Blame it on Pinterest

      Once again, Pinterest has sucked me in. I was so proud of myself for the 'College Send Off Basket' I created for my son's BFF that I brilliantly decided to create a pin. Unbeknownst to me there is a limit of 500 characters in the description area. I could not limit my masterpiece to a paltry 500 characters. It simply would not do it justice. I deduced that in order to share the showpiece in all of it's glory I had to create a blog. Now in addition to Pinterest, Craft Gawker, Facebook and TMZ online I have added one more tab to my computer's already overloaded bookmark bar, not to mention my sleep deprivation. So without further ado(not adieu as I thought, thank you Google for letting me avoid that embarrassment.) I present the showstopper known as the College Send Off Basket.

      In my state of excitement over this gem (i.e. running late for the actual send off party)
 I forgot to photograph the actual basket. It was really not a basket but one of those collapsable storage bins. I got it at Lowe's instead of my customary go to store, Dollar Tree. Hey, I wanted this to be classy! Then I began searching for dorm essentials, some of which I put cutesy messages on.

         
      The basis for this gift started by my Googling useful gifts for those real word clueless youths going off to college. There was one suggestion that kept popping up that many parents overlook- a basic set of tools, not that they will know what to do with them. Apparently, even if you live in a dorm, when something breaks you spend valuable partying time waiting for maintenance to arrive. It is a little difficult to find an already put together set of tools with only some essentials, unless you are looking for  one for girls, there are plenty of pink sets. I even asked if they had some for children. I put one together myself consisting of a small tool pouch I found at Home Depot, a small hammer, a multi-tool, super glue, a set of screwdrivers, a small tape measure and some zip ties. The project snowballed from there.

       
       Soon I was hitting up every dollar store in a 20 mile radius. Oh..... by the way, I forgot to mention that I went home from work sick on Friday(occupational hazard) I had procrastinated shopping for this gift all week long, and this weekend was tax-free weekend in Texas- so I was avoiding Walmart like the plague.

       The other often overlooked essential is a good flashlight. I found this really cool rechargeable one at Lowe's that plugs into an outlet, functions as a nightlight, if desired,  and will stay on in a power outage so you can find it. The message on the flashlight reads, "Because you are bright!"

          After that I was like a woman possessed looking for supplies I could come up with a poignant message for. Pencil sharpeners, erasers, sponges, batteries and more went flying into the basket as fast as I could yank them off the shelves.

          When all was said and done, I had a trunk full of goodies to assemble and arrange and managed to avoid the hordes of shoppers taking advantage of tax-free weekend. Here is a complete list of all of the items and the messages I put on them.

Glade plug ins and refills

Lysol Wipes

Febreeze

a sponge w/a tag "To remember to soak up all the knowledge you can and absorb the experience.

A dustpan and brush w/a tag" Now that you have to clean up after yourself."

A Sewing Kit

A pencil box with scissors, tape and post-its

Aluminum Water Bottle

An Umbrella

Hangers

Power strip

Command Hooks

Previously mentioned cool flashlight w/tag "Because you are bright"

Erasers w/tag " To remind you everyone makes mistakes, start each day on a new page."

Ear Plugs w/tag "In case of a noisy dorm mate"

AAA Batteries w/tag "To remember to recharge your batteries every once in awhile"

Tool Kit with:

     Mini Hammer

     4 Screwdrivers

     Exacto Knife

     Super Glue

     Multi-Tool w/ pliers etc.

     Tape Measure

Duct Tape

Cable Ties w/tag "These are more useful than you could ever imagine"- which is very true!

Rubber band Ball w/tag "To remember to be flexible"

Stapler w/tag "To remember to keep it all together"

Pencil Sharpener w/tag "To remember to stay sharp"

Nail Clippers

Tylenol w/tag "For the inevitable headaches"

Mini First Aid Kit w/tag "For when things get a little rough"

Q-Tips w/tag "To remember to listen and learn"

Hershey's Kisses w/tag "To remember that you are loved"

Life Savers w/tag "For when you feel like you are drowning in information"

Sunglasses w/tag "Because your future is so bright"

Framed 2013 Lucky Penny w/tag "So you will always have enough 'cents' to realize your full potential'

 

      I took a chance and checked out Thing's Remembered's website and found that I could create a key ring online and pick it up in the store. I chose a modern polished gun metal one and had his initials engraved on one side and "Happiness is found in the journey" on the other. The box had tag "Remember you hold the key to your future"

So there you have it! I was pretty proud of myself at the results. Thanks for letting me share,

k