DIY GRADUATION GIFT ~ COLLEGE SURVIVAL KIT

Graduations season is in full swing and along with it comes graduation gifts.  This past week we had five graduations to attend.  I love to give something a little more personal as a gift and a gift  that you make yourself does just that.

Of the five graduations we had to attend, two of them were for girls.  I decided to make something special just for them - A College Survival Kit.

Here's what I did to make the college survival kit .....

The first thing that was needed was a basket.  I chose this basket because it can serve as a carrier for supplies to the dorm bathroom.  I also liked this particular basket because I could weave ribbon through the holes to pretty it up a little.

To make the survival kit you can include any items you would like relating to college life.  Here's the list of items I chose to include in my baskets.

Kleenex Tissues
Q tips
Bath & Body Works Hand Soap
Sewing Kit
Band-aids
Small Notebook
Tacks
Paper Clips
Wash Cloth
Hand Towel
Bath Scrubby
Tack-it Putty for hanging posters etc.
Coffee Mug with Spoon
Hot Chocolate Mix
Instant Coffee
Hot Cider Mix
Paper Napkins

To assemble the kit, I first weaved a piece of ribbon into the top basket holes. I then placed a large piece of cellophane in the basket.  I then started adding the items according to height, placing the taller items in the back.  I also added tissue paper to fill in the smaller gaps.  I finished it off by tying the top with ribbon and added a few sticker flowers as embellishment.

 The last thing to do was make a cute tag.

For this I simply went to Pic Monkey and created a circle with dots around the outside and typed in College Survival Kit in the font of my choice.  I then printed it onto card stock and cut it out.  Next in the process was to cut out a slightly larger circle from black card stock and glue the college survival kit sign to it.  I then used my ribbon punch to make the slots to insert the ribbon.  Once my ribbon was inserted, it was ready to attach to the basket.

This gift was so easy to make. You can create a College Survival Kit yourself and include items that any college student would use.  You could also slip in a gift card or two.  Have you made any gifts for graduations?