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

 I, James R. Tennant,  Chairman of the Board  and Chief Executive Officer  of
 Home Products International, Inc., certify that:

      1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Home  Products
 International, Inc.;

      2.  Based  on my  knowledge, this report  does not  contain any  untrue
 statement of a material fact or omit  to state a material fact necessary  to
 make the statements  made, in light  of the circumstances  under which  such
 statements were made, not misleading with  respect to the period covered  by
 this report;

      3.   Based  on  my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other
 financial information  included  in  this  report,  fairly  present  in  all
 material respects the  financial condition, results  of operations and  cash
 flows of  the registrant  as of,  and  for, the  periods presented  in  this
 report;

      4.  The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are  responsible
 for establishing  and maintaining  disclosure  controls and  procedures  (as
 defined in Exchange Act  Rules 13a-15(e) and  15d-15(e)) for the  registrant
 and have:

      a)  designed such  disclosure controls and  procedures, or caused  such
 disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,  to
 ensure that material information relating  to the registrant, including  its
 consolidated subsidiaries,  is  made known  to  us by  others  within  those
 entities, particularly  during the  period in  which  this report  is  being
 prepared;

      b)  evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
 and procedures  and  presented in  this  report our  conclusions  about  the
 effectiveness of the disclosure  controls and procedures, as  of the end  of
 the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

      c)  disclosed in  this report any change  in the registrant's  internal
 control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's  most
 recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of
 an annual report) that has materially  affected, or is reasonably likely  to
 materially  affect,  the  registrant's   internal  control  over   financial
 reporting; and

      5.  The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have  disclosed,
 based on  our most  recent evaluation  of  internal control  over  financial
 reporting, to  the registrant's  auditors and  the  audit committee  of  the
 registrant's board  of  directors  (or  persons  performing  the  equivalent
 functions):

      a)  all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the  design
 or  operation  of  internal  control  over  financial  reporting  which  are
 reasonably likely to  adversely affect the  registrant's ability to  record,
 process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b)  any  fraud, whether or  not material, that  involves management  or
 other employees who  have a significant  role in  the registrant's  internal
 control over financial reporting.


 Date: August 11, 2003              By: /s/ James R. Tennant
                                        -------------------------------
                                        James R. Tennant
                                        Chairman of the Board and Chief
                                        Executive Officer