Mom’s Ultimate Survival Kit

Beckie from Infarrantly Creative asked me to participate in Pennywise Presents a few weeks ago, and I decided from the get go that I wanted to make something useful for my friends for Christmas. Spending a lot of mula is never on my to do list, and living a thrifty life is what I am ALL about. So, I’ve had this project brewing on my brain for a while. 🙂

I have to tell you the reasons why I chose to make a “Mom’s ultimate survival kit.” I am not one of those well-prepared, have-everything-they-need type of Mom. In fact, I am the Mom that forgets EVERYTHING. I am not proud of this. A kit like this would have come in handy in my life countless times. I never have a bandaid when I need one. I hardly ever have tissues on hand when one of my children is in dire need. I am just plain, not good at this stuff. My oldest is 7 years old, and you would think I would learn. I am definitely getting better…but still I find myself wishing I had some essential Mom items with me at all times.

So, I decided to make MOM’S ULTIMATE SURVIVAL KIT as my Pennywise Presents project! I decided to include the essential items that Moms could use in their purses, and since I have young children and so do most of my good friends, the items reflect the necessities of a young mother.

I started out by doing research. I asked around. I even Googled it. I came up with the main, repeating items to put into my kit. Plus I have some experience of my own. 🙂

I headed to the dollar store. I had a few items on hand, but I needed to pick up a few more.

My list of essentials are:
Tissues…because nothing is worse than green goo coming out of a child’s nose.
Wet wipes…because sticky is a Mom’s middle name.
Bobby pins….to pin back a wild hair in a moment’s notice.
A small note pad…because I tend to write myself notes on the back of old receipts A LOT because I cannot find a piece of paper. 🙂
A comb…because if you have little girls, it will come in handy to do a quick touch up in the parking lot.
Pens…because pens seem to disappear, and it helps to have one nearby at all times.
Hand sanitizer…because germs are a kid’s best friend.
Gum…to freshen your breath.
Clippers…for the surprise hangnail.
Scissors…for the necessary snip of unexpected items!
Tweezers….for the occasional sliver.
Dum dum suckers…because sometimes a sucker is the only thing that will keep my kiddos quiet in a store.
Lip gloss…because lip gloss always makes me feel a little better.
Tylenol…in case of a headache…plus most of my friends are pregnant right now, so Tylenol is the only thing we can take!
Hair elastics…because my girls decide to take their newly-done hairdos out all the time.
Chocolate…for a little treat when you need it the most. 🙂
Bandaids…for boo boos
and Safety pins…for the emergency situations that we have all experienced. (Like when my daughter’s skirt kept falling down to her knees at church.)

I spent about $15.00, but I have almost enough stuff to make three more kits.

I found a piece of scrap fabric sitting in one of my drawers, and started the process by laying out the products across the fabric. I wanted to make sure that I had enough fabric to fit it all.

I began by hemming the bottom edge of the fabric, and then I folded it up over the items to create little pouches for each product. I carefully marked how wide each pouch should be with a pencil, and one by one I sewed the lines into place. I was careful to only sew one at a time because I wanted the items to fit snug.

I purposely designed the pouches to run vertically across the project because I wanted to create a “kit” that would fit into any woman’s purse. The items will fit snuggly inside the pouches and then it will roll up to be compact!

After I had sewn pouches into my fabric, I hemmed the top of the fabric to finish the edge.

I put a few items in the same pouches to make a better use of space.

The kit was ready! Now, I just needed to make it fit into a Mom’s purse! I rolled it up into a tight ball.

I tied a ribbon around the kit for looks and to fasten it tightly. Then, I made a cute felt flower to adorn the outside. 🙂 I will be posting instructions on how to make this flower on All Things Thrifty in the next few days. Sidenote: The flower is removable and has a pin on the back to use as a brooch.

As you can see, the essential items are nice and snug in the kit.

But, when you need it, the items are just a reach away!

I thought it turned out cute!

Being a Mom is the most rewarding job in the world. I have learned a lot of lessons, and why not make your friends something to make their lives a tad bit easier!

Overall cost of 1 kit: Less than $5.00.

I found this poem, and I thought it was darling!

It describes my life to a T!