Tuesday, November 25, 2008

$5 Christmas Gifts - Works For Me Wednesday

Christmas is just around the corner, a mere 29 shopping days away, but who's counting? If you're anything like me you have a bazillion people on your Christmas list and a bunch of lint in the bottom of your purse. So it's time to get creative. I've been posting a few $5-or-less gift ideas and you can see them here and here.

Today's idea is brilliant and not really my own. My creative friend Barb came up with this cute gift and she was gracious enough to let me share it with you.


Emergency Purse Kit


She started with a soft plastic cassette case ($.20) and trimmed out the two prongs from the inside. Then she designed the title on a sticky address label and attached it the front. To keep it from peeling off and to give it a nice shiny finish she put a piece of clear shipping tape over the label.

Then the fun starts. You could fill it with any small assortment of goodies. Barb was a frugal smarty pants and went to Quizno's and asked if she could have a few sugar and salt packets as well as a few individually wrapped toothpicks. They were happy to oblige. She also went to Hallmark and got some of their free credit card sized calenders. She put the calender in first so it would show through the back and the kits owner could see it without having to open the case.

See! Isn't she a smart one?



Then she added

  • a small packet of pain relievers
  • a band aid
  • a birthday candle
  • a match
  • a stick of gum
  • a mini chocolate
  • an Emory board cut in half to fit inside the case
  • a match (that could be lit on the Emory board)
  • a breath mint
  • 3 different sized safety pins
  • a paperclip
  • a dental pic
  • the salt and sugar packets and the toothpick
  • this cute little homemade emergency sewing kit

It was a piece of card stock cut with pinking shears. One side has slits. Then she wrapped four different colors of thread in the grooves of the pinking shear cuts and finished off the ends in the slits. She also added two buttons and slipped a needle in there under the thread.

After exclaiming over her genius for a good 15 minutes I asked her how much she thought it cost to make this.

Her answer? Less than a $1.

To account for the fact that you might have to buy everything in your kit I'm going to round it up to $2.

But still....2 bucks for something this cute and practical? I love it!!!

For more Works For Me Wednesday ideas go visit Rocks In My Dryer.

16 comments:

SavingSomeGreen said...

I am in LOVE with this! I totally want to do this for my co-workers...except the men :). I wonder where I can get some plastic cassette cases?...I am a child of the 80's, maybe my parents have some hanging around! :)

my2boyz said...

TOO CUTE!!

Unknown said...

What a great idea and so cute!

Anonymous said...

I love this idea! I think I'll make one for my mom and sister. Thanks for sharing!

mub said...

I'm sooo bookmarking this post! What a great idea for a stocking stuffer.

Andrea Holloman said...

This would also make a great Teacher and Sunday School worker, Daycare Worker, etc. gift. It looks like a lot more than you spent on it!

Trish said...

Cute! Cute! Cute! And useful!

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

I love this idea! Thank you for sharing! :D

Anonymous said...

I love this! I had to run out and get the stuff to make it today. I had most everything except the cassette cases. I picked up some clear (tinted colors) eyeglass cases at the Dollar Tree. They are a little smaller than regular eye glass cases (thinner), and they cost a dollar each. I don't have any cassette cases in house. It might be a good idea to look for cassettes cheap at a garage sale (maybe I'll do that next year). Anyway, at a dollar they are still cheap. I'm doing these for the men also and I'm calling it a emergency truck kit, for their glove box. Thanks for the idea.

Halfmoon Girl said...

awesome idea- could make a great little gift for my old college roommates.

Jerralea said...

What a cool idea! I especially love the little sewing kit. Once when I was a Missionette leader we decorated cassette boxes, but I had no idea what to put in them ... I think we used them as jewelry boxes.

Terri Steffes said...

That is very clever. I will have to make these for next year because it will take me that long to gather everything together!

FLmom7 said...

What a neat idea! Thanks for sharing that one;-)

Unknown said...

I loved this idea and am going to try and make them as favors for a bridal shower. I am struggling with a container though. Most places no longer sell cassette cases anymore and even if I could find some, I don't understand how it would work. "She started with a soft plastic cassette case ($.20) and trimmed out the two prongs from the inside" I'm just not getting it. I see someone else you'd an eyeglasses case but so far I'm not having much luck with finding a good container. Thanks for any help!

Gayle said...

Here's a place where you can get the cases for 22 cents each.

http://www.kingdom.com/Ampex-Style-Soft-Poly-Cassette-Box-p/asb.htm

Unknown said...

Thank you! Was picturing different cassette holders...no wonder it didn't make sense to me. :-)