End of the Year Student Gifts

Waaaay back in December, my daughter’s school was holding a read-a-thon. Hours and hours of reading were logged by the students throughout the school.  I wanted to create a little gift for the kindergartners to celebrate the end of the month.  My idea was to make tote bags to be used for trips to the library.  Nine months pregnant, this project fulfilled my desire to help pass the time. 

I got right to work. I plopped myself down on the couch next to my husband who was zoned out watching storage auction shows. Using fabric that I already had, I began cutting out the main body and strap pieces. Fourteen bags total.  All the fabric was ready to go.  So was the baby.  I went into labor a few days later and had baby Z.

Tote bags? What tote bags? I need my sleep. 

The cut fabric sat and sat. And sat. 

The read-a-thon was a distant memory when I realized I could use the totes as end of the year gifts.  While in Micheal’s one day, I discovered colorful water bottles.  The had a large mouth and instantly thought they would make a great vessel to hold the tote bags.  At a dollar apiece, they didn’t break the bank. 

Fortunately/unfortunately, once I get an idea, it kind of grows and grows.  I had seen a cute idea on… wait for it, wait for it… Pinterest.  I figured I’d incorporate that too. Except instead of a bouncy ball, I would use a mini beach ball.  On the way home from school one day, the wording for the tag bounced around in my head.  It finally hit me and I was so excited to see it all come together. 

Things did not go as smoothly as I would have liked.  The beach balls never arrived on time. Or rather, they arrived right on time (the morning of graduation) but the shipping label threw me off because it was addressed to my husband and the sender sounded more like an auto body shop.  Really Oriental Trading?? You couldn’t put your name on he outside of the box? Really?!?! Also the printable tags I purchased from etsy couldn’t save the text I entered to print elsewhere.  Our printer was down, of course.  And to top it off, the tote bags were too large to fit into the water bottles.  Hakuna Matata!! 

Pay no mind to my childish handwriting.  I had no other choice.

Overall, I loved the way it all came together!  A culmination of old projects, Pinterest ideas, and some of my own imagination.