Project Service Project, August: School Kit!

After lots of running around to gather everything I need, the kits are finally coming together. In fact, Nick is bringing home the last elusive item as we speak - the ever evasive diaper pin! Who knew that something so simple would be so ridiculously hard to find?

Nick is also bringing me more thread so I can finish sewing the baby blanket, so while waiting for him to get here, I put together a school kit, as you can see in the picture. Please excuse the lame picture quality, it was late and dark and I just didn't want to wait for day light to post this.

But, tadah! It's all finished and ready for someone to take off to school, which absolutely gives me the warm fuzzies just thinking about it. We value education pretty highly in our family, and the thought that this can help make a child better equipped to learn is such a fulfilling one. While I was buying the supplies, I kept thinking about the child that will ultimately receive this kit and wondering what colour eraser they would prefer and if they will love their yellow no. 2 pencils as much as I do. And who doesn't love a box of brand new coloured pencils!

This kit was also really quite inexpensive to put together. I spent about $12 on the whole thing, with the bag being the biggest expense at $4. However, the kit actually only comes to about $7-8 when you consider that I only used one pencil sharpener out of a pack of six that cost $1, or four pencils from a box of 20. If I were to make a second kit, I would only have to get another bag, a box of pencils and some notebooks, so it gets less and less expensive the more you make. You could easily sew a bag, but I ultimately decided that my time was worth $4 to me, so it was worth it to buy one.

So, one kit down, two to go! The Humanitarian kit is even quicker and easier than the school kit, but the newborn kit is a lot of work. At least it is for me, and I am definitely stretching my abilities a bit here. So stay tuned for upcoming pictures of my wonky seams!